Sentry virtual filesystem, v2

Major differences from the current ("v1") sentry VFS:

- Path resolution is Filesystem-driven (FilesystemImpl methods call
vfs.ResolvingPath methods) rather than VFS-driven (fs package owns a
Dirent tree and calls fs.InodeOperations methods to populate it). This
drastically improves performance, primarily by reducing overhead from
inefficient synchronization and indirection. It also makes it possible
to implement remote filesystem protocols that translate FS system calls
into single RPCs, rather than having to make (at least) one RPC per path
component, significantly reducing the latency of remote filesystems
(especially during cold starts and for uncacheable shared filesystems).

- Mounts are correctly represented as a separate check based on
contextual state (current mount) rather than direct replacement in a
fs.Dirent tree. This makes it possible to support (non-recursive) bind
mounts and mount namespaces.

Included in this CL is fsimpl/memfs, an incomplete in-memory filesystem
that exists primarily to demonstrate intended filesystem implementation
patterns and for benchmarking:

BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsStat/1-6               3000000               497 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsStat/2-6               2000000               676 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsStat/3-6               2000000               904 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsStat/8-6               1000000              1944 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsStat/64-6               100000             14067 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsStat/100-6               50000             21700 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsStat/1-6              10000000               197 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsStat/2-6               5000000               233 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsStat/3-6               5000000               268 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsStat/8-6               3000000               477 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsStat/64-6               500000              2592 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsStat/100-6              300000              4045 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsMountStat/1-6          2000000               679 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsMountStat/2-6          2000000               912 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsMountStat/3-6          1000000              1113 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsMountStat/8-6          1000000              2118 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsMountStat/64-6                  100000             14251 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsMountStat/100-6                 100000             22397 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsMountStat/1-6                  5000000               317 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsMountStat/2-6                  5000000               361 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsMountStat/3-6                  5000000               387 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsMountStat/8-6                  3000000               582 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsMountStat/64-6                  500000              2699 ns/op
BenchmarkVFS2MemfsMountStat/100-6                 300000              4133 ns/op

From this we can infer that, on this machine:

- Constant cost for tmpfs stat() is ~160ns in VFS2 and ~280ns in VFS1.

- Per-path-component cost is ~35ns in VFS2 and ~215ns in VFS1, a
difference of about 6x.

- The cost of crossing a mount boundary is about 80ns in VFS2
(MemfsMountStat/1 does approximately the same amount of work as
MemfsStat/2, except that it also crosses a mount boundary). This is an
inescapable cost of the separate mount lookup needed to support bind
mounts and mount namespaces.

PiperOrigin-RevId: 258853946

24 files changed, 5239 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/BUILD b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/BUILD
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d5d4f68df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/BUILD
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+load("//tools/go_stateify:defs.bzl", "go_library", "go_test")
+
+package(licenses = ["notice"])
+
+load("//tools/go_generics:defs.bzl", "go_template_instance")
+
+go_template_instance(
+    name = "dentry_list",
+    out = "dentry_list.go",
+    package = "memfs",
+    prefix = "dentry",
+    template = "//pkg/ilist:generic_list",
+    types = {
+        "Element": "*Dentry",
+        "Linker": "*Dentry",
+    },
+)
+
+go_library(
+    name = "memfs",
+    srcs = [
+        "dentry_list.go",
+        "directory.go",
+        "filesystem.go",
+        "memfs.go",
+        "regular_file.go",
+        "symlink.go",
+    ],
+    importpath = "gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs",
+    deps = [
+        "//pkg/abi/linux",
+        "//pkg/sentry/context",
+        "//pkg/sentry/kernel/auth",
+        "//pkg/sentry/usermem",
+        "//pkg/sentry/vfs",
+        "//pkg/syserror",
+    ],
+)
+
+go_test(
+    name = "benchmark_test",
+    size = "small",
+    srcs = ["benchmark_test.go"],
+    deps = [
+        ":memfs",
+        "//pkg/abi/linux",
+        "//pkg/sentry/context",
+        "//pkg/sentry/context/contexttest",
+        "//pkg/sentry/fs",
+        "//pkg/sentry/fs/tmpfs",
+        "//pkg/sentry/kernel/auth",
+        "//pkg/sentry/vfs",
+        "//pkg/syserror",
+    ],
+)
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/benchmark_test.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/benchmark_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a94b17db6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/benchmark_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,464 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package benchmark_test
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"runtime"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context/contexttest"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/fs"
+	_ "gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/fs/tmpfs"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/vfs"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+// Differences from stat_benchmark:
+//
+// - Syscall interception, CopyInPath, copyOutStat, and overlayfs overheads are
+// not included.
+//
+// - *MountStat benchmarks use a tmpfs root mount and a tmpfs submount at /tmp.
+// Non-MountStat benchmarks use a tmpfs root mount and no submounts.
+// stat_benchmark uses a varying root mount, a tmpfs submount at /tmp, and a
+// subdirectory /tmp/<top_dir> (assuming TEST_TMPDIR == "/tmp"). Thus
+// stat_benchmark at depth 1 does a comparable amount of work to *MountStat
+// benchmarks at depth 2, and non-MountStat benchmarks at depth 3.
+var depths = []int{1, 2, 3, 8, 64, 100}
+
+const (
+	mountPointName = "tmp"
+	filename       = "gvisor_test_temp_0_1557494568"
+)
+
+// This is copied from syscalls/linux/sys_file.go, with the dependency on
+// kernel.Task stripped out.
+func fileOpOn(ctx context.Context, mntns *fs.MountNamespace, root, wd *fs.Dirent, dirFD int32, path string, resolve bool, fn func(root *fs.Dirent, d *fs.Dirent) error) error {
+	var (
+		d   *fs.Dirent // The file.
+		rel *fs.Dirent // The relative directory for search (if required.)
+		err error
+	)
+
+	// Extract the working directory (maybe).
+	if len(path) > 0 && path[0] == '/' {
+		// Absolute path; rel can be nil.
+	} else if dirFD == linux.AT_FDCWD {
+		// Need to reference the working directory.
+		rel = wd
+	} else {
+		// Need to extract the given FD.
+		return syserror.EBADF
+	}
+
+	// Lookup the node.
+	remainingTraversals := uint(linux.MaxSymlinkTraversals)
+	if resolve {
+		d, err = mntns.FindInode(ctx, root, rel, path, &remainingTraversals)
+	} else {
+		d, err = mntns.FindLink(ctx, root, rel, path, &remainingTraversals)
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	err = fn(root, d)
+	d.DecRef()
+	return err
+}
+
+func BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsStat(b *testing.B) {
+	for _, depth := range depths {
+		b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%d", depth), func(b *testing.B) {
+			ctx := contexttest.Context(b)
+
+			// Create VFS.
+			tmpfsFS, ok := fs.FindFilesystem("tmpfs")
+			if !ok {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to find tmpfs filesystem type")
+			}
+			rootInode, err := tmpfsFS.Mount(ctx, "tmpfs", fs.MountSourceFlags{}, "", nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create tmpfs root mount: %v", err)
+			}
+			mntns, err := fs.NewMountNamespace(ctx, rootInode)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create mount namespace: %v", err)
+			}
+			defer mntns.DecRef()
+
+			var filePathBuilder strings.Builder
+			filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+
+			// Create nested directories with given depth.
+			root := mntns.Root()
+			defer root.DecRef()
+			d := root
+			d.IncRef()
+			defer d.DecRef()
+			for i := depth; i > 0; i-- {
+				name := fmt.Sprintf("%d", i)
+				if err := d.Inode.CreateDirectory(ctx, d, name, fs.FilePermsFromMode(0755)); err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("failed to create directory %q: %v", name, err)
+				}
+				next, err := d.Walk(ctx, root, name)
+				if err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("failed to walk to directory %q: %v", name, err)
+				}
+				d.DecRef()
+				d = next
+				filePathBuilder.WriteString(name)
+				filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+			}
+
+			// Create the file that will be stat'd.
+			file, err := d.Inode.Create(ctx, d, filename, fs.FileFlags{Read: true, Write: true}, fs.FilePermsFromMode(0644))
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create file %q: %v", filename, err)
+			}
+			file.DecRef()
+			filePathBuilder.WriteString(filename)
+			filePath := filePathBuilder.String()
+
+			dirPath := false
+			runtime.GC()
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				err := fileOpOn(ctx, mntns, root, root, linux.AT_FDCWD, filePath, true /* resolve */, func(root *fs.Dirent, d *fs.Dirent) error {
+					if dirPath && !fs.IsDir(d.Inode.StableAttr) {
+						return syserror.ENOTDIR
+					}
+					uattr, err := d.Inode.UnstableAttr(ctx)
+					if err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+					// Sanity check.
+					if uattr.Perms.User.Execute {
+						b.Fatalf("got wrong permissions (%0o)", uattr.Perms.LinuxMode())
+					}
+					return nil
+				})
+				if err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("stat(%q) failed: %v", filePath, err)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkVFS2MemfsStat(b *testing.B) {
+	for _, depth := range depths {
+		b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%d", depth), func(b *testing.B) {
+			ctx := contexttest.Context(b)
+			creds := auth.CredentialsFromContext(ctx)
+
+			// Create VFS.
+			vfsObj := vfs.New()
+			vfsObj.MustRegisterFilesystemType("memfs", memfs.FilesystemType{})
+			mntns, err := vfsObj.NewMountNamespace(ctx, creds, "", "memfs", &vfs.NewFilesystemOptions{})
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create tmpfs root mount: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			var filePathBuilder strings.Builder
+			filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+
+			// Create nested directories with given depth.
+			root := mntns.Root()
+			defer root.DecRef()
+			vd := root
+			vd.IncRef()
+			defer vd.DecRef()
+			for i := depth; i > 0; i-- {
+				name := fmt.Sprintf("%d", i)
+				pop := vfs.PathOperation{
+					Root:     root,
+					Start:    vd,
+					Pathname: name,
+				}
+				if err := vfsObj.MkdirAt(ctx, creds, &pop, &vfs.MkdirOptions{
+					Mode: 0755,
+				}); err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("failed to create directory %q: %v", name, err)
+				}
+				nextVD, err := vfsObj.GetDentryAt(ctx, creds, &pop, &vfs.GetDentryOptions{})
+				if err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("failed to walk to directory %q: %v", name, err)
+				}
+				vd.DecRef()
+				vd = nextVD
+				filePathBuilder.WriteString(name)
+				filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+			}
+
+			// Create the file that will be stat'd.
+			fd, err := vfsObj.OpenAt(ctx, creds, &vfs.PathOperation{
+				Root:               root,
+				Start:              vd,
+				Pathname:           filename,
+				FollowFinalSymlink: true,
+			}, &vfs.OpenOptions{
+				Flags: linux.O_RDWR | linux.O_CREAT | linux.O_EXCL,
+				Mode:  0644,
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create file %q: %v", filename, err)
+			}
+			defer fd.DecRef()
+			filePathBuilder.WriteString(filename)
+			filePath := filePathBuilder.String()
+
+			runtime.GC()
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				stat, err := vfsObj.StatAt(ctx, creds, &vfs.PathOperation{
+					Root:               root,
+					Start:              root,
+					Pathname:           filePath,
+					FollowFinalSymlink: true,
+				}, &vfs.StatOptions{})
+				if err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("stat(%q) failed: %v", filePath, err)
+				}
+				// Sanity check.
+				if stat.Mode&^linux.S_IFMT != 0644 {
+					b.Fatalf("got wrong permissions (%0o)", stat.Mode)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkVFS1TmpfsMountStat(b *testing.B) {
+	for _, depth := range depths {
+		b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%d", depth), func(b *testing.B) {
+			ctx := contexttest.Context(b)
+
+			// Create VFS.
+			tmpfsFS, ok := fs.FindFilesystem("tmpfs")
+			if !ok {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to find tmpfs filesystem type")
+			}
+			rootInode, err := tmpfsFS.Mount(ctx, "tmpfs", fs.MountSourceFlags{}, "", nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create tmpfs root mount: %v", err)
+			}
+			mntns, err := fs.NewMountNamespace(ctx, rootInode)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create mount namespace: %v", err)
+			}
+			defer mntns.DecRef()
+
+			var filePathBuilder strings.Builder
+			filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+
+			// Create and mount the submount.
