diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 2ca8f35dfe0399..aa7a760d12f8ef 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -9076,6 +9076,14 @@ F:	kernel/futex/*
 F:	tools/perf/bench/futex*
 F:	tools/testing/selftests/futex/
 
+FWCTL SUBSYSTEM
+M:	Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@nvidia.com>
+M:	Saeed Mahameed <saeedm@nvidia.com>
+S:	Maintained
+F:	Documentation/userspace-api/fwctl.rst
+F:	drivers/fwctl/
+F:	include/linux/fwctl.h
+
 GALAXYCORE GC0308 CAMERA SENSOR DRIVER
 M:	Sebastian Reichel <sre@kernel.org>
 L:	linux-media@vger.kernel.org
diff --git a/drivers/Kconfig b/drivers/Kconfig
index 7bdad836fc6207..7c556c5ac4fddc 100644
--- a/drivers/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/Kconfig
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ source "drivers/connector/Kconfig"
 
 source "drivers/firmware/Kconfig"
 
+source "drivers/fwctl/Kconfig"
+
 source "drivers/gnss/Kconfig"
 
 source "drivers/mtd/Kconfig"
diff --git a/drivers/Makefile b/drivers/Makefile
index fe9ceb0d2288ad..f6a241b747b29c 100644
--- a/drivers/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/Makefile
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_MEMSTICK)		+= memstick/
 obj-y				+= leds/
 obj-$(CONFIG_INFINIBAND)	+= infiniband/
 obj-y				+= firmware/
+obj-$(CONFIG_FWCTL)		+= fwctl/
 obj-$(CONFIG_CRYPTO)		+= crypto/
 obj-$(CONFIG_SUPERH)		+= sh/
 obj-y				+= clocksource/
diff --git a/drivers/fwctl/Kconfig b/drivers/fwctl/Kconfig
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..37147a695add9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drivers/fwctl/Kconfig
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+menuconfig FWCTL
+	tristate "fwctl device firmware access framework"
+	help
+	  fwctl provides a userspace API for restricted access to communicate
+	  with on-device firmware. The communication channel is intended to
+	  support a wide range of lockdown compatible device behaviors including
+	  manipulating device FLASH, debugging, and other activities that don't
+	  fit neatly into an existing subsystem.
diff --git a/drivers/fwctl/Makefile b/drivers/fwctl/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..1cad210f6ba580
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drivers/fwctl/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+obj-$(CONFIG_FWCTL) += fwctl.o
+
+fwctl-y += main.o
diff --git a/drivers/fwctl/main.c b/drivers/fwctl/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..6e9bf15c743b5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drivers/fwctl/main.c
@@ -0,0 +1,177 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES
+ */
+#define pr_fmt(fmt) "fwctl: " fmt
+#include <linux/fwctl.h>
+#include <linux/module.h>
+#include <linux/slab.h>
+#include <linux/container_of.h>
+#include <linux/fs.h>
+
+enum {
+	FWCTL_MAX_DEVICES = 256,
+};
+static dev_t fwctl_dev;
+static DEFINE_IDA(fwctl_ida);
+
+static int fwctl_fops_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
+{
+	struct fwctl_device *fwctl =
+		container_of(inode->i_cdev, struct fwctl_device, cdev);
+
+	get_device(&fwctl->dev);
+	filp->private_data = fwctl;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int fwctl_fops_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
+{
+	struct fwctl_device *fwctl = filp->private_data;
+
+	fwctl_put(fwctl);
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static const struct file_operations fwctl_fops = {
+	.owner = THIS_MODULE,
+	.open = fwctl_fops_open,
+	.release = fwctl_fops_release,
+};
+
+static void fwctl_device_release(struct device *device)
+{
+	struct fwctl_device *fwctl =
+		container_of(device, struct fwctl_device, dev);
+
+	ida_free(&fwctl_ida, fwctl->dev.devt - fwctl_dev);
+	kfree(fwctl);
+}
+
+static char *fwctl_devnode(const struct device *dev, umode_t *mode)
+{
+	return kasprintf(GFP_KERNEL, "fwctl/%s", dev_name(dev));
+}
+
+static struct class fwctl_class = {
+	.name = "fwctl",
+	.dev_release = fwctl_device_release,
+	.devnode = fwctl_devnode,
+};
+
+static struct fwctl_device *
+_alloc_device(struct device *parent, const struct fwctl_ops *ops, size_t size)
+{
+	struct fwctl_device *fwctl __free(kfree) = kzalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL);
+	int devnum;
+
+	if (!fwctl)
+		return NULL;
+	fwctl->dev.class = &fwctl_class;
+	fwctl->dev.parent = parent;
+
+	devnum = ida_alloc_max(&fwctl_ida, FWCTL_MAX_DEVICES - 1, GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (devnum < 0)
+		return NULL;
+	fwctl->dev.devt = fwctl_dev + devnum;
+
+	device_initialize(&fwctl->dev);
+	return_ptr(fwctl);
+}
+
+/* Drivers use the fwctl_alloc_device() wrapper */
+struct fwctl_device *_fwctl_alloc_device(struct device *parent,
+					 const struct fwctl_ops *ops,
+					 size_t size)
+{
+	struct fwctl_device *fwctl __free(fwctl) =
+		_alloc_device(parent, ops, size);
+
+	if (!fwctl)
+		return NULL;
+
+	cdev_init(&fwctl->cdev, &fwctl_fops);
+	fwctl->cdev.owner = THIS_MODULE;
