diff --git a/fs/xattr.c b/fs/xattr.c
index f8b643f91a98..f4e3bedf7272 100644
--- a/fs/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/xattr.c
@@ -339,27 +339,28 @@ xattr_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *inode,
 		  const char *name, void *value, size_t size)
 {
 	void *buffer = NULL;
-	ssize_t len;
+	int error;
+	u32 len;
 
 	if (!value || !size) {
-		len = security_inode_getsecurity(idmap, inode, name,
-						 &buffer, false);
+		error = security_inode_getsecurity(idmap, inode, name,
+						   false, &buffer, &len);
 		goto out_noalloc;
 	}
 
-	len = security_inode_getsecurity(idmap, inode, name, &buffer,
-					 true);
-	if (len < 0)
-		return len;
+	error = security_inode_getsecurity(idmap, inode, name, true,
+					   &buffer, &len);
+	if (error)
+		return error;
 	if (size < len) {
-		len = -ERANGE;
+		error = -ERANGE;
 		goto out;
 	}
 	memcpy(value, buffer, len);
 out:
 	kfree(buffer);
 out_noalloc:
-	return len;
+	return error < 0 ? error : len;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/include/linux/lsm_hook_defs.h b/include/linux/lsm_hook_defs.h
index 964849de424b..4f056f2613af 100644
--- a/include/linux/lsm_hook_defs.h
+++ b/include/linux/lsm_hook_defs.h
@@ -169,7 +169,8 @@ LSM_HOOK(int, 0, inode_need_killpriv, struct dentry *dentry, bool *need)
 LSM_HOOK(int, 0, inode_killpriv, struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 	 struct dentry *dentry)
 LSM_HOOK(int, -EOPNOTSUPP, inode_getsecurity, struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
-	 struct inode *inode, const char *name, void **buffer, bool alloc)
+	 struct inode *inode, const char *name, bool alloc, void **buffer,
+	 u32 *len)
 LSM_HOOK(int, -EOPNOTSUPP, inode_setsecurity, struct inode *inode,
 	 const char *name, const void *value, size_t size, int flags)
 LSM_HOOK(int, 0, inode_listsecurity, struct inode *inode, char *buffer,
diff --git a/include/linux/security.h b/include/linux/security.h
index 1614ef5b2dd2..b6d296d21438 100644
--- a/include/linux/security.h
+++ b/include/linux/security.h
@@ -164,8 +164,8 @@ int cap_inode_removexattr(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 int cap_inode_need_killpriv(struct dentry *dentry, bool *need);
 int cap_inode_killpriv(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct dentry *dentry);
 int cap_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
-			  struct inode *inode, const char *name, void **buffer,
-			  bool alloc);
+			  struct inode *inode, const char *name, bool alloc,
+			  void **buffer, u32 *len);
 extern int cap_mmap_addr(unsigned long addr);
 extern int cap_mmap_file(struct file *file, unsigned long reqprot,
 			 unsigned long prot, unsigned long flags);
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ int security_inode_need_killpriv(struct dentry *dentry, int *attr);
 int security_inode_killpriv(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct dentry *dentry);
 int security_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 			       struct inode *inode, const char *name,
-			       void **buffer, bool alloc);
+			       bool alloc, void **buffer, u32 *len);
 int security_inode_setsecurity(struct inode *inode, const char *name, const void *value, size_t size, int flags);
 int security_inode_listsecurity(struct inode *inode, char *buffer, size_t buffer_size);
 void security_inode_getsecid(struct inode *inode, u32 *secid);
@@ -996,10 +996,10 @@ static inline int security_inode_killpriv(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 
 static inline int security_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 					     struct inode *inode,
-					     const char *name, void **buffer,
-					     bool alloc)
+					     const char *name, bool alloc,
+					     void **buffer, u32 *len)
 {
-	return cap_inode_getsecurity(idmap, inode, name, buffer, alloc);
+	return cap_inode_getsecurity(idmap, inode, name, alloc, buffer, len);
 }
 