+			root := mntns.Root()
+			defer root.DecRef()
+			if err := root.Inode.CreateDirectory(ctx, root, mountPointName, fs.FilePermsFromMode(0755)); err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create mount point: %v", err)
+			}
+			mountPoint, err := root.Walk(ctx, root, mountPointName)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to walk to mount point: %v", err)
+			}
+			defer mountPoint.DecRef()
+			submountInode, err := tmpfsFS.Mount(ctx, "tmpfs", fs.MountSourceFlags{}, "", nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create tmpfs submount: %v", err)
+			}
+			if err := mntns.Mount(ctx, mountPoint, submountInode); err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to mount tmpfs submount: %v", err)
+			}
+			filePathBuilder.WriteString(mountPointName)
+			filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+
+			// Create nested directories with given depth.
+			d, err := root.Walk(ctx, root, mountPointName)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to walk to mount root: %v", err)
+			}
+			defer d.DecRef()
+			for i := depth; i > 0; i-- {
+				name := fmt.Sprintf("%d", i)
+				if err := d.Inode.CreateDirectory(ctx, d, name, fs.FilePermsFromMode(0755)); err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("failed to create directory %q: %v", name, err)
+				}
+				next, err := d.Walk(ctx, root, name)
+				if err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("failed to walk to directory %q: %v", name, err)
+				}
+				d.DecRef()
+				d = next
+				filePathBuilder.WriteString(name)
+				filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+			}
+
+			// Create the file that will be stat'd.
+			file, err := d.Inode.Create(ctx, d, filename, fs.FileFlags{Read: true, Write: true}, fs.FilePermsFromMode(0644))
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create file %q: %v", filename, err)
+			}
+			file.DecRef()
+			filePathBuilder.WriteString(filename)
+			filePath := filePathBuilder.String()
+
+			dirPath := false
+			runtime.GC()
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				err := fileOpOn(ctx, mntns, root, root, linux.AT_FDCWD, filePath, true /* resolve */, func(root *fs.Dirent, d *fs.Dirent) error {
+					if dirPath && !fs.IsDir(d.Inode.StableAttr) {
+						return syserror.ENOTDIR
+					}
+					uattr, err := d.Inode.UnstableAttr(ctx)
+					if err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+					// Sanity check.
+					if uattr.Perms.User.Execute {
+						b.Fatalf("got wrong permissions (%0o)", uattr.Perms.LinuxMode())
+					}
+					return nil
+				})
+				if err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("stat(%q) failed: %v", filePath, err)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkVFS2MemfsMountStat(b *testing.B) {
+	for _, depth := range depths {
+		b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%d", depth), func(b *testing.B) {
+			ctx := contexttest.Context(b)
+			creds := auth.CredentialsFromContext(ctx)
+
+			// Create VFS.
+			vfsObj := vfs.New()
+			vfsObj.MustRegisterFilesystemType("memfs", memfs.FilesystemType{})
+			mntns, err := vfsObj.NewMountNamespace(ctx, creds, "", "memfs", &vfs.NewFilesystemOptions{})
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create tmpfs root mount: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			var filePathBuilder strings.Builder
+			filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+
+			// Create the mount point.
+			root := mntns.Root()
+			defer root.DecRef()
+			pop := vfs.PathOperation{
+				Root:     root,
+				Start:    root,
+				Pathname: mountPointName,
+			}
+			if err := vfsObj.MkdirAt(ctx, creds, &pop, &vfs.MkdirOptions{
+				Mode: 0755,
+			}); err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create mount point: %v", err)
+			}
+			// Save the mount point for later use.
+			mountPoint, err := vfsObj.GetDentryAt(ctx, creds, &pop, &vfs.GetDentryOptions{})
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to walk to mount point: %v", err)
+			}
+			defer mountPoint.DecRef()
+			// Create and mount the submount.
+			if err := vfsObj.NewMount(ctx, creds, "", &pop, "memfs", &vfs.NewFilesystemOptions{}); err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to mount tmpfs submount: %v", err)
+			}
+			filePathBuilder.WriteString(mountPointName)
+			filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+
+			// Create nested directories with given depth.
+			vd, err := vfsObj.GetDentryAt(ctx, creds, &pop, &vfs.GetDentryOptions{})
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to walk to mount root: %v", err)
+			}
+			defer vd.DecRef()
+			for i := depth; i > 0; i-- {
+				name := fmt.Sprintf("%d", i)
+				pop := vfs.PathOperation{
+					Root:     root,
+					Start:    vd,
+					Pathname: name,
+				}
+				if err := vfsObj.MkdirAt(ctx, creds, &pop, &vfs.MkdirOptions{
+					Mode: 0755,
+				}); err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("failed to create directory %q: %v", name, err)
+				}
+				nextVD, err := vfsObj.GetDentryAt(ctx, creds, &pop, &vfs.GetDentryOptions{})
+				if err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("failed to walk to directory %q: %v", name, err)
+				}
+				vd.DecRef()
+				vd = nextVD
+				filePathBuilder.WriteString(name)
+				filePathBuilder.WriteByte('/')
+			}
+
+			// Verify that we didn't create any directories under the mount
+			// point (i.e. they were all created on the submount).
+			firstDirName := fmt.Sprintf("%d", depth)
+			if child := mountPoint.Dentry().Child(firstDirName); child != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("created directory %q under root mount, not submount", firstDirName)
+			}
+
+			// Create the file that will be stat'd.
+			fd, err := vfsObj.OpenAt(ctx, creds, &vfs.PathOperation{
+				Root:               root,
+				Start:              vd,
+				Pathname:           filename,
+				FollowFinalSymlink: true,
+			}, &vfs.OpenOptions{
+				Flags: linux.O_RDWR | linux.O_CREAT | linux.O_EXCL,
+				Mode:  0644,
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatalf("failed to create file %q: %v", filename, err)
+			}
+			fd.DecRef()
+			filePathBuilder.WriteString(filename)
+			filePath := filePathBuilder.String()
+
+			runtime.GC()
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				stat, err := vfsObj.StatAt(ctx, creds, &vfs.PathOperation{
+					Root:               root,
+					Start:              root,
+					Pathname:           filePath,
+					FollowFinalSymlink: true,
+				}, &vfs.StatOptions{})
+				if err != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("stat(%q) failed: %v", filePath, err)
+				}
+				// Sanity check.
+				if stat.Mode&^linux.S_IFMT != 0644 {
+					b.Fatalf("got wrong permissions (%0o)", stat.Mode)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/directory.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/directory.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b0c3ea39a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/directory.go
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package memfs
+
+import (
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/vfs"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+type directory struct {
+	inode Inode
+
+	// childList is a list containing (1) child Dentries and (2) fake Dentries
+	// (with inode == nil) that represent the iteration position of
+	// directoryFDs. childList is used to support directoryFD.IterDirents()
+	// efficiently. childList is protected by Filesystem.mu.
+	childList dentryList
+}
+
+func (fs *Filesystem) newDirectory(creds *auth.Credentials, mode uint16) *Inode {
+	dir := &directory{}
+	dir.inode.init(dir, fs, creds, mode)
+	dir.inode.nlink = 2 // from "." and parent directory or ".." for root
+	return &dir.inode
+}
+
+func (i *Inode) isDir() bool {
+	_, ok := i.impl.(*directory)
+	return ok
+}
+
+type directoryFD struct {
+	fileDescription
+	vfs.DirectoryFileDescriptionDefaultImpl
+
+	// Protected by Filesystem.mu.
+	iter *Dentry
+	off  int64
+}
+
+// Release implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.Release.
+func (fd *directoryFD) Release() {
+	if fd.iter != nil {
+		fs := fd.filesystem()
+		dir := fd.inode().impl.(*directory)
+		fs.mu.Lock()
+		dir.childList.Remove(fd.iter)
+		fs.mu.Unlock()
+		fd.iter = nil
+	}
+}
+
+// IterDirents implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.IterDirents.
+func (fd *directoryFD) IterDirents(ctx context.Context, cb vfs.IterDirentsCallback) error {
+	fs := fd.filesystem()
+	d := fd.vfsfd.VirtualDentry().Dentry()
+
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+
+	if fd.off == 0 {
+		if !cb.Handle(vfs.Dirent{
+			Name: ".",
+			Type: linux.DT_DIR,
+			Ino:  d.Impl().(*Dentry).inode.ino,
+			Off:  0,
+		}) {
+			return nil
+		}
+		fd.off++
+	}
+	if fd.off == 1 {
+		parentInode := d.ParentOrSelf().Impl().(*Dentry).inode
+		if !cb.Handle(vfs.Dirent{
+			Name: "..",
+			Type: parentInode.direntType(),
+			Ino:  parentInode.ino,
+			Off:  1,
+		}) {
+			return nil
+		}
+		fd.off++
+	}
+
+	dir := d.Impl().(*Dentry).inode.impl.(*directory)
+	var child *Dentry
+	if fd.iter == nil {
+		// Start iteration at the beginning of dir.
+		child = dir.childList.Front()
+		fd.iter = &Dentry{}
+	} else {
+		// Continue iteration from where we left off.
+		child = fd.iter.Next()
+		dir.childList.Remove(fd.iter)
+	}
+	for child != nil {
+		// Skip other directoryFD iterators.
+		if child.inode != nil {
+			if !cb.Handle(vfs.Dirent{
+				Name: child.vfsd.Name(),
+				Type: child.inode.direntType(),
+				Ino:  child.inode.ino,
+				Off:  fd.off,
+			}) {
+				dir.childList.InsertBefore(child, fd.iter)
+				return nil
+			}
+			fd.off++
+		}
+		child = child.Next()
+	}
+	dir.childList.PushBack(fd.iter)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Seek implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.Seek.
+func (fd *directoryFD) Seek(ctx context.Context, offset int64, whence int32) (int64, error) {
+	if whence != linux.SEEK_SET {
+		// TODO: Linux also allows SEEK_CUR.
+		return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+	}
+	if offset < 0 {
+		return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+	}
+
+	fd.off = offset
+	// Compensate for "." and "..".
+	var remChildren int64
+	if offset < 2 {
+		remChildren = 0
+	} else {
+		remChildren = offset - 2
+	}
+
+	fs := fd.filesystem()
+	dir := fd.inode().impl.(*directory)
+
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+
+	// Ensure that fd.iter exists and is not linked into dir.childList.
+	if fd.iter == nil {
+		fd.iter = &Dentry{}
+	} else {
+		dir.childList.Remove(fd.iter)
+	}
+	// Insert fd.iter before the remChildren'th child, or at the end of the
+	// list if remChildren >= number of children.
+	child := dir.childList.Front()
+	for child != nil {
+		// Skip other directoryFD iterators.
+		if child.inode != nil {
+			if remChildren == 0 {
+				dir.childList.InsertBefore(child, fd.iter)
+				return offset, nil
+			}
+			remChildren--
+		}
+		child = child.Next()
+	}
+	dir.childList.PushBack(fd.iter)
+	return offset, nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/filesystem.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/filesystem.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4d989eeaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/filesystem.go
@@ -0,0 +1,542 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package memfs
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"sync/atomic"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/vfs"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+// stepLocked resolves rp.Component() in parent directory vfsd.
+//
+// stepLocked is loosely analogous to fs/namei.c:walk_component().
+//
+// Preconditions: Filesystem.mu must be locked. !rp.Done(). inode ==
+// vfsd.Impl().(*Dentry).inode.
+func stepLocked(rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, vfsd *vfs.Dentry, inode *Inode) (*vfs.Dentry, *Inode, error) {
+	if !inode.isDir() {
+		return nil, nil, syserror.ENOTDIR
+	}
+	if err := inode.checkPermissions(rp.Credentials(), vfs.MayExec, true); err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, err
+	}
+afterSymlink:
+	nextVFSD, err := rp.ResolveComponent(vfsd)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, err
+	}
+	if nextVFSD == nil {
+		// Since the Dentry tree is the sole source of truth for memfs, if it's
+		// not in the Dentry tree, it doesn't exist.
+		return nil, nil, syserror.ENOENT
+	}
+	nextInode := nextVFSD.Impl().(*Dentry).inode
+	if symlink, ok := nextInode.impl.(*symlink); ok && rp.ShouldFollowSymlink() {
+		// TODO: symlink traversals update access time
+		if err := rp.HandleSymlink(symlink.target); err != nil {
+			return nil, nil, err
+		}
+		goto afterSymlink // don't check the current directory again
+	}
+	rp.Advance()
+	return nextVFSD, nextInode, nil
+}
+
+// walkExistingLocked resolves rp to an existing file.
+//
+// walkExistingLocked is loosely analogous to Linux's
+// fs/namei.c:path_lookupat().
+//
+// Preconditions: Filesystem.mu must be locked.