+
+	if (dev_set_name(&fwctl->dev, "fwctl%d", fwctl->dev.devt - fwctl_dev))
+		return NULL;
+
+	fwctl->ops = ops;
+	return_ptr(fwctl);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_NS_GPL(_fwctl_alloc_device, FWCTL);
+
+/**
+ * fwctl_register - Register a new device to the subsystem
+ * @fwctl: Previously allocated fwctl_device
+ *
+ * On return the device is visible through sysfs and /dev, driver ops may be
+ * called.
+ */
+int fwctl_register(struct fwctl_device *fwctl)
+{
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = cdev_device_add(&fwctl->cdev, &fwctl->dev);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
+	return 0;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_NS_GPL(fwctl_register, FWCTL);
+
+/**
+ * fwctl_unregister - Unregister a device from the subsystem
+ * @fwctl: Previously allocated and registered fwctl_device
+ *
+ * Undoes fwctl_register(). On return no driver ops will be called. The
+ * caller must still call fwctl_put() to free the fwctl.
+ *
+ * Unregister will return even if userspace still has file descriptors open.
+ * This will call ops->close_uctx() on any open FDs and after return no driver
+ * op will be called. The FDs remain open but all fops will return -ENODEV.
+ *
+ * The design of fwctl allows this sort of disassociation of the driver from the
+ * subsystem primarily by keeping memory allocations owned by the core subsytem.
+ * The fwctl_device and fwctl_uctx can both be freed without requiring a driver
+ * callback. This allows the module to remain unlocked while FDs are open.
+ */
+void fwctl_unregister(struct fwctl_device *fwctl)
+{
+	cdev_device_del(&fwctl->cdev, &fwctl->dev);
+
+	/*
+	 * The driver module may unload after this returns, the op pointer will
+	 * not be valid.
+	 */
+	fwctl->ops = NULL;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_NS_GPL(fwctl_unregister, FWCTL);
+
+static int __init fwctl_init(void)
+{
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = alloc_chrdev_region(&fwctl_dev, 0, FWCTL_MAX_DEVICES, "fwctl");
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
+
+	ret = class_register(&fwctl_class);
+	if (ret)
+		goto err_chrdev;
+	return 0;
+
+err_chrdev:
+	unregister_chrdev_region(fwctl_dev, FWCTL_MAX_DEVICES);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+static void __exit fwctl_exit(void)
+{
+	class_unregister(&fwctl_class);
+	unregister_chrdev_region(fwctl_dev, FWCTL_MAX_DEVICES);
+}
+
+module_init(fwctl_init);
+module_exit(fwctl_exit);
+MODULE_DESCRIPTION("fwctl device firmware access framework");
+MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
diff --git a/include/linux/fwctl.h b/include/linux/fwctl.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..ef4eaa87c945e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/linux/fwctl.h
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only */
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES
+ */
+#ifndef __LINUX_FWCTL_H
+#define __LINUX_FWCTL_H
+#include <linux/device.h>
+#include <linux/cdev.h>
+#include <linux/cleanup.h>
+
+struct fwctl_device;
+struct fwctl_uctx;
+
+struct fwctl_ops {
+};
+
+/**
+ * struct fwctl_device - Per-driver registration struct
+ * @dev: The sysfs (class/fwctl/fwctlXX) device
+ *
+ * Each driver instance will have one of these structs with the driver
+ * private data following immeidately after. This struct is refcounted,
+ * it is freed by calling fwctl_put().
+ */
+struct fwctl_device {
+	struct device dev;
+	/* private: */
+	struct cdev cdev;
+	const struct fwctl_ops *ops;
+};
+
+struct fwctl_device *_fwctl_alloc_device(struct device *parent,
+					 const struct fwctl_ops *ops,
+					 size_t size);
+/**
+ * fwctl_alloc_device - Allocate a fwctl
+ * @parent: Physical device that provides the FW interface
+ * @ops: Driver ops to register
+ * @drv_struct: 'struct driver_fwctl' that holds the struct fwctl_device
+ * @member: Name of the struct fwctl_device in @drv_struct
+ *
+ * This allocates and initializes the fwctl_device embedded in the drv_struct.
+ * Upon success the pointer must be freed via fwctl_put(). Returns NULL on
+ * failure. Returns a 'drv_struct *' on success, NULL on error.
+ */
+#define fwctl_alloc_device(parent, ops, drv_struct, member)                  \
+	container_of(_fwctl_alloc_device(                                    \
+			     parent, ops,                                    \
+			     sizeof(drv_struct) +                            \
+				     BUILD_BUG_ON_ZERO(                      \
+					     offsetof(drv_struct, member))), \
+		     drv_struct, member)
+
+static inline struct fwctl_device *fwctl_get(struct fwctl_device *fwctl)
+{
+	get_device(&fwctl->dev);
+	return fwctl;
+}
+static inline void fwctl_put(struct fwctl_device *fwctl)
+{
+	put_device(&fwctl->dev);
+}
+DEFINE_FREE(fwctl, struct fwctl_device *, if (_T) fwctl_put(_T));
+
+int fwctl_register(struct fwctl_device *fwctl);
+void fwctl_unregister(struct fwctl_device *fwctl);
+
+#endif
