diff --git a/drivers/vfio/Kconfig b/drivers/vfio/Kconfig
index 89e06c981e43..e2105b4dac2d 100644
--- a/drivers/vfio/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/vfio/Kconfig
@@ -12,6 +12,17 @@ menuconfig VFIO
 	  If you don't know what to do here, say N.
 
 if VFIO
+config VFIO_DEVICE_CDEV
+	bool "Support for the VFIO cdev /dev/vfio/devices/vfioX"
+	depends on IOMMUFD
+	help
+	  The VFIO device cdev is another way for userspace to get device
+	  access. Userspace gets device fd by opening device cdev under
+	  /dev/vfio/devices/vfioX, and then bind the device fd with an iommufd
+	  to set up secure DMA context for device access.
+
+	  If you don't know what to do here, say N.
+
 config VFIO_CONTAINER
 	bool "Support for the VFIO container /dev/vfio/vfio"
 	select VFIO_IOMMU_TYPE1 if MMU && (X86 || S390 || ARM || ARM64)
diff --git a/drivers/vfio/Makefile b/drivers/vfio/Makefile
index 70e7dcb302ef..245394aeb94b 100644
--- a/drivers/vfio/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/vfio/Makefile
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_VFIO) += vfio.o
 vfio-y += vfio_main.o \
 	  group.o \
 	  iova_bitmap.o
+vfio-$(CONFIG_VFIO_DEVICE_CDEV) += device_cdev.o
 vfio-$(CONFIG_IOMMUFD) += iommufd.o
 vfio-$(CONFIG_VFIO_CONTAINER) += container.o
 vfio-$(CONFIG_VFIO_VIRQFD) += virqfd.o
diff --git a/drivers/vfio/device_cdev.c b/drivers/vfio/device_cdev.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1c640016a824
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drivers/vfio/device_cdev.c
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2023 Intel Corporation.
+ */
+#include <linux/vfio.h>
+
+#include "vfio.h"
+
+static dev_t device_devt;
+
+void vfio_init_device_cdev(struct vfio_device *device)
+{
+	device->device.devt = MKDEV(MAJOR(device_devt), device->index);
+	cdev_init(&device->cdev, &vfio_device_fops);
+	device->cdev.owner = THIS_MODULE;
+}
+
+/*
+ * device access via the fd opened by this function is blocked until
+ * .open_device() is called successfully during BIND_IOMMUFD.
+ */
+int vfio_device_fops_cdev_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *filep)
+{
+	struct vfio_device *device = container_of(inode->i_cdev,
+						  struct vfio_device, cdev);
+	struct vfio_device_file *df;
+	int ret;
+
+	if (!vfio_device_try_get_registration(device))
+		return -ENODEV;
+
+	df = vfio_allocate_device_file(device);
+	if (IS_ERR(df)) {
+		ret = PTR_ERR(df);
+		goto err_put_registration;
+	}
+
+	filep->private_data = df;
+
+	return 0;
+
+err_put_registration:
+	vfio_device_put_registration(device);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+static char *vfio_device_devnode(const struct device *dev, umode_t *mode)
+{
+	return kasprintf(GFP_KERNEL, "vfio/devices/%s", dev_name(dev));
+}
+
+int vfio_cdev_init(struct class *device_class)
+{
+	device_class->devnode = vfio_device_devnode;
+	return alloc_chrdev_region(&device_devt, 0,
+				   MINORMASK + 1, "vfio-dev");
+}
+
+void vfio_cdev_cleanup(void)
+{
+	unregister_chrdev_region(device_devt, MINORMASK + 1);
+}
diff --git a/drivers/vfio/vfio.h b/drivers/vfio/vfio.h
index 41dfc9d5205a..3a8fd0e32f59 100644
--- a/drivers/vfio/vfio.h
+++ b/drivers/vfio/vfio.h
@@ -268,6 +268,52 @@ static inline void vfio_iommufd_unbind(struct vfio_device_file *df)
 }
 #endif
 
+#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_VFIO_DEVICE_CDEV)
+static inline int vfio_device_add(struct vfio_device *device)
+{
+	return cdev_device_add(&device->cdev, &device->device);
+}
+
+static inline void vfio_device_del(struct vfio_device *device)
+{
+	cdev_device_del(&device->cdev, &device->device);
+}
+
+void vfio_init_device_cdev(struct vfio_device *device);
+int vfio_device_fops_cdev_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *filep);
+int vfio_cdev_init(struct class *device_class);
+void vfio_cdev_cleanup(void);
+#else
+static inline int vfio_device_add(struct vfio_device *device)
+{
+	return device_add(&device->device);
+}
+
+static inline void vfio_device_del(struct vfio_device *device)
+{
+	device_del(&device->device);
+}
+
+static inline void vfio_init_device_cdev(struct vfio_device *device)
+{
+}
+
+static inline int vfio_device_fops_cdev_open(struct inode *inode,
+					     struct file *filep)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static inline int vfio_cdev_init(struct class *device_class)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static inline void vfio_cdev_cleanup(void)
+{
+}
+#endif /* CONFIG_VFIO_DEVICE_CDEV */
+
 #if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_VFIO_VIRQFD)
 int __init vfio_virqfd_init(void);
 void vfio_virqfd_exit(void);
diff --git a/drivers/vfio/vfio_main.c b/drivers/vfio/vfio_main.c
index 6c31212740fa..61f56d9b5e5f 100644
--- a/drivers/vfio/vfio_main.c
+++ b/drivers/vfio/vfio_main.c
@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ static int vfio_init_device(struct vfio_device *device, struct device *dev,
 	device->device.release = vfio_device_release;
 	device->device.class = vfio.device_class;
 	device->device.parent = device->dev;
+	vfio_init_device_cdev(device);
 	return 0;
 