+func walkExistingLocked(rp *vfs.ResolvingPath) (*vfs.Dentry, *Inode, error) {
+	vfsd := rp.Start()
+	inode := vfsd.Impl().(*Dentry).inode
+	for !rp.Done() {
+		var err error
+		vfsd, inode, err = stepLocked(rp, vfsd, inode)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, nil, err
+		}
+	}
+	if rp.MustBeDir() && !inode.isDir() {
+		return nil, nil, syserror.ENOTDIR
+	}
+	return vfsd, inode, nil
+}
+
+// walkParentDirLocked resolves all but the last path component of rp to an
+// existing directory. It does not check that the returned directory is
+// searchable by the provider of rp.
+//
+// walkParentDirLocked is loosely analogous to Linux's
+// fs/namei.c:path_parentat().
+//
+// Preconditions: Filesystem.mu must be locked. !rp.Done().
+func walkParentDirLocked(rp *vfs.ResolvingPath) (*vfs.Dentry, *Inode, error) {
+	vfsd := rp.Start()
+	inode := vfsd.Impl().(*Dentry).inode
+	for !rp.Final() {
+		var err error
+		vfsd, inode, err = stepLocked(rp, vfsd, inode)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, nil, err
+		}
+	}
+	if !inode.isDir() {
+		return nil, nil, syserror.ENOTDIR
+	}
+	return vfsd, inode, nil
+}
+
+// checkCreateLocked checks that a file named rp.Component() may be created in
+// directory parentVFSD, then returns rp.Component().
+//
+// Preconditions: Filesystem.mu must be locked. parentInode ==
+// parentVFSD.Impl().(*Dentry).inode. parentInode.isDir() == true.
+func checkCreateLocked(rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, parentVFSD *vfs.Dentry, parentInode *Inode) (string, error) {
+	if err := parentInode.checkPermissions(rp.Credentials(), vfs.MayWrite|vfs.MayExec, true); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	pc := rp.Component()
+	if pc == "." || pc == ".." {
+		return "", syserror.EEXIST
+	}
+	childVFSD, err := rp.ResolveChild(parentVFSD, pc)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	if childVFSD != nil {
+		return "", syserror.EEXIST
+	}
+	if parentVFSD.IsDisowned() {
+		return "", syserror.ENOENT
+	}
+	return pc, nil
+}
+
+// checkDeleteLocked checks that the file represented by vfsd may be deleted.
+func checkDeleteLocked(vfsd *vfs.Dentry) error {
+	parentVFSD := vfsd.Parent()
+	if parentVFSD == nil {
+		return syserror.EBUSY
+	}
+	if parentVFSD.IsDisowned() {
+		return syserror.ENOENT
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// GetDentryAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.GetDentryAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) GetDentryAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, opts vfs.GetDentryOptions) (*vfs.Dentry, error) {
+	fs.mu.RLock()
+	defer fs.mu.RUnlock()
+	vfsd, inode, err := walkExistingLocked(rp)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if opts.CheckSearchable {
+		if !inode.isDir() {
+			return nil, syserror.ENOTDIR
+		}
+		if err := inode.checkPermissions(rp.Credentials(), vfs.MayExec, true); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+	inode.incRef() // vfsd.IncRef(&fs.vfsfs)
+	return vfsd, nil
+}
+
+// LinkAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.LinkAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) LinkAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, vd vfs.VirtualDentry) error {
+	if rp.Done() {
+		return syserror.EEXIST
+	}
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+	parentVFSD, parentInode, err := walkParentDirLocked(rp)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	pc, err := checkCreateLocked(rp, parentVFSD, parentInode)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if rp.Mount() != vd.Mount() {
+		return syserror.EXDEV
+	}
+	if err := rp.Mount().CheckBeginWrite(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer rp.Mount().EndWrite()
+	d := vd.Dentry().Impl().(*Dentry)
+	if d.inode.isDir() {
+		return syserror.EPERM
+	}
+	d.inode.incLinksLocked()
+	child := fs.newDentry(d.inode)
+	parentVFSD.InsertChild(&child.vfsd, pc)
+	parentInode.impl.(*directory).childList.PushBack(child)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// MkdirAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.MkdirAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) MkdirAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, opts vfs.MkdirOptions) error {
+	if rp.Done() {
+		return syserror.EEXIST
+	}
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+	parentVFSD, parentInode, err := walkParentDirLocked(rp)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	pc, err := checkCreateLocked(rp, parentVFSD, parentInode)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := rp.Mount().CheckBeginWrite(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer rp.Mount().EndWrite()
+	child := fs.newDentry(fs.newDirectory(rp.Credentials(), opts.Mode))
+	parentVFSD.InsertChild(&child.vfsd, pc)
+	parentInode.impl.(*directory).childList.PushBack(child)
+	parentInode.incLinksLocked() // from child's ".."
+	return nil
+}
+
+// MknodAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.MknodAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) MknodAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, opts vfs.MknodOptions) error {
+	if rp.Done() {
+		return syserror.EEXIST
+	}
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+	parentVFSD, parentInode, err := walkParentDirLocked(rp)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	_, err = checkCreateLocked(rp, parentVFSD, parentInode)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := rp.Mount().CheckBeginWrite(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer rp.Mount().EndWrite()
+	// TODO: actually implement mknod
+	return syserror.EPERM
+}
+
+// OpenAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.OpenAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) OpenAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, opts vfs.OpenOptions) (*vfs.FileDescription, error) {
+	// Filter out flags that are not supported by memfs. O_DIRECTORY and
+	// O_NOFOLLOW have no effect here (they're handled by VFS by setting
+	// appropriate bits in rp), but are returned by
+	// FileDescriptionImpl.StatusFlags().
+	opts.Flags &= linux.O_ACCMODE | linux.O_CREAT | linux.O_EXCL | linux.O_TRUNC | linux.O_DIRECTORY | linux.O_NOFOLLOW
+
+	if opts.Flags&linux.O_CREAT == 0 {
+		fs.mu.RLock()
+		defer fs.mu.RUnlock()
+		vfsd, inode, err := walkExistingLocked(rp)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		return inode.open(rp, vfsd, opts.Flags, false)
+	}
+
+	mustCreate := opts.Flags&linux.O_EXCL != 0
+	vfsd := rp.Start()
+	inode := vfsd.Impl().(*Dentry).inode
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+	if rp.Done() {
+		// FIXME: ???
+		if rp.MustBeDir() {
+			return nil, syserror.EISDIR
+		}
+		if mustCreate {
+			return nil, syserror.EEXIST
+		}
+		return inode.open(rp, vfsd, opts.Flags, false)
+	}
+afterTrailingSymlink:
+	// Walk to the parent directory of the last path component.
+	for !rp.Final() {
+		var err error
+		vfsd, inode, err = stepLocked(rp, vfsd, inode)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+	if !inode.isDir() {
+		return nil, syserror.ENOTDIR
+	}
+	// Check for search permission in the parent directory.
+	if err := inode.checkPermissions(rp.Credentials(), vfs.MayExec, true); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	// Reject attempts to open directories with O_CREAT.
+	if rp.MustBeDir() {
+		return nil, syserror.EISDIR
+	}
+	pc := rp.Component()
+	if pc == "." || pc == ".." {
+		return nil, syserror.EISDIR
+	}
+	// Determine whether or not we need to create a file.
+	childVFSD, err := rp.ResolveChild(vfsd, pc)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if childVFSD == nil {
+		// Already checked for searchability above; now check for writability.
+		if err := inode.checkPermissions(rp.Credentials(), vfs.MayWrite, true); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		if err := rp.Mount().CheckBeginWrite(); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		defer rp.Mount().EndWrite()
+		// Create and open the child.
+		childInode := fs.newRegularFile(rp.Credentials(), opts.Mode)
+		child := fs.newDentry(childInode)
+		vfsd.InsertChild(&child.vfsd, pc)
+		inode.impl.(*directory).childList.PushBack(child)
+		return childInode.open(rp, &child.vfsd, opts.Flags, true)
+	}
+	// Open existing file or follow symlink.
+	if mustCreate {
+		return nil, syserror.EEXIST
+	}
+	childInode := childVFSD.Impl().(*Dentry).inode
+	if symlink, ok := childInode.impl.(*symlink); ok && rp.ShouldFollowSymlink() {
+		// TODO: symlink traversals update access time
+		if err := rp.HandleSymlink(symlink.target); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		// rp.Final() may no longer be true since we now need to resolve the
+		// symlink target.
+		goto afterTrailingSymlink
+	}
+	return childInode.open(rp, childVFSD, opts.Flags, false)
+}
+
+func (i *Inode) open(rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, vfsd *vfs.Dentry, flags uint32, afterCreate bool) (*vfs.FileDescription, error) {
+	ats := vfs.AccessTypesForOpenFlags(flags)
+	if !afterCreate {
+		if err := i.checkPermissions(rp.Credentials(), ats, i.isDir()); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+	switch impl := i.impl.(type) {
+	case *regularFile:
+		var fd regularFileFD
+		fd.flags = flags
+		fd.readable = vfs.MayReadFileWithOpenFlags(flags)
+		fd.writable = vfs.MayWriteFileWithOpenFlags(flags)
+		if fd.writable {
+			if err := rp.Mount().CheckBeginWrite(); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			// Mount.EndWrite() is called by regularFileFD.Release().
+		}
+		fd.vfsfd.Init(&fd, rp.Mount(), vfsd)
+		if flags&linux.O_TRUNC != 0 {
+			impl.mu.Lock()
+			impl.data = impl.data[:0]
+			atomic.StoreInt64(&impl.dataLen, 0)
+			impl.mu.Unlock()
+		}
+		return &fd.vfsfd, nil
+	case *directory:
+		// Can't open directories writably.
+		if ats&vfs.MayWrite != 0 {
+			return nil, syserror.EISDIR
+		}
+		var fd directoryFD
+		fd.vfsfd.Init(&fd, rp.Mount(), vfsd)
+		fd.flags = flags
+		return &fd.vfsfd, nil
+	case *symlink:
+		// Can't open symlinks without O_PATH (which is unimplemented).
+		return nil, syserror.ELOOP
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unknown inode type: %T", i.impl))
+	}
+}
+
+// ReadlinkAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.ReadlinkAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) ReadlinkAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath) (string, error) {
+	fs.mu.RLock()
+	_, inode, err := walkExistingLocked(rp)
+	fs.mu.RUnlock()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	symlink, ok := inode.impl.(*symlink)
+	if !ok {
+		return "", syserror.EINVAL
+	}
+	return symlink.target, nil
+}
+
+// RenameAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.RenameAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) RenameAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, vd vfs.VirtualDentry, opts vfs.RenameOptions) error {
+	if rp.Done() {
+		// FIXME
+		return syserror.ENOENT
+	}
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+	parentVFSD, parentInode, err := walkParentDirLocked(rp)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	_, err = checkCreateLocked(rp, parentVFSD, parentInode)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := rp.Mount().CheckBeginWrite(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer rp.Mount().EndWrite()
+	// TODO: actually implement RenameAt
+	return syserror.EPERM
+}
+
+// RmdirAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.RmdirAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) RmdirAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath) error {
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+	vfsd, inode, err := walkExistingLocked(rp)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := rp.Mount().CheckBeginWrite(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer rp.Mount().EndWrite()
+	if err := checkDeleteLocked(vfsd); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if !inode.isDir() {
+		return syserror.ENOTDIR
+	}
+	if vfsd.HasChildren() {
+		return syserror.ENOTEMPTY
+	}
+	if err := rp.VirtualFilesystem().DeleteDentry(vfs.MountNamespaceFromContext(ctx), vfsd); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	inode.decRef()
+	return nil
+}
+
+// SetStatAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.SetStatAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) SetStatAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, opts vfs.SetStatOptions) error {
+	fs.mu.RLock()
+	_, _, err := walkExistingLocked(rp)
+	fs.mu.RUnlock()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if opts.Stat.Mask == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	// TODO: implement Inode.setStat
+	return syserror.EPERM
+}
+
+// StatAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.StatAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) StatAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, opts vfs.StatOptions) (linux.Statx, error) {
+	fs.mu.RLock()
+	_, inode, err := walkExistingLocked(rp)
+	fs.mu.RUnlock()
+	if err != nil {
+		return linux.Statx{}, err
+	}
+	var stat linux.Statx
+	inode.statTo(&stat)
+	return stat, nil
+}
+
+// StatFSAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.StatFSAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) StatFSAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath) (linux.Statfs, error) {
+	fs.mu.RLock()
+	_, _, err := walkExistingLocked(rp)
+	fs.mu.RUnlock()
+	if err != nil {
+		return linux.Statfs{}, err
+	}
+	// TODO: actually implement statfs
+	return linux.Statfs{}, syserror.ENOSYS
+}
+
+// SymlinkAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.SymlinkAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) SymlinkAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath, target string) error {
+	if rp.Done() {
+		return syserror.EEXIST
+	}
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+	parentVFSD, parentInode, err := walkParentDirLocked(rp)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	pc, err := checkCreateLocked(rp, parentVFSD, parentInode)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := rp.Mount().CheckBeginWrite(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer rp.Mount().EndWrite()
+	child := fs.newDentry(fs.newSymlink(rp.Credentials(), target))
+	parentVFSD.InsertChild(&child.vfsd, pc)
+	parentInode.impl.(*directory).childList.PushBack(child)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// UnlinkAt implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.UnlinkAt.
