diff --git a/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.c b/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.c
index d8e3b6e50844..cb58c6526edb 100644
--- a/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.c
+++ b/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include <linux/wait.h>
 #include <linux/audit.h>
 #include <linux/sched/mm.h>
+#include <linux/statfs.h>
 
 #include "fanotify.h"
 
@@ -25,10 +26,18 @@ static bool should_merge(struct fsnotify_event *old_fsn,
 	old = FANOTIFY_E(old_fsn);
 	new = FANOTIFY_E(new_fsn);
 
-	if (old_fsn->inode == new_fsn->inode && old->pid == new->pid &&
-	    old->path.mnt == new->path.mnt &&
-	    old->path.dentry == new->path.dentry)
-		return true;
+	if (old_fsn->inode != new_fsn->inode || old->pid != new->pid ||
+	    old->fh_type != new->fh_type || old->fh_len != new->fh_len)
+		return false;
+
+	if (fanotify_event_has_path(old)) {
+		return old->path.mnt == new->path.mnt &&
+			old->path.dentry == new->path.dentry;
+	} else if (fanotify_event_has_fid(old)) {
+		return fanotify_fid_equal(&old->fid, &new->fid, old->fh_len);
+	}
+
+	/* Do not merge events if we failed to encode fid */
 	return false;
 }
 
@@ -143,6 +152,57 @@ static u32 fanotify_group_event_mask(struct fsnotify_iter_info *iter_info,
 		~marks_ignored_mask;
 }
 
+static int fanotify_encode_fid(struct fanotify_event *event,
+			       const struct path *path, gfp_t gfp)
+{
+	struct fanotify_fid *fid = &event->fid;
+	int dwords, bytes = 0;
+	struct kstatfs stat;
+	int err, type;
+
+	stat.f_fsid.val[0] = stat.f_fsid.val[1] = 0;
+	fid->ext_fh = NULL;
+	dwords = 0;
+	err = -ENOENT;
+	type = exportfs_encode_fh(path->dentry, NULL, &dwords,  0);
+	if (!dwords)
+		goto out_err;
+
+	err = vfs_statfs(path, &stat);
+	if (err)
+		goto out_err;
+
+	bytes = dwords << 2;
+	if (!fanotify_inline_fh_len(bytes)) {
+		/* Treat failure to allocate fh as failure to allocate event */
+		err = -ENOMEM;
+		fid->ext_fh = kmalloc(bytes, gfp);
+		if (!fid->ext_fh)
+			goto out_err;
+	}
+
+	type = exportfs_encode_fh(path->dentry, fanotify_fid_fh(fid, bytes),
+				  &dwords,  0);
+	err = -EINVAL;
+	if (!type || type == FILEID_INVALID || bytes != dwords << 2)
+		goto out_err;
+
+	fid->fsid = stat.f_fsid;
+	event->fh_len = bytes;
+
+	return type;
+
+out_err:
+	pr_warn_ratelimited("fanotify: failed to encode fid (fsid=%x.%x, type=%d, bytes=%d, err=%i)\n",
+			    stat.f_fsid.val[0], stat.f_fsid.val[1],
+			    type, bytes, err);
+	kfree(fid->ext_fh);
+	fid->ext_fh = NULL;
+	event->fh_len = 0;
+
+	return FILEID_INVALID;
+}
+
 struct fanotify_event *fanotify_alloc_event(struct fsnotify_group *group,
 						 struct inode *inode, u32 mask,
 						 const struct path *path)
@@ -181,10 +241,16 @@ init: __maybe_unused
 		event->pid = get_pid(task_pid(current));
 	else
 		event->pid = get_pid(task_tgid(current));
-	if (path) {
+	event->fh_len = 0;
+	if (path && FAN_GROUP_FLAG(group, FAN_REPORT_FID)) {
+		/* Report the event without a file identifier on encode error */
+		event->fh_type = fanotify_encode_fid(event, path, gfp);
+	} else if (path) {
+		event->fh_type = 0;
 		event->path = *path;
 		path_get(&event->path);
 	} else {
+		event->fh_type = FILEID_INVALID;
 		event->path.mnt = NULL;
 		event->path.dentry = NULL;
 	}
@@ -281,7 +347,10 @@ static void fanotify_free_event(struct fsnotify_event *fsn_event)
 	struct fanotify_event *event;
 
 	event = FANOTIFY_E(fsn_event);
-	path_put(&event->path);
+	if (fanotify_event_has_path(event))
+		path_put(&event->path);
+	else if (fanotify_event_has_ext_fh(event))
+		kfree(event->fid.ext_fh);
 	put_pid(event->pid);
 	if (fanotify_is_perm_event(event->mask)) {
 		kmem_cache_free(fanotify_perm_event_cachep,
diff --git a/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.h b/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.h
index 898b5b2bc1c7..cddebea5ff67 100644
--- a/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.h
+++ b/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.h
@@ -2,11 +2,54 @@
 #include <linux/fsnotify_backend.h>
 #include <linux/path.h>
 #include <linux/slab.h>
+#include <linux/exportfs.h>
 
 extern struct kmem_cache *fanotify_mark_cache;
 extern struct kmem_cache *fanotify_event_cachep;
 extern struct kmem_cache *fanotify_perm_event_cachep;
 