 out_uninit:
@@ -280,7 +281,7 @@ static int __vfio_register_dev(struct vfio_device *device,
 	if (ret)
 		goto err_out;
 
-	ret = device_add(&device->device);
+	ret = vfio_device_add(device);
 	if (ret)
 		goto err_out;
 
@@ -326,6 +327,12 @@ void vfio_unregister_group_dev(struct vfio_device *device)
 	 */
 	vfio_device_group_unregister(device);
 
+	/*
+	 * Balances vfio_device_add() in register path, also prevents
+	 * new device opened by userspace in the cdev path.
+	 */
+	vfio_device_del(device);
+
 	vfio_device_put_registration(device);
 	rc = try_wait_for_completion(&device->comp);
 	while (rc <= 0) {
@@ -349,9 +356,6 @@ void vfio_unregister_group_dev(struct vfio_device *device)
 		}
 	}
 
-	/* Balances device_add in register path */
-	device_del(&device->device);
-
 	/* Balances vfio_device_set_group in register path */
 	vfio_device_remove_group(device);
 }
@@ -559,7 +563,8 @@ static int vfio_device_fops_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *filep)
 	struct vfio_device_file *df = filep->private_data;
 	struct vfio_device *device = df->device;
 
-	vfio_device_group_close(df);
+	if (df->group)
+		vfio_device_group_close(df);
 
 	vfio_device_put_registration(device);
 
@@ -1208,6 +1213,7 @@ static int vfio_device_fops_mmap(struct file *filep, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 
 const struct file_operations vfio_device_fops = {
 	.owner		= THIS_MODULE,
+	.open		= vfio_device_fops_cdev_open,
 	.release	= vfio_device_fops_release,
 	.read		= vfio_device_fops_read,
 	.write		= vfio_device_fops_write,
@@ -1595,9 +1601,16 @@ static int __init vfio_init(void)
 		goto err_dev_class;
 	}
 
+	ret = vfio_cdev_init(vfio.device_class);
+	if (ret)
+		goto err_alloc_dev_chrdev;
+
 	pr_info(DRIVER_DESC " version: " DRIVER_VERSION "\n");
 	return 0;
 
+err_alloc_dev_chrdev:
+	class_destroy(vfio.device_class);
+	vfio.device_class = NULL;
 err_dev_class:
 	vfio_virqfd_exit();
 err_virqfd:
@@ -1608,6 +1621,7 @@ static int __init vfio_init(void)
 static void __exit vfio_cleanup(void)
 {
 	ida_destroy(&vfio.device_ida);
+	vfio_cdev_cleanup();
 	class_destroy(vfio.device_class);
 	vfio.device_class = NULL;
 	vfio_virqfd_exit();
diff --git a/include/linux/vfio.h b/include/linux/vfio.h
index 672c0d9ac3fa..db717a8f4440 100644
--- a/include/linux/vfio.h
+++ b/include/linux/vfio.h
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include <linux/mm.h>
 #include <linux/workqueue.h>
 #include <linux/poll.h>
+#include <linux/cdev.h>
 #include <uapi/linux/vfio.h>
 #include <linux/iova_bitmap.h>
 
@@ -51,6 +52,10 @@ struct vfio_device {
 	/* Members below here are private, not for driver use */
 	unsigned int index;
 	struct device device;	/* device.kref covers object life circle */
+#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_VFIO_DEVICE_CDEV)
+	struct cdev cdev;
+	bool cdev_opened;
+#endif
 	refcount_t refcount;	/* user count on registered device*/
 	unsigned int open_count;
 	struct completion comp;
@@ -62,7 +67,6 @@ struct vfio_device {
 	struct iommufd_device *iommufd_device;
 	bool iommufd_attached;
 #endif
-	bool cdev_opened;
 	bool noiommu;
 };
 
@@ -162,11 +166,18 @@ vfio_iommufd_physical_devid(struct vfio_device *vdev, u32 *id)
 	((void (*)(struct vfio_device *vdev)) NULL)
 #endif
 
+#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_VFIO_DEVICE_CDEV)
 static inline bool vfio_device_cdev_opened(struct vfio_device *device)
 {
 	lockdep_assert_held(&device->dev_set->lock);
 	return device->cdev_opened;
 }
+#else
+static inline bool vfio_device_cdev_opened(struct vfio_device *device)
+{
+	return false;
+}
+#endif
 
 /**
  * @migration_set_state: Optional callback to change the migration state for