+func (fs *Filesystem) UnlinkAt(ctx context.Context, rp *vfs.ResolvingPath) error {
+	fs.mu.Lock()
+	defer fs.mu.Unlock()
+	vfsd, inode, err := walkExistingLocked(rp)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := rp.Mount().CheckBeginWrite(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer rp.Mount().EndWrite()
+	if err := checkDeleteLocked(vfsd); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if inode.isDir() {
+		return syserror.EISDIR
+	}
+	if err := rp.VirtualFilesystem().DeleteDentry(vfs.MountNamespaceFromContext(ctx), vfsd); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	inode.decLinksLocked()
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/memfs.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/memfs.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f381e1a88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/memfs.go
@@ -0,0 +1,299 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+// Package memfs provides a filesystem implementation that behaves like tmpfs:
+// the Dentry tree is the sole source of truth for the state of the filesystem.
+//
+// memfs is intended primarily to demonstrate filesystem implementation
+// patterns. Real uses cases for an in-memory filesystem should use tmpfs
+// instead.
+//
+// Lock order:
+//
+// Filesystem.mu
+//   regularFileFD.offMu
+//     regularFile.mu
+//   Inode.mu
+package memfs
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/vfs"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+// FilesystemType implements vfs.FilesystemType.
+type FilesystemType struct{}
+
+// Filesystem implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.
+type Filesystem struct {
+	vfsfs vfs.Filesystem
+
+	// mu serializes changes to the Dentry tree.
+	mu sync.RWMutex
+
+	nextInoMinusOne uint64 // accessed using atomic memory operations
+}
+
+// NewFilesystem implements vfs.FilesystemType.NewFilesystem.
+func (fstype FilesystemType) NewFilesystem(ctx context.Context, creds *auth.Credentials, source string, opts vfs.NewFilesystemOptions) (*vfs.Filesystem, *vfs.Dentry, error) {
+	var fs Filesystem
+	fs.vfsfs.Init(&fs)
+	root := fs.newDentry(fs.newDirectory(creds, 01777))
+	return &fs.vfsfs, &root.vfsd, nil
+}
+
+// Release implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.Release.
+func (fs *Filesystem) Release() {
+}
+
+// Sync implements vfs.FilesystemImpl.Sync.
+func (fs *Filesystem) Sync(ctx context.Context) error {
+	// All filesystem state is in-memory.
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Dentry implements vfs.DentryImpl.
+type Dentry struct {
+	vfsd vfs.Dentry
+
+	// inode is the inode represented by this Dentry. Multiple Dentries may
+	// share a single non-directory Inode (with hard links). inode is
+	// immutable.
+	inode *Inode
+
+	// memfs doesn't count references on Dentries; because the Dentry tree is
+	// the sole source of truth, it is by definition always consistent with the
+	// state of the filesystem. However, it does count references on Inodes,
+	// because Inode resources are released when all references are dropped.
+	// (memfs doesn't really have resources to release, but we implement
+	// reference counting because tmpfs regular files will.)
+
+	// dentryEntry (ugh) links Dentries into their parent directory.childList.
+	dentryEntry
+}
+
+func (fs *Filesystem) newDentry(inode *Inode) *Dentry {
+	d := &Dentry{
+		inode: inode,
+	}
+	d.vfsd.Init(d)
+	return d
+}
+
+// IncRef implements vfs.DentryImpl.IncRef.
+func (d *Dentry) IncRef(vfsfs *vfs.Filesystem) {
+	d.inode.incRef()
+}
+
+// TryIncRef implements vfs.DentryImpl.TryIncRef.
+func (d *Dentry) TryIncRef(vfsfs *vfs.Filesystem) bool {
+	return d.inode.tryIncRef()
+}
+
+// DecRef implements vfs.DentryImpl.DecRef.
+func (d *Dentry) DecRef(vfsfs *vfs.Filesystem) {
+	d.inode.decRef()
+}
+
+// Inode represents a filesystem object.
+type Inode struct {
+	// refs is a reference count. refs is accessed using atomic memory
+	// operations.
+	//
+	// A reference is held on all Inodes that are reachable in the filesystem
+	// tree. For non-directories (which may have multiple hard links), this
+	// means that a reference is dropped when nlink reaches 0. For directories,
+	// nlink never reaches 0 due to the "." entry; instead,
+	// Filesystem.RmdirAt() drops the reference.
+	refs int64
+
+	// Inode metadata; protected by mu and accessed using atomic memory
+	// operations unless otherwise specified.
+	mu    sync.RWMutex
+	mode  uint32 // excluding file type bits, which are based on impl
+	nlink uint32 // protected by Filesystem.mu instead of Inode.mu
+	uid   uint32 // auth.KUID, but stored as raw uint32 for sync/atomic
+	gid   uint32 // auth.KGID, but ...
+	ino   uint64 // immutable
+
+	impl interface{} // immutable
+}
+
+func (i *Inode) init(impl interface{}, fs *Filesystem, creds *auth.Credentials, mode uint16) {
+	i.refs = 1
+	i.mode = uint32(mode)
+	i.uid = uint32(creds.EffectiveKUID)
+	i.gid = uint32(creds.EffectiveKGID)
+	i.ino = atomic.AddUint64(&fs.nextInoMinusOne, 1)
+	// i.nlink initialized by caller
+	i.impl = impl
+}
+
+// Preconditions: Filesystem.mu must be locked for writing.
+func (i *Inode) incLinksLocked() {
+	if atomic.AddUint32(&i.nlink, 1) <= 1 {
+		panic("memfs.Inode.incLinksLocked() called with no existing links")
+	}
+}
+
+// Preconditions: Filesystem.mu must be locked for writing.
+func (i *Inode) decLinksLocked() {
+	if nlink := atomic.AddUint32(&i.nlink, ^uint32(0)); nlink == 0 {
+		i.decRef()
+	} else if nlink == ^uint32(0) { // negative overflow
+		panic("memfs.Inode.decLinksLocked() called with no existing links")
+	}
+}
+
+func (i *Inode) incRef() {
+	if atomic.AddInt64(&i.refs, 1) <= 1 {
+		panic("memfs.Inode.incRef() called without holding a reference")
+	}
+}
+
+func (i *Inode) tryIncRef() bool {
+	for {
+		refs := atomic.LoadInt64(&i.refs)
+		if refs == 0 {
+			return false
+		}
+		if atomic.CompareAndSwapInt64(&i.refs, refs, refs+1) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func (i *Inode) decRef() {
+	if refs := atomic.AddInt64(&i.refs, -1); refs == 0 {
+		// This is unnecessary; it's mostly to simulate what tmpfs would do.
+		if regfile, ok := i.impl.(*regularFile); ok {
+			regfile.mu.Lock()
+			regfile.data = nil
+			atomic.StoreInt64(&regfile.dataLen, 0)
+			regfile.mu.Unlock()
+		}
+	} else if refs < 0 {
+		panic("memfs.Inode.decRef() called without holding a reference")
+	}
+}
+
+func (i *Inode) checkPermissions(creds *auth.Credentials, ats vfs.AccessTypes, isDir bool) error {
+	return vfs.GenericCheckPermissions(creds, ats, isDir, uint16(atomic.LoadUint32(&i.mode)), auth.KUID(atomic.LoadUint32(&i.uid)), auth.KGID(atomic.LoadUint32(&i.gid)))
+}
+
+// Go won't inline this function, and returning linux.Statx (which is quite
+// big) means spending a lot of time in runtime.duffcopy(), so instead it's an
+// output parameter.
+func (i *Inode) statTo(stat *linux.Statx) {
+	stat.Mask = linux.STATX_TYPE | linux.STATX_MODE | linux.STATX_NLINK | linux.STATX_UID | linux.STATX_GID | linux.STATX_INO
+	stat.Blksize = 1 // usermem.PageSize in tmpfs
+	stat.Nlink = atomic.LoadUint32(&i.nlink)
+	stat.UID = atomic.LoadUint32(&i.uid)
+	stat.GID = atomic.LoadUint32(&i.gid)
+	stat.Mode = uint16(atomic.LoadUint32(&i.mode))
+	stat.Ino = i.ino
+	// TODO: device number
+	switch impl := i.impl.(type) {
+	case *regularFile:
+		stat.Mode |= linux.S_IFREG
+		stat.Mask |= linux.STATX_SIZE | linux.STATX_BLOCKS
+		stat.Size = uint64(atomic.LoadInt64(&impl.dataLen))
+		// In tmpfs, this will be FileRangeSet.Span() / 512 (but also cached in
+		// a uint64 accessed using atomic memory operations to avoid taking
+		// locks).
+		stat.Blocks = allocatedBlocksForSize(stat.Size)
+	case *directory:
+		stat.Mode |= linux.S_IFDIR
+	case *symlink:
+		stat.Mode |= linux.S_IFLNK
+		stat.Mask |= linux.STATX_SIZE | linux.STATX_BLOCKS
+		stat.Size = uint64(len(impl.target))
+		stat.Blocks = allocatedBlocksForSize(stat.Size)
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unknown inode type: %T", i.impl))
+	}
+}
+
+// allocatedBlocksForSize returns the number of 512B blocks needed to
+// accommodate the given size in bytes, as appropriate for struct
+// stat::st_blocks and struct statx::stx_blocks. (Note that this 512B block
+// size is independent of the "preferred block size for I/O", struct
+// stat::st_blksize and struct statx::stx_blksize.)
+func allocatedBlocksForSize(size uint64) uint64 {
+	return (size + 511) / 512
+}
+
+func (i *Inode) direntType() uint8 {
+	switch i.impl.(type) {
+	case *regularFile:
+		return linux.DT_REG
+	case *directory:
+		return linux.DT_DIR
+	case *symlink:
+		return linux.DT_LNK
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unknown inode type: %T", i.impl))
+	}
+}
+
+// fileDescription is embedded by memfs implementations of
+// vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.
+type fileDescription struct {
+	vfsfd vfs.FileDescription
+
+	flags uint32 // status flags; immutable
+}
+
+func (fd *fileDescription) filesystem() *Filesystem {
+	return fd.vfsfd.VirtualDentry().Mount().Filesystem().Impl().(*Filesystem)
+}
+
+func (fd *fileDescription) inode() *Inode {
+	return fd.vfsfd.VirtualDentry().Dentry().Impl().(*Dentry).inode
+}
+
+// StatusFlags implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.StatusFlags.
+func (fd *fileDescription) StatusFlags(ctx context.Context) (uint32, error) {
+	return fd.flags, nil
+}
+
+// SetStatusFlags implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.SetStatusFlags.
+func (fd *fileDescription) SetStatusFlags(ctx context.Context, flags uint32) error {
+	// None of the flags settable by fcntl(F_SETFL) are supported, so this is a
+	// no-op.
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Stat implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.Stat.
+func (fd *fileDescription) Stat(ctx context.Context, opts vfs.StatOptions) (linux.Statx, error) {
+	var stat linux.Statx
+	fd.inode().statTo(&stat)
+	return stat, nil
+}
+
+// SetStat implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.SetStat.
+func (fd *fileDescription) SetStat(ctx context.Context, opts vfs.SetStatOptions) error {
+	if opts.Stat.Mask == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	// TODO: implement Inode.setStat
+	return syserror.EPERM
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/regular_file.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/regular_file.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4a3603cc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/regular_file.go
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package memfs
+
+import (
+	"io"
+	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/usermem"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/vfs"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+type regularFile struct {
+	inode Inode
+
+	mu   sync.RWMutex
+	data []byte
+	// dataLen is len(data), but accessed using atomic memory operations to
+	// avoid locking in Inode.stat().