+/*
+ * 3 dwords are sufficient for most local fs (64bit ino, 32bit generation).
+ * For 32bit arch, fid increases the size of fanotify_event by 12 bytes and
+ * fh_* fields increase the size of fanotify_event by another 4 bytes.
+ * For 64bit arch, fid increases the size of fanotify_fid by 8 bytes and
+ * fh_* fields are packed in a hole after mask.
+ */
+#if BITS_PER_LONG == 32
+#define FANOTIFY_INLINE_FH_LEN	(3 << 2)
+#else
+#define FANOTIFY_INLINE_FH_LEN	(4 << 2)
+#endif
+
+struct fanotify_fid {
+	__kernel_fsid_t fsid;
+	union {
+		unsigned char fh[FANOTIFY_INLINE_FH_LEN];
+		unsigned char *ext_fh;
+	};
+};
+
+static inline bool fanotify_inline_fh_len(unsigned int fh_len)
+{
+	return fh_len <= FANOTIFY_INLINE_FH_LEN;
+}
+
+static inline void *fanotify_fid_fh(struct fanotify_fid *fid,
+				    unsigned int fh_len)
+{
+	return fanotify_inline_fh_len(fh_len) ? fid->fh : fid->ext_fh;
+}
+
+static inline bool fanotify_fid_equal(struct fanotify_fid *fid1,
+				      struct fanotify_fid *fid2,
+				      unsigned int fh_len)
+{
+	return fid1->fsid.val[0] == fid2->fsid.val[0] &&
+		fid1->fsid.val[1] == fid2->fsid.val[1] &&
+		!memcmp(fanotify_fid_fh(fid1, fh_len),
+			fanotify_fid_fh(fid2, fh_len), fh_len);
+}
+
 /*
  * Structure for normal fanotify events. It gets allocated in
  * fanotify_handle_event() and freed when the information is retrieved by
@@ -16,13 +59,46 @@ struct fanotify_event {
 	struct fsnotify_event fse;
 	u32 mask;
 	/*
-	 * We hold ref to this path so it may be dereferenced at any point
-	 * during this object's lifetime
+	 * Those fields are outside fanotify_fid to pack fanotify_event nicely
+	 * on 64bit arch and to use fh_type as an indication of whether path
+	 * or fid are used in the union:
+	 * fh_type == 0 for path, > 0 for fid, FILEID_INVALID for neither.
 	 */
-	struct path path;
+	u8 fh_type;
+	u8 fh_len;
+	u16 pad;
+	union {
+		/*
+		 * We hold ref to this path so it may be dereferenced at any
+		 * point during this object's lifetime
+		 */
+		struct path path;
+		/*
+		 * With FAN_REPORT_FID, we do not hold any reference on the
+		 * victim object. Instead we store its NFS file handle and its
+		 * filesystem's fsid as a unique identifier.
+		 */
+		struct fanotify_fid fid;
+	};
 	struct pid *pid;
 };
 
+static inline bool fanotify_event_has_path(struct fanotify_event *event)
+{
+	return !event->fh_type;
+}
+
+static inline bool fanotify_event_has_fid(struct fanotify_event *event)
+{
+	return event->fh_type && event->fh_type != FILEID_INVALID;
+}
+
+static inline bool fanotify_event_has_ext_fh(struct fanotify_event *event)
+{
+	return fanotify_event_has_fid(event) &&
+		!fanotify_inline_fh_len(event->fh_len);
+}
+
 /*
  * Structure for permission fanotify events. It gets allocated and freed in
  * fanotify_handle_event() since we wait there for user response. When the
diff --git a/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify_user.c b/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify_user.c
index a953e422a020..9b9e6704f9e7 100644
--- a/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify_user.c
+++ b/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify_user.c
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ static ssize_t copy_event_to_user(struct fsnotify_group *group,
 	struct fanotify_event_metadata metadata;
 	struct fanotify_event *event;
 	struct file *f;
-	int fd, ret;
+	int ret, fd = FAN_NOFD;
 
 	pr_debug("%s: group=%p event=%p\n", __func__, group, fsn_event);
 
@@ -193,9 +193,7 @@ static ssize_t copy_event_to_user(struct fsnotify_group *group,
 	metadata.mask = event->mask & FANOTIFY_OUTGOING_EVENTS;
 	metadata.pid = pid_vnr(event->pid);
 
-	if (unlikely(event->mask & FAN_Q_OVERFLOW)) {
-		fd = FAN_NOFD;
-	} else {
+	if (fanotify_event_has_path(event)) {
 		fd = create_fd(group, event, &f);
 		if (fd < 0)
 			return fd;
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/fanotify.h b/include/uapi/linux/fanotify.h
index 909c98fcace2..d07f3cbc2786 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/fanotify.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/fanotify.h
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 
 /* Flags to determine fanotify event format */
 #define FAN_REPORT_TID		0x00000100	/* event->pid is thread id */
+#define FAN_REPORT_FID		0x00000200	/* Report unique file id */
 
 /* Deprecated - do not use this in programs and do not add new flags here! */
 #define FAN_ALL_INIT_FLAGS	(FAN_CLOEXEC | FAN_NONBLOCK | \