 static inline int security_inode_setsecurity(struct inode *inode, const char *name, const void *value, size_t size, int flags)
diff --git a/security/commoncap.c b/security/commoncap.c
index 17d6188d22cf..ff82e2ab6f8f 100644
--- a/security/commoncap.c
+++ b/security/commoncap.c
@@ -383,8 +383,8 @@ static bool is_v3header(int size, const struct vfs_cap_data *cap)
  * so that's good.
  */
 int cap_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
-			  struct inode *inode, const char *name, void **buffer,
-			  bool alloc)
+			  struct inode *inode, const char *name,
+			  bool alloc, void **buffer, u32 *len)
 {
 	int size;
 	kuid_t kroot;
@@ -485,7 +485,10 @@ int cap_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 	}
 out_free:
 	kfree(tmpbuf);
-	return size;
+	if (size < 0)
+		return size;
+	*len = size;
+	return 0;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/security/security.c b/security/security.c
index a4abcd86eb36..614f14cbfff7 100644
--- a/security/security.c
+++ b/security/security.c
@@ -2544,8 +2544,9 @@ int security_inode_killpriv(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
  * @idmap: idmap of the mount
  * @inode: inode
  * @name: xattr name
- * @buffer: security label buffer
  * @alloc: allocation flag
+ * @buffer: security label buffer
+ * @len: security label length
  *
  * Retrieve a copy of the extended attribute representation of the security
  * label associated with @name for @inode via @buffer.  Note that @name is the
@@ -2553,17 +2554,17 @@ int security_inode_killpriv(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
  * @alloc is used to specify if the call should return a value via the buffer
  * or just the value length.
  *
- * Return: Returns size of buffer on success.
+ * Return: Returns 0 on success or a negative error code on failure.
  */
 int security_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 			       struct inode *inode, const char *name,
-			       void **buffer, bool alloc)
+			       bool alloc, void **buffer, u32 *len)
 {
 	if (unlikely(IS_PRIVATE(inode)))
 		return LSM_RET_DEFAULT(inode_getsecurity);
 
-	return call_int_hook(inode_getsecurity, idmap, inode, name, buffer,
-			     alloc);
+	return call_int_hook(inode_getsecurity, idmap, inode, name, alloc,
+			     buffer, len);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/security/selinux/hooks.c b/security/selinux/hooks.c
index 9cd5a8f1f6a3..70792bba24d9 100644
--- a/security/selinux/hooks.c
+++ b/security/selinux/hooks.c
@@ -3407,7 +3407,7 @@ static int selinux_path_notify(const struct path *path, u64 mask,
  */
 static int selinux_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 				     struct inode *inode, const char *name,
-				     void **buffer, bool alloc)
+				     bool alloc, void **buffer, u32 *len)
 {
 	u32 size;
 	int error;
@@ -3440,14 +3440,14 @@ static int selinux_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 						&context, &size);
 	if (error)
 		return error;
-	error = size;
+	*len = size;
 	if (alloc) {
 		*buffer = context;
 		goto out_nofree;
 	}
 	kfree(context);
 out_nofree:
-	return error;
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static int selinux_inode_setsecurity(struct inode *inode, const char *name,
@@ -6644,13 +6644,9 @@ static int selinux_inode_setsecctx(struct dentry *dentry, void *ctx, u32 ctxlen)
 
 static int selinux_inode_getsecctx(struct inode *inode, void **ctx, u32 *ctxlen)
 {
-	int len = 0;
-	len = selinux_inode_getsecurity(&nop_mnt_idmap, inode,
-					XATTR_SELINUX_SUFFIX, ctx, true);
-	if (len < 0)
-		return len;
-	*ctxlen = len;
-	return 0;
+	return selinux_inode_getsecurity(&nop_mnt_idmap, inode,
+					 XATTR_SELINUX_SUFFIX,
+					 true, ctx, ctxlen);
 }
 #ifdef CONFIG_KEYS
 
diff --git a/security/smack/smack_lsm.c b/security/smack/smack_lsm.c
index f5cbec1e6a92..e7a5f6fd9a2d 100644
--- a/security/smack/smack_lsm.c
+++ b/security/smack/smack_lsm.c
@@ -1543,14 +1543,15 @@ static int smack_inode_remove_acl(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
  * @idmap: idmap of the mount
  * @inode: the object
  * @name: attribute name
- * @buffer: where to put the result
  * @alloc: duplicate memory
+ * @buffer: where to put the result
+ * @len: where to put the result length
  *
- * Returns the size of the attribute or an error code
+ * Returns 0 on success or a negative error code on failure
  */
 static int smack_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 				   struct inode *inode, const char *name,
-				   void **buffer, bool alloc)
+				   bool alloc, void **buffer, u32 *len)
 {
 	struct socket_smack *ssp;
 	struct socket *sock;
@@ -1558,7 +1559,6 @@ static int smack_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 	struct inode *ip = inode;
 	struct smack_known *isp;
 	struct inode_smack *ispp;
-	size_t label_len;
 	char *label = NULL;
 
 	if (strcmp(name, XATTR_SMACK_SUFFIX) == 0) {
@@ -1594,15 +1594,15 @@ static int smack_inode_getsecurity(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 	if (!label)
 		label = isp->smk_known;
 
-	label_len = strlen(label);
-
 	if (alloc) {
 		*buffer = kstrdup(label, GFP_KERNEL);
 		if (*buffer == NULL)
 			return -ENOMEM;
 	}
 
-	return label_len;
+	*len = strlen(label);
+
+	return 0;
 }
 
 