+	dataLen int64
+}
+
+func (fs *Filesystem) newRegularFile(creds *auth.Credentials, mode uint16) *Inode {
+	file := &regularFile{}
+	file.inode.init(file, fs, creds, mode)
+	file.inode.nlink = 1 // from parent directory
+	return &file.inode
+}
+
+type regularFileFD struct {
+	fileDescription
+	vfs.FileDescriptionDefaultImpl
+
+	// These are immutable.
+	readable bool
+	writable bool
+
+	// off is the file offset. off is accessed using atomic memory operations.
+	// offMu serializes operations that may mutate off.
+	off   int64
+	offMu sync.Mutex
+}
+
+// Release implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.Release.
+func (fd *regularFileFD) Release() {
+	if fd.writable {
+		fd.vfsfd.VirtualDentry().Mount().EndWrite()
+	}
+}
+
+// PRead implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.PRead.
+func (fd *regularFileFD) PRead(ctx context.Context, dst usermem.IOSequence, offset int64, opts vfs.ReadOptions) (int64, error) {
+	if !fd.readable {
+		return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+	}
+	f := fd.inode().impl.(*regularFile)
+	f.mu.RLock()
+	if offset >= int64(len(f.data)) {
+		f.mu.RUnlock()
+		return 0, io.EOF
+	}
+	n, err := dst.CopyOut(ctx, f.data[offset:])
+	f.mu.RUnlock()
+	return int64(n), err
+}
+
+// Read implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.Read.
+func (fd *regularFileFD) Read(ctx context.Context, dst usermem.IOSequence, opts vfs.ReadOptions) (int64, error) {
+	fd.offMu.Lock()
+	n, err := fd.PRead(ctx, dst, fd.off, opts)
+	fd.off += n
+	fd.offMu.Unlock()
+	return n, err
+}
+
+// PWrite implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.PWrite.
+func (fd *regularFileFD) PWrite(ctx context.Context, src usermem.IOSequence, offset int64, opts vfs.WriteOptions) (int64, error) {
+	if !fd.writable {
+		return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+	}
+	if offset < 0 {
+		return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+	}
+	srclen := src.NumBytes()
+	if srclen == 0 {
+		return 0, nil
+	}
+	f := fd.inode().impl.(*regularFile)
+	f.mu.Lock()
+	end := offset + srclen
+	if end < offset {
+		// Overflow.
+		f.mu.Unlock()
+		return 0, syserror.EFBIG
+	}
+	if end > f.dataLen {
+		f.data = append(f.data, make([]byte, end-f.dataLen)...)
+		atomic.StoreInt64(&f.dataLen, end)
+	}
+	n, err := src.CopyIn(ctx, f.data[offset:end])
+	f.mu.Unlock()
+	return int64(n), err
+}
+
+// Write implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.Write.
+func (fd *regularFileFD) Write(ctx context.Context, src usermem.IOSequence, opts vfs.WriteOptions) (int64, error) {
+	fd.offMu.Lock()
+	n, err := fd.PWrite(ctx, src, fd.off, opts)
+	fd.off += n
+	fd.offMu.Unlock()
+	return n, err
+}
+
+// Seek implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.Seek.
+func (fd *regularFileFD) Seek(ctx context.Context, offset int64, whence int32) (int64, error) {
+	fd.offMu.Lock()
+	defer fd.offMu.Unlock()
+	switch whence {
+	case linux.SEEK_SET:
+		// use offset as specified
+	case linux.SEEK_CUR:
+		offset += fd.off
+	case linux.SEEK_END:
+		offset += atomic.LoadInt64(&fd.inode().impl.(*regularFile).dataLen)
+	default:
+		return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+	}
+	if offset < 0 {
+		return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+	}
+	fd.off = offset
+	return offset, nil
+}
+
+// Sync implements vfs.FileDescriptionImpl.Sync.
+func (fd *regularFileFD) Sync(ctx context.Context) error {
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/symlink.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/symlink.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e002d1727
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/memfs/symlink.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package memfs
+
+import (
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+)
+
+type symlink struct {
+	inode  Inode
+	target string // immutable
+}
+
+func (fs *Filesystem) newSymlink(creds *auth.Credentials, target string) *Inode {
+	link := &symlink{
+		target: target,
+	}
+	link.inode.init(link, fs, creds, 0777)
+	link.inode.nlink = 1 // from parent directory
+	return &link.inode
+}
+
+// O_PATH is unimplemented, so there's no way to get a FileDescription
+// representing a symlink yet.
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/BUILD b/pkg/sentry/vfs/BUILD
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4de6c41cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/BUILD
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+load("//tools/go_stateify:defs.bzl", "go_library", "go_test")
+
+package(licenses = ["notice"])
+
+go_library(
+    name = "vfs",
+    srcs = [
+        "context.go",
+        "debug.go",
+        "dentry.go",
+        "file_description.go",
+        "file_description_impl_util.go",
+        "filesystem.go",
+        "filesystem_type.go",
+        "mount.go",
+        "mount_unsafe.go",
+        "options.go",
+        "permissions.go",
+        "resolving_path.go",
+        "syscalls.go",
+        "vfs.go",
+    ],
+    importpath = "gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/vfs",
+    visibility = ["//pkg/sentry:internal"],
+    deps = [
+        "//pkg/abi/linux",
+        "//pkg/fspath",
+        "//pkg/sentry/arch",
+        "//pkg/sentry/context",
+        "//pkg/sentry/kernel/auth",
+        "//pkg/sentry/memmap",
+        "//pkg/sentry/usermem",
+        "//pkg/syserror",
+        "//pkg/waiter",
+        "//third_party/gvsync",
+    ],
+)
+
+go_test(
+    name = "vfs_test",
+    size = "small",
+    srcs = [
+        "mount_test.go",
+    ],
+    embed = [":vfs"],
+)
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/README.md b/pkg/sentry/vfs/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7847854bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,197 @@
+# The gVisor Virtual Filesystem
+
+THIS PACKAGE IS CURRENTLY EXPERIMENTAL AND NOT READY OR ENABLED FOR PRODUCTION
+USE. For the filesystem implementation currently used by gVisor, see the `fs`
+package.
+
+## Implementation Notes
+
+### Reference Counting
+
+Filesystem, Dentry, Mount, MountNamespace, and FileDescription are all
+reference-counted. Mount and MountNamespace are exclusively VFS-managed; when
+their reference count reaches zero, VFS releases their resources. Filesystem and
+FileDescription management is shared between VFS and filesystem implementations;
+when their reference count reaches zero, VFS notifies the implementation by
+calling `FilesystemImpl.Release()` or `FileDescriptionImpl.Release()`
+respectively and then releases VFS-owned resources. Dentries are exclusively
+managed by filesystem implementations; reference count changes are abstracted
+through DentryImpl, which should release resources when reference count reaches
+zero.
+
+Filesystem references are held by:
+
+-   Mount: Each referenced Mount holds a reference on the mounted Filesystem.
+
+Dentry references are held by:
+
+-   FileDescription: Each referenced FileDescription holds a reference on the
+    Dentry through which it was opened, via `FileDescription.vd.dentry`.
+
+-   Mount: Each referenced Mount holds a reference on its mount point and on the
+    mounted filesystem root. The mount point is mutable (`mount(MS_MOVE)`).
+
+Mount references are held by:
+
+-   FileDescription: Each referenced FileDescription holds a reference on the
+    Mount on which it was opened, via `FileDescription.vd.mount`.
+
+-   Mount: Each referenced Mount holds a reference on its parent, which is the
+    mount containing its mount point.
+
+-   VirtualFilesystem: A reference is held on all Mounts that are attached
+    (reachable by Mount traversal).
+
+MountNamespace and FileDescription references are held by users of VFS. The
+expectation is that each `kernel.Task` holds a reference on its corresponding
+MountNamespace, and each file descriptor holds a reference on its represented
+FileDescription.
+
+Notes:
+
+-   Dentries do not hold a reference on their owning Filesystem. Instead, all
+    uses of a Dentry occur in the context of a Mount, which holds a reference on
+    the relevant Filesystem (see e.g. the VirtualDentry type). As a corollary,
+    when releasing references on both a Dentry and its corresponding Mount, the
+    Dentry's reference must be released first (because releasing the Mount's
+    reference may release the last reference on the Filesystem, whose state may
+    be required to release the Dentry reference).
+
+### The Inheritance Pattern
+
+Filesystem, Dentry, and FileDescription are all concepts featuring both state
+that must be shared between VFS and filesystem implementations, and operations
+that are implementation-defined. To facilitate this, each of these three
+concepts follows the same pattern, shown below for Dentry:
+
+```go
+// Dentry represents a node in a filesystem tree.
+type Dentry struct {
+  // VFS-required dentry state.
+  parent *Dentry
+  // ...
+
+  // impl is the DentryImpl associated with this Dentry. impl is immutable.
+  // This should be the last field in Dentry.
+  impl DentryImpl
+}
+
+// Init must be called before first use of d.
+func (d *Dentry) Init(impl DentryImpl) {
+  d.impl = impl
+}
+
+// Impl returns the DentryImpl associated with d.
+func (d *Dentry) Impl() DentryImpl {
+  return d.impl
+}
+
+// DentryImpl contains implementation-specific details of a Dentry.
+// Implementations of DentryImpl should contain their associated Dentry by
+// value as their first field.
+type DentryImpl interface {
+  // VFS-required implementation-defined dentry operations.
+  IncRef()
+  // ...
+}
+```
+
+This construction, which is essentially a type-safe analogue to Linux's
+`container_of` pattern, has the following properties:
+
+-   VFS works almost exclusively with pointers to Dentry rather than DentryImpl
+    interface objects, such as in the type of `Dentry.parent`. This avoids
+    interface method calls (which are somewhat expensive to perform, and defeat
+    inlining and escape analysis), reduces the size of VFS types (since an
+    interface object is two pointers in size), and allows pointers to be loaded
+    and stored atomically using `sync/atomic`. Implementation-defined behavior
+    is accessed via `Dentry.impl` when required.
+
+-   Filesystem implementations can access the implementation-defined state
+    associated with objects of VFS types by type-asserting or type-switching
+    (e.g. `Dentry.Impl().(*myDentry)`). Type assertions to a concrete type
+    require only an equality comparison of the interface object's type pointer
+    to a static constant, and are consequently very fast.
+
+-   Filesystem implementations can access the VFS state associated with objects
+    of implementation-defined types directly.
+
+-   VFS and implementation-defined state for a given type occupy the same
+    object, minimizing memory allocations and maximizing memory locality. `impl`
+    is the last field in `Dentry`, and `Dentry` is the first field in
+    `DentryImpl` implementations, for similar reasons: this tends to cause
+    fetching of the `Dentry.impl` interface object to also fetch `DentryImpl`
+    fields, either because they are in the same cache line or via next-line
+    prefetching.
+
+## Future Work
+
+-   Most `mount(2)` features, and unmounting, are incomplete.
+
+-   VFS1 filesystems are not directly compatible with VFS2. It may be possible
+    to implement shims that implement `vfs.FilesystemImpl` for
+    `fs.MountNamespace`, `vfs.DentryImpl` for `fs.Dirent`, and
+    `vfs.FileDescriptionImpl` for `fs.File`, which may be adequate for
+    filesystems that are not performance-critical (e.g. sysfs); however, it is
+    not clear that this will be less effort than simply porting the filesystems
+    in question. Practically speaking, the following filesystems will probably
+    need to be ported or made compatible through a shim to evaluate filesystem
+    performance on realistic workloads:
+
+    -   devfs/procfs/sysfs, which will realistically be necessary to execute
+        most applications. (Note that procfs and sysfs do not support hard
+        links, so they do not require the complexity of separate inode objects.
+        Also note that Linux's /dev is actually a variant of tmpfs called
+        devtmpfs.)
+
+    -   tmpfs. This should be relatively straightforward: copy/paste memfs,
+        store regular file contents in pgalloc-allocated memory instead of
+        `[]byte`, and add support for file timestamps. (In fact, it probably
+        makes more sense to convert memfs to tmpfs and not keep the former.)
+
+    -   A remote filesystem, either lisafs (if it is ready by the time that
+        other benchmarking prerequisites are) or v9fs (aka 9P, aka gofers).
+
+    -   epoll files.
+
+    Filesystems that will need to be ported before switching to VFS2, but can
+    probably be skipped for early testing:
+
+    -   overlayfs, which is needed for (at least) synthetic mount points.
+
+    -   Support for host ttys.
+
+    -   timerfd files.
+
+    Filesystems that can be probably dropped:
+
+    -   ashmem, which is far too incomplete to use.
+
+    -   binder, which is similarly far too incomplete to use.
+
+    -   whitelistfs, which we are already actively attempting to remove.
+
+-   Save/restore. For instance, it is unclear if the current implementation of
+    the `state` package supports the inheritance pattern described above.
+
+-   Many features that were previously implemented by VFS must now be
+    implemented by individual filesystems (though, in most cases, this should
+    consist of calls to hooks or libraries provided by `vfs` or other packages).
+    This includes, but is not necessarily limited to:
+
+    -   Block and character device special files
+
+    -   Inotify
+
+    -   File locking
+
+    -   `O_ASYNC`
+
+-   Reference counts in the `vfs` package do not use the `refs` package since
+    `refs.AtomicRefCount` adds 64 bytes of overhead to each 8-byte reference
+    count, resulting in considerable cache bloat. 24 bytes of this overhead is
+    for weak reference support, which have poor performance and will not be used
+    by VFS2. The remaining 40 bytes is to store a descriptive string and stack
+    trace for reference leak checking; we can support reference leak checking
+    without incurring this space overhead by including the applicable
+    information directly in finalizers for applicable types.
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/context.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/context.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..32cf9151b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/context.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+)
+
+// contextID is this package's type for context.Context.Value keys.
+type contextID int
+
+const (
+	// CtxMountNamespace is a Context.Value key for a MountNamespace.
+	CtxMountNamespace contextID = iota
+)
+
+// MountNamespaceFromContext returns the MountNamespace used by ctx. It does
+// not take a reference on the returned MountNamespace. If ctx is not
+// associated with a MountNamespace, MountNamespaceFromContext returns nil.
+func MountNamespaceFromContext(ctx context.Context) *MountNamespace {
+	if v := ctx.Value(CtxMountNamespace); v != nil {
+		return v.(*MountNamespace)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/debug.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/debug.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0ed20f249
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/debug.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+const (
+	// If checkInvariants is true, perform runtime checks for invariants
+	// expected by the vfs package. This is normally disabled since VFS is
+	// often a hot path.
+	checkInvariants = false
+)
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/dentry.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/dentry.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..45912fc58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/dentry.go
@@ -0,0 +1,347 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"sync/atomic"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+// Dentry represents a node in a Filesystem tree which may represent a file.
+//
+// Dentries are reference-counted. Unless otherwise specified, all Dentry
+// methods require that a reference is held.
+//
+// A Dentry transitions through up to 3 different states through its lifetime:
+//
+// - Dentries are initially "independent". Independent Dentries have no parent,
+// and consequently no name.
+//
+// - Dentry.InsertChild() causes an independent Dentry to become a "child" of
+// another Dentry. A child node has a parent node, and a name in that parent,
+// both of which are mutable by DentryMoveChild(). Each child Dentry's name is
+// unique within its parent.
+//
+// - Dentry.RemoveChild() causes a child Dentry to become "disowned". A
+// disowned Dentry can still refer to its former parent and its former name in
+// said parent, but the disowned Dentry is no longer reachable from its parent,
+// and a new Dentry with the same name may become a child of the parent. (This
+// is analogous to a struct dentry being "unhashed" in Linux.)
+//
+// Dentry is loosely analogous to Linux's struct dentry, but:
+//
+// - VFS does not associate Dentries with inodes. gVisor interacts primarily
+// with filesystems that are accessed through filesystem APIs (as opposed to
+// raw block devices); many such APIs support only paths and file descriptors,
+// and not inodes. Furthermore, when parties outside the scope of VFS can
+// rename inodes on such filesystems, VFS generally cannot "follow" the rename,
+// both due to synchronization issues and because it may not even be able to
+// name the destination path; this implies that it would in fact be *incorrect*
+// for Dentries to be associated with inodes on such filesystems. Consequently,
+// operations that are inode operations in Linux are FilesystemImpl methods
+// and/or FileDescriptionImpl methods in gVisor's VFS. Filesystems that do
+// support inodes may store appropriate state in implementations of DentryImpl.
+//
+// - VFS does not provide synchronization for mutable Dentry fields, other than
+// mount-related ones.
+//
+// - VFS does not require that Dentries are instantiated for all paths accessed
+// through VFS, only those that are tracked beyond the scope of a single
+// Filesystem operation. This includes file descriptions, mount points, mount
+// roots, process working directories, and chroots. This avoids instantiation
+// of Dentries for operations on mutable remote filesystems that can't actually
+// cache any state in the Dentry.
+//
+// - For the reasons above, VFS is not directly responsible for managing Dentry
+// lifetime. Dentry reference counts only indicate the extent to which VFS
+// requires Dentries to exist; Filesystems may elect to cache or discard
+// Dentries with zero references.
+type Dentry struct {
+	// parent is this Dentry's parent in this Filesystem. If this Dentry is
+	// independent, parent is nil.
+	parent *Dentry
+
+	// name is this Dentry's name in parent.
+	name string
+
+	flags uint32
+
+	// mounts is the number of Mounts for which this Dentry is Mount.point.
+	// mounts is accessed using atomic memory operations.
+	mounts uint32
+
+	// children are child Dentries.
+	children map[string]*Dentry
+
+	// impl is the DentryImpl associated with this Dentry. impl is immutable.
+	// This should be the last field in Dentry.
+	impl DentryImpl
+}
+
+const (
+	// dflagsDisownedMask is set in Dentry.flags if the Dentry has been
+	// disowned.
+	dflagsDisownedMask = 1 << iota
+)
+
+// Init must be called before first use of d.
+func (d *Dentry) Init(impl DentryImpl) {
+	d.impl = impl
+}
+
+// Impl returns the DentryImpl associated with d.
+func (d *Dentry) Impl() DentryImpl {
+	return d.impl
+}
+
+// DentryImpl contains implementation details for a Dentry. Implementations of
+// DentryImpl should contain their associated Dentry by value as their first
+// field.
+type DentryImpl interface {
+	// IncRef increments the Dentry's reference count. A Dentry with a non-zero
+	// reference count must remain coherent with the state of the filesystem.
+	IncRef(fs *Filesystem)
+
+	// TryIncRef increments the Dentry's reference count and returns true. If
+	// the Dentry's reference count is zero, TryIncRef may do nothing and
+	// return false. (It is also permitted to succeed if it can restore the
+	// guarantee that the Dentry is coherent with the state of the filesystem.)
+	//
+	// TryIncRef does not require that a reference is held on the Dentry.
+	TryIncRef(fs *Filesystem) bool
+
+	// DecRef decrements the Dentry's reference count.
+	DecRef(fs *Filesystem)
+}
+
+// IsDisowned returns true if d is disowned.
+func (d *Dentry) IsDisowned() bool {
+	return atomic.LoadUint32(&d.flags)&dflagsDisownedMask != 0
+}
+
+// Preconditions: !d.IsDisowned().
+func (d *Dentry) setDisowned() {
+	atomic.AddUint32(&d.flags, dflagsDisownedMask)
+}
+
+func (d *Dentry) isMounted() bool {
+	return atomic.LoadUint32(&d.mounts) != 0
+}
+
+func (d *Dentry) incRef(fs *Filesystem) {
+	d.impl.IncRef(fs)
+}
+
+func (d *Dentry) tryIncRef(fs *Filesystem) bool {
+	return d.impl.TryIncRef(fs)
+}
+
+func (d *Dentry) decRef(fs *Filesystem) {
+	d.impl.DecRef(fs)
+}
+
+// These functions are exported so that filesystem implementations can use
+// them. The vfs package, and users of VFS, should not call these functions.
+// Unless otherwise specified, these methods require that there are no
+// concurrent mutators of d.
+
+// Name returns d's name in its parent in its owning Filesystem. If d is
+// independent, Name returns an empty string.
+func (d *Dentry) Name() string {
+	return d.name
+}
+
+// Parent returns d's parent in its owning Filesystem. It does not take a
+// reference on the returned Dentry. If d is independent, Parent returns nil.
+func (d *Dentry) Parent() *Dentry {
+	return d.parent
+}
+
+// ParentOrSelf is equivalent to Parent, but returns d if d is independent.
+func (d *Dentry) ParentOrSelf() *Dentry {
+	if d.parent == nil {
+		return d
+	}
+	return d.parent
+}
+
+// Child returns d's child with the given name in its owning Filesystem. It
+// does not take a reference on the returned Dentry. If no such child exists,
+// Child returns nil.
+func (d *Dentry) Child(name string) *Dentry {
+	return d.children[name]
+}
+
+// HasChildren returns true if d has any children.
+func (d *Dentry) HasChildren() bool {
+	return len(d.children) != 0
+}
+
+// InsertChild makes child a child of d with the given name.
+//
+// InsertChild is a mutator of d and child.
+//
+// Preconditions: child must be an independent Dentry. d and child must be from
+// the same Filesystem. d must not already have a child with the given name.
+func (d *Dentry) InsertChild(child *Dentry, name string) {
+	if checkInvariants {
+		if _, ok := d.children[name]; ok {
+			panic(fmt.Sprintf("parent already contains a child named %q", name))
+		}
+		if child.parent != nil || child.name != "" {
+			panic(fmt.Sprintf("child is not independent: parent = %v, name = %q", child.parent, child.name))
+		}
+	}
+	if d.children == nil {
+		d.children = make(map[string]*Dentry)
+	}
+	d.children[name] = child
+	child.parent = d
+	child.name = name
+}
+
+// PrepareDeleteDentry must be called before attempting to delete the file
+// represented by d. If PrepareDeleteDentry succeeds, the caller must call
+// AbortDeleteDentry or CommitDeleteDentry depending on the deletion's outcome.
+//
+// Preconditions: d is a child Dentry.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) PrepareDeleteDentry(mntns *MountNamespace, d *Dentry) error {
+	if checkInvariants {
+		if d.parent == nil {
+			panic("d is independent")
+		}
+		if d.IsDisowned() {
+			panic("d is already disowned")
+		}
+	}
+	vfs.mountMu.RLock()
+	if _, ok := mntns.mountpoints[d]; ok {
+		vfs.mountMu.RUnlock()
+		return syserror.EBUSY
+	}
+	// Return with vfs.mountMu locked, which will be unlocked by
+	// AbortDeleteDentry or CommitDeleteDentry.
+	return nil
+}
+
+// AbortDeleteDentry must be called after PrepareDeleteDentry if the deletion
+// fails.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) AbortDeleteDentry() {
+	vfs.mountMu.RUnlock()
+}
+
+// CommitDeleteDentry must be called after the file represented by d is
+// deleted, and causes d to become disowned.
+//
+// Preconditions: PrepareDeleteDentry was previously called on d.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) CommitDeleteDentry(d *Dentry) {
+	delete(d.parent.children, d.name)
+	d.setDisowned()
+	// TODO: lazily unmount mounts at d
+	vfs.mountMu.RUnlock()
+}
+
+// DeleteDentry combines PrepareDeleteDentry and CommitDeleteDentry, as
+// appropriate for in-memory filesystems that don't need to ensure that some
+// external state change succeeds before committing the deletion.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) DeleteDentry(mntns *MountNamespace, d *Dentry) error {
+	if err := vfs.PrepareDeleteDentry(mntns, d); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	vfs.CommitDeleteDentry(d)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// PrepareRenameDentry must be called before attempting to rename the file
+// represented by from. If to is not nil, it represents the file that will be
+// replaced or exchanged by the rename. If PrepareRenameDentry succeeds, the
+// caller must call AbortRenameDentry, CommitRenameReplaceDentry, or
+// CommitRenameExchangeDentry depending on the rename's outcome.
+//
+// Preconditions: from is a child Dentry. If to is not nil, it must be a child
+// Dentry from the same Filesystem.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) PrepareRenameDentry(mntns *MountNamespace, from, to *Dentry) error {
+	if checkInvariants {
+		if from.parent == nil {
+			panic("from is independent")
+		}
+		if from.IsDisowned() {
+			panic("from is already disowned")
+		}
+		if to != nil {
+			if to.parent == nil {
+				panic("to is independent")
+			}
+			if to.IsDisowned() {
+				panic("to is already disowned")
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	vfs.mountMu.RLock()
+	if _, ok := mntns.mountpoints[from]; ok {
+		vfs.mountMu.RUnlock()
+		return syserror.EBUSY
+	}
+	if to != nil {
+		if _, ok := mntns.mountpoints[to]; ok {
+			vfs.mountMu.RUnlock()
+			return syserror.EBUSY
+		}
+	}
+	// Return with vfs.mountMu locked, which will be unlocked by
+	// AbortRenameDentry, CommitRenameReplaceDentry, or
+	// CommitRenameExchangeDentry.
+	return nil
+}
+
+// AbortRenameDentry must be called after PrepareRenameDentry if the rename
+// fails.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) AbortRenameDentry() {
+	vfs.mountMu.RUnlock()
+}
+
+// CommitRenameReplaceDentry must be called after the file represented by from
+// is renamed without RENAME_EXCHANGE. If to is not nil, it represents the file
+// that was replaced by from.
+//
+// Preconditions: PrepareRenameDentry was previously called on from and to.
+// newParent.Child(newName) == to.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) CommitRenameReplaceDentry(from, newParent *Dentry, newName string, to *Dentry) {
+	if to != nil {
+		to.setDisowned()
+		// TODO: lazily unmount mounts at d
+	}
+	if newParent.children == nil {
+		newParent.children = make(map[string]*Dentry)
+	}
+	newParent.children[newName] = from
+	from.parent = newParent
+	from.name = newName
+	vfs.mountMu.RUnlock()
+}
+
+// CommitRenameExchangeDentry must be called after the files represented by
+// from and to are exchanged by rename(RENAME_EXCHANGE).
+//
+// Preconditions: PrepareRenameDentry was previously called on from and to.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) CommitRenameExchangeDentry(from, to *Dentry) {
+	from.parent, to.parent = to.parent, from.parent
+	from.name, to.name = to.name, from.name
+	from.parent.children[from.name] = from
+	to.parent.children[to.name] = to
+	vfs.mountMu.RUnlock()
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/file_description.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/file_description.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..86bde7fb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/file_description.go
@@ -0,0 +1,213 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"sync/atomic"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/arch"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/memmap"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/usermem"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/waiter"
+)
+
+// A FileDescription represents an open file description, which is the entity
+// referred to by a file descriptor (POSIX.1-2017 3.258 "Open File
+// Description").
+//
+// FileDescriptions are reference-counted. Unless otherwise specified, all
+// FileDescription methods require that a reference is held.
+//
+// FileDescription is analogous to Linux's struct file.
+type FileDescription struct {
+	// refs is the reference count. refs is accessed using atomic memory
+	// operations.
+	refs int64
+
+	// vd is the filesystem location at which this FileDescription was opened.
+	// A reference is held on vd. vd is immutable.
+	vd VirtualDentry
+
+	// impl is the FileDescriptionImpl associated with this Filesystem. impl is
+	// immutable. This should be the last field in FileDescription.
+	impl FileDescriptionImpl
+}
+
+// Init must be called before first use of fd. It takes references on mnt and
+// d.
+func (fd *FileDescription) Init(impl FileDescriptionImpl, mnt *Mount, d *Dentry) {
+	fd.refs = 1
+	fd.vd = VirtualDentry{
+		mount:  mnt,
+		dentry: d,
+	}
+	fd.vd.IncRef()
+	fd.impl = impl
+}
+
+// Impl returns the FileDescriptionImpl associated with fd.
+func (fd *FileDescription) Impl() FileDescriptionImpl {
+	return fd.impl
+}
+
+// VirtualDentry returns the location at which fd was opened. It does not take
+// a reference on the returned VirtualDentry.
+func (fd *FileDescription) VirtualDentry() VirtualDentry {
+	return fd.vd
+}
+
+// IncRef increments fd's reference count.
+func (fd *FileDescription) IncRef() {
+	atomic.AddInt64(&fd.refs, 1)
+}
+
+// DecRef decrements fd's reference count.
+func (fd *FileDescription) DecRef() {
+	if refs := atomic.AddInt64(&fd.refs, -1); refs == 0 {
+		fd.impl.Release()
+		fd.vd.DecRef()
+	} else if refs < 0 {
+		panic("FileDescription.DecRef() called without holding a reference")
+	}
+}
+
+// FileDescriptionImpl contains implementation details for an FileDescription.
+// Implementations of FileDescriptionImpl should contain their associated
+// FileDescription by value as their first field.
+//
+// For all functions that return linux.Statx, Statx.Uid and Statx.Gid will
+// be interpreted as IDs in the root UserNamespace (i.e. as auth.KUID and
+// auth.KGID respectively).
+//
+// FileDescriptionImpl is analogous to Linux's struct file_operations.
+type FileDescriptionImpl interface {
+	// Release is called when the associated FileDescription reaches zero
+	// references.
+	Release()
+
+	// OnClose is called when a file descriptor representing the
+	// FileDescription is closed. Note that returning a non-nil error does not
+	// prevent the file descriptor from being closed.
+	OnClose() error
+
+	// StatusFlags returns file description status flags, as for
+	// fcntl(F_GETFL).
+	StatusFlags(ctx context.Context) (uint32, error)
+
+	// SetStatusFlags sets file description status flags, as for
+	// fcntl(F_SETFL).
+	SetStatusFlags(ctx context.Context, flags uint32) error
+
+	// Stat returns metadata for the file represented by the FileDescription.
+	Stat(ctx context.Context, opts StatOptions) (linux.Statx, error)
+
+	// SetStat updates metadata for the file represented by the
+	// FileDescription.
+	SetStat(ctx context.Context, opts SetStatOptions) error
+
+	// StatFS returns metadata for the filesystem containing the file
+	// represented by the FileDescription.
+	StatFS(ctx context.Context) (linux.Statfs, error)
+
+	// waiter.Waitable methods may be used to poll for I/O events.
+	waiter.Waitable
+
+	// PRead reads from the file into dst, starting at the given offset, and
+	// returns the number of bytes read. PRead is permitted to return partial
+	// reads with a nil error.
+	PRead(ctx context.Context, dst usermem.IOSequence, offset int64, opts ReadOptions) (int64, error)
+
+	// Read is similar to PRead, but does not specify an offset.
+	//
+	// For files with an implicit FileDescription offset (e.g. regular files),
+	// Read begins at the FileDescription offset, and advances the offset by
+	// the number of bytes read; note that POSIX 2.9.7 "Thread Interactions
+	// with Regular File Operations" requires that all operations that may
+	// mutate the FileDescription offset are serialized.
+	Read(ctx context.Context, dst usermem.IOSequence, opts ReadOptions) (int64, error)
+
+	// PWrite writes src to the file, starting at the given offset, and returns
+	// the number of bytes written. PWrite is permitted to return partial
+	// writes with a nil error.
+	//
+	// As in Linux (but not POSIX), if O_APPEND is in effect for the
+	// FileDescription, PWrite should ignore the offset and append data to the
+	// end of the file.
+	PWrite(ctx context.Context, src usermem.IOSequence, offset int64, opts WriteOptions) (int64, error)
+
+	// Write is similar to PWrite, but does not specify an offset, which is
+	// implied as for Read.
+	//
+	// Write is a FileDescriptionImpl method, instead of a wrapper around
+	// PWrite that uses a FileDescription offset, to make it possible for
+	// remote filesystems to implement O_APPEND correctly (i.e. atomically with
+	// respect to writers outside the scope of VFS).
+	Write(ctx context.Context, src usermem.IOSequence, opts WriteOptions) (int64, error)
+
+	// IterDirents invokes cb on each entry in the directory represented by the
+	// FileDescription. If IterDirents has been called since the last call to
+	// Seek, it continues iteration from the end of the last call.
+	IterDirents(ctx context.Context, cb IterDirentsCallback) error
+
+	// Seek changes the FileDescription offset (assuming one exists) and
+	// returns its new value.
+	//
+	// For directories, if whence == SEEK_SET and offset == 0, the caller is
+	// rewinddir(), such that Seek "shall also cause the directory stream to
+	// refer to the current state of the corresponding directory" -
+	// POSIX.1-2017.
+	Seek(ctx context.Context, offset int64, whence int32) (int64, error)
+
+	// Sync requests that cached state associated with the file represented by
+	// the FileDescription is synchronized with persistent storage, and blocks
+	// until this is complete.
+	Sync(ctx context.Context) error
+
+	// ConfigureMMap mutates opts to implement mmap(2) for the file. Most
+	// implementations that support memory mapping can call
+	// GenericConfigureMMap with the appropriate memmap.Mappable.
+	ConfigureMMap(ctx context.Context, opts memmap.MMapOpts) error
+
+	// Ioctl implements the ioctl(2) syscall.
+	Ioctl(ctx context.Context, uio usermem.IO, args arch.SyscallArguments) (uintptr, error)
+
+	// TODO: extended attributes; file locking
+}
+
+// Dirent holds the information contained in struct linux_dirent64.
+type Dirent struct {
+	// Name is the filename.
+	Name string
+
+	// Type is the file type, a linux.DT_* constant.
+	Type uint8
+
+	// Ino is the inode number.
+	Ino uint64
+
+	// Off is this Dirent's offset.
+	Off int64
+}
+
+// IterDirentsCallback receives Dirents from FileDescriptionImpl.IterDirents.
+type IterDirentsCallback interface {
+	// Handle handles the given iterated Dirent. It returns true if iteration
+	// should continue, and false if FileDescriptionImpl.IterDirents should
+	// terminate now and restart with the same Dirent the next time it is
+	// called.
+	Handle(dirent Dirent) bool
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/file_description_impl_util.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/file_description_impl_util.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..486893e70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/file_description_impl_util.go
@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/arch"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/memmap"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/usermem"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/waiter"
+)
+
+// FileDescriptionDefaultImpl may be embedded by implementations of
+// FileDescriptionImpl to obtain implementations of many FileDescriptionImpl
+// methods with default behavior analogous to Linux's.
+type FileDescriptionDefaultImpl struct{}
+
+// OnClose implements FileDescriptionImpl.OnClose analogously to
+// file_operations::flush == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) OnClose() error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+// StatFS implements FileDescriptionImpl.StatFS analogously to
+// super_operations::statfs == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) StatFS(ctx context.Context) (linux.Statfs, error) {
+	return linux.Statfs{}, syserror.ENOSYS
+}
+
+// Readiness implements waiter.Waitable.Readiness analogously to
+// file_operations::poll == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) Readiness(mask waiter.EventMask) waiter.EventMask {
+	// include/linux/poll.h:vfs_poll() => DEFAULT_POLLMASK
+	return waiter.EventIn | waiter.EventOut
+}
+
+// EventRegister implements waiter.Waitable.EventRegister analogously to
+// file_operations::poll == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) EventRegister(e *waiter.Entry, mask waiter.EventMask) {
+}
+
+// EventUnregister implements waiter.Waitable.EventUnregister analogously to
+// file_operations::poll == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) EventUnregister(e *waiter.Entry) {
+}
+
+// PRead implements FileDescriptionImpl.PRead analogously to
+// file_operations::read == file_operations::read_iter == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) PRead(ctx context.Context, dst usermem.IOSequence, offset int64, opts ReadOptions) (int64, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+}
+
+// Read implements FileDescriptionImpl.Read analogously to
+// file_operations::read == file_operations::read_iter == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) Read(ctx context.Context, dst usermem.IOSequence, opts ReadOptions) (int64, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+}
+
+// PWrite implements FileDescriptionImpl.PWrite analogously to
+// file_operations::write == file_operations::write_iter == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) PWrite(ctx context.Context, src usermem.IOSequence, offset int64, opts WriteOptions) (int64, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+}
+
+// Write implements FileDescriptionImpl.Write analogously to
+// file_operations::write == file_operations::write_iter == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) Write(ctx context.Context, src usermem.IOSequence, opts WriteOptions) (int64, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.EINVAL
+}
+
+// IterDirents implements FileDescriptionImpl.IterDirents analogously to
+// file_operations::iterate == file_operations::iterate_shared == NULL in
+// Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) IterDirents(ctx context.Context, cb IterDirentsCallback) error {
+	return syserror.ENOTDIR
+}
+
+// Seek implements FileDescriptionImpl.Seek analogously to
+// file_operations::llseek == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) Seek(ctx context.Context, offset int64, whence int32) (int64, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.ESPIPE
+}
+
+// Sync implements FileDescriptionImpl.Sync analogously to
+// file_operations::fsync == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) Sync(ctx context.Context) error {
+	return syserror.EINVAL
+}
+
+// ConfigureMMap implements FileDescriptionImpl.ConfigureMMap analogously to
+// file_operations::mmap == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) ConfigureMMap(ctx context.Context, opts memmap.MMapOpts) error {
+	return syserror.ENODEV
+}
+
+// Ioctl implements FileDescriptionImpl.Ioctl analogously to
+// file_operations::unlocked_ioctl == NULL in Linux.
+func (FileDescriptionDefaultImpl) Ioctl(ctx context.Context, uio usermem.IO, args arch.SyscallArguments) (uintptr, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.ENOTTY
+}
+
+// DirectoryFileDescriptionDefaultImpl may be embedded by implementations of
+// FileDescriptionImpl that always represent directories to obtain
+// implementations of non-directory I/O methods that return EISDIR, and
+// implementations of other methods consistent with FileDescriptionDefaultImpl.
+type DirectoryFileDescriptionDefaultImpl struct {
+	FileDescriptionDefaultImpl
+}
+
+// PRead implements FileDescriptionImpl.PRead.
+func (DirectoryFileDescriptionDefaultImpl) PRead(ctx context.Context, dst usermem.IOSequence, offset int64, opts ReadOptions) (int64, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.EISDIR
+}
+
+// Read implements FileDescriptionImpl.Read.
+func (DirectoryFileDescriptionDefaultImpl) Read(ctx context.Context, dst usermem.IOSequence, opts ReadOptions) (int64, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.EISDIR
+}
+
+// PWrite implements FileDescriptionImpl.PWrite.
+func (DirectoryFileDescriptionDefaultImpl) PWrite(ctx context.Context, src usermem.IOSequence, offset int64, opts WriteOptions) (int64, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.EISDIR
+}
+
+// Write implements FileDescriptionImpl.Write.
+func (DirectoryFileDescriptionDefaultImpl) Write(ctx context.Context, src usermem.IOSequence, opts WriteOptions) (int64, error) {
+	return 0, syserror.EISDIR
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/filesystem.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/filesystem.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7a074b718
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/filesystem.go
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"sync/atomic"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+)
+
+// A Filesystem is a tree of nodes represented by Dentries, which forms part of
+// a VirtualFilesystem.
+//
+// Filesystems are reference-counted. Unless otherwise specified, all
+// Filesystem methods require that a reference is held.
+//
+// Filesystem is analogous to Linux's struct super_block.
+type Filesystem struct {
+	// refs is the reference count. refs is accessed using atomic memory
+	// operations.
+	refs int64
+
+	// impl is the FilesystemImpl associated with this Filesystem. impl is
+	// immutable. This should be the last field in Dentry.
+	impl FilesystemImpl
+}
+
+// Init must be called before first use of fs.
+func (fs *Filesystem) Init(impl FilesystemImpl) {
+	fs.refs = 1
+	fs.impl = impl
+}
+
+// Impl returns the FilesystemImpl associated with fs.
+func (fs *Filesystem) Impl() FilesystemImpl {
+	return fs.impl
+}
+
+func (fs *Filesystem) incRef() {
+	if atomic.AddInt64(&fs.refs, 1) <= 1 {
+		panic("Filesystem.incRef() called without holding a reference")
+	}
+}
+
+func (fs *Filesystem) decRef() {
+	if refs := atomic.AddInt64(&fs.refs, -1); refs == 0 {
+		fs.impl.Release()
+	} else if refs < 0 {
+		panic("Filesystem.decRef() called without holding a reference")
+	}
+}
+
+// FilesystemImpl contains implementation details for a Filesystem.
+// Implementations of FilesystemImpl should contain their associated Filesystem
+// by value as their first field.
+//
+// All methods that take a ResolvingPath must resolve the path before
+// performing any other checks, including rejection of the operation if not
+// supported by the FilesystemImpl. This is because the final FilesystemImpl
+// (responsible for actually implementing the operation) isn't known until path
+// resolution is complete.
+//
+// For all methods that take or return linux.Statx, Statx.Uid and Statx.Gid
+// should be interpreted as IDs in the root UserNamespace (i.e. as auth.KUID
+// and auth.KGID respectively).
+//
+// FilesystemImpl combines elements of Linux's struct super_operations and
+// struct inode_operations, for reasons described in the documentation for
+// Dentry.
+type FilesystemImpl interface {
+	// Release is called when the associated Filesystem reaches zero
+	// references.
+	Release()
+
+	// Sync "causes all pending modifications to filesystem metadata and cached
+	// file data to be written to the underlying [filesystem]", as by syncfs(2).
+	Sync(ctx context.Context) error
+
+	// GetDentryAt returns a Dentry representing the file at rp. A reference is
+	// taken on the returned Dentry.
+	//
+	// GetDentryAt does not correspond directly to a Linux syscall; it is used
+	// in the implementation of:
+	//
+	// - Syscalls that need to resolve two paths: rename(), renameat(),
+	// renameat2(), link(), linkat().
+	//
+	// - Syscalls that need to refer to a filesystem position outside the
+	// context of a file description: chdir(), fchdir(), chroot(), mount(),
+	// umount().
+	GetDentryAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath, opts GetDentryOptions) (*Dentry, error)
+
+	// LinkAt creates a hard link at rp representing the same file as vd. It
+	// does not take ownership of references on vd.
+	//
+	// The implementation is responsible for checking that vd.Mount() ==
+	// rp.Mount(), and that vd does not represent a directory.
+	LinkAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath, vd VirtualDentry) error
+
+	// MkdirAt creates a directory at rp.
+	MkdirAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath, opts MkdirOptions) error
+
+	// MknodAt creates a regular file, device special file, or named pipe at
+	// rp.
+	MknodAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath, opts MknodOptions) error
+
+	// OpenAt returns an FileDescription providing access to the file at rp. A
+	// reference is taken on the returned FileDescription.
+	OpenAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath, opts OpenOptions) (*FileDescription, error)
+
+	// ReadlinkAt returns the target of the symbolic link at rp.
+	ReadlinkAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath) (string, error)
+
+	// RenameAt renames the Dentry represented by vd to rp. It does not take
+	// ownership of references on vd.
+	//
+	// The implementation is responsible for checking that vd.Mount() ==
+	// rp.Mount().
+	RenameAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath, vd VirtualDentry, opts RenameOptions) error
+
+	// RmdirAt removes the directory at rp.
+	RmdirAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath) error
+
+	// SetStatAt updates metadata for the file at the given path.
+	SetStatAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath, opts SetStatOptions) error
+
+	// StatAt returns metadata for the file at rp.
+	StatAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath, opts StatOptions) (linux.Statx, error)
+
+	// StatFSAt returns metadata for the filesystem containing the file at rp.
+	// (This method takes a path because a FilesystemImpl may consist of any
+	// number of constituent filesystems.)
+	StatFSAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath) (linux.Statfs, error)
+
+	// SymlinkAt creates a symbolic link at rp referring to the given target.
+	SymlinkAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath, target string) error
+
+	// UnlinkAt removes the non-directory file at rp.
+	UnlinkAt(ctx context.Context, rp *ResolvingPath) error
+
+	// TODO: d_path(); extended attributes; inotify_add_watch(); bind()
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/filesystem_type.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/filesystem_type.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f401ad7f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/filesystem_type.go
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+)
+
+// A FilesystemType constructs filesystems.
+//
+// FilesystemType is analogous to Linux's struct file_system_type.
+type FilesystemType interface {
+	// NewFilesystem returns a Filesystem configured by the given options,
+	// along with its mount root. A reference is taken on the returned
+	// Filesystem and Dentry.
+	NewFilesystem(ctx context.Context, creds *auth.Credentials, source string, opts NewFilesystemOptions) (*Filesystem, *Dentry, error)
+}
+
+// NewFilesystemOptions contains options to FilesystemType.NewFilesystem.
+type NewFilesystemOptions struct {
+	// Data is the string passed as the 5th argument to mount(2), which is
+	// usually a comma-separated list of filesystem-specific mount options.
+	Data string
+
+	// InternalData holds opaque FilesystemType-specific data. There is
+	// intentionally no way for applications to specify InternalData; if it is
+	// not nil, the call to NewFilesystem originates from within the sentry.
+	InternalData interface{}
+}
+
+// RegisterFilesystemType registers the given FilesystemType in vfs with the
+// given name.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) RegisterFilesystemType(name string, fsType FilesystemType) error {
+	vfs.fsTypesMu.Lock()
+	defer vfs.fsTypesMu.Unlock()
+	if existing, ok := vfs.fsTypes[name]; ok {
+		return fmt.Errorf("name %q is already registered to filesystem type %T", name, existing)
+	}
+	vfs.fsTypes[name] = fsType
+	return nil
+}
+
+// MustRegisterFilesystemType is equivalent to RegisterFilesystemType but
+// panics on failure.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) MustRegisterFilesystemType(name string, fsType FilesystemType) {
+	if err := vfs.RegisterFilesystemType(name, fsType); err != nil {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("failed to register filesystem type %T: %v", fsType, err))
+	}
+}
+
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) getFilesystemType(name string) FilesystemType {
+	vfs.fsTypesMu.RLock()
+	defer vfs.fsTypesMu.RUnlock()
+	return vfs.fsTypes[name]
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/mount.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/mount.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..11702f720
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/mount.go
@@ -0,0 +1,411 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"math"
+	"sync/atomic"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+// A Mount is a replacement of a Dentry (Mount.key.point) from one Filesystem
+// (Mount.key.parent.fs) with a Dentry (Mount.root) from another Filesystem
+// (Mount.fs), which applies to path resolution in the context of a particular
+// Mount (Mount.key.parent).
+//
+// Mounts are reference-counted. Unless otherwise specified, all Mount methods
+// require that a reference is held.
+//
+// Mount and Filesystem are distinct types because it's possible for a single
+// Filesystem to be mounted at multiple locations and/or in multiple mount
+// namespaces.
+//
+// Mount is analogous to Linux's struct mount. (gVisor does not distinguish
+// between struct mount and struct vfsmount.)
+type Mount struct {
+	// The lower 63 bits of refs are a reference count. The MSB of refs is set
+	// if the Mount has been eagerly unmounted, as by umount(2) without the
+	// MNT_DETACH flag. refs is accessed using atomic memory operations.
+	refs int64
+
+	// The lower 63 bits of writers is the number of calls to
+	// Mount.CheckBeginWrite() that have not yet been paired with a call to
+	// Mount.EndWrite(). The MSB of writers is set if MS_RDONLY is in effect.
+	// writers is accessed using atomic memory operations.
+	writers int64
+
+	// key is protected by VirtualFilesystem.mountMu and
+	// VirtualFilesystem.mounts.seq, and may be nil. References are held on
+	// key.parent and key.point if they are not nil.
+	//
+	// Invariant: key.parent != nil iff key.point != nil. key.point belongs to
+	// key.parent.fs.
+	key mountKey
+
+	// fs, root, and ns are immutable. References are held on fs and root (but
+	// not ns).
+	//
+	// Invariant: root belongs to fs.
+	fs   *Filesystem
+	root *Dentry
+	ns   *MountNamespace
+}
+
+// A MountNamespace is a collection of Mounts.
+//
+// MountNamespaces are reference-counted. Unless otherwise specified, all
+// MountNamespace methods require that a reference is held.
+//
+// MountNamespace is analogous to Linux's struct mnt_namespace.
+type MountNamespace struct {
+	refs int64 // accessed using atomic memory operations
+
+	// root is the MountNamespace's root mount. root is immutable.
+	root *Mount
+
+	// mountpoints contains all Dentries which are mount points in this
+	// namespace. mountpoints is protected by VirtualFilesystem.mountMu.
+	//
+	// mountpoints is used to determine if a Dentry can be moved or removed
+	// (which requires that the Dentry is not a mount point in the calling
+	// namespace).
+	//
+	// mountpoints is maintained even if there are no references held on the
+	// MountNamespace; this is required to ensure that
+	// VFS.PrepareDeleteDentry() and VFS.PrepareRemoveDentry() operate
+	// correctly on unreferenced MountNamespaces.
+	mountpoints map[*Dentry]struct{}
+}
+
+// NewMountNamespace returns a new mount namespace with a root filesystem
+// configured by the given arguments. A reference is taken on the returned
+// MountNamespace.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) NewMountNamespace(ctx context.Context, creds *auth.Credentials, source, fsTypeName string, opts *NewFilesystemOptions) (*MountNamespace, error) {
+	fsType := vfs.getFilesystemType(fsTypeName)
+	if fsType == nil {
+		return nil, syserror.ENODEV
+	}
+	fs, root, err := fsType.NewFilesystem(ctx, creds, source, *opts)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	mntns := &MountNamespace{
+		refs:        1,
+		mountpoints: make(map[*Dentry]struct{}),
+	}
+	mntns.root = &Mount{
+		fs:   fs,
+		root: root,
+		ns:   mntns,
+		refs: 1,
+	}
+	return mntns, nil
+}
+
+// NewMount creates and mounts a new Filesystem.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) NewMount(ctx context.Context, creds *auth.Credentials, source string, target *PathOperation, fsTypeName string, opts *NewFilesystemOptions) error {
+	fsType := vfs.getFilesystemType(fsTypeName)
+	if fsType == nil {
+		return syserror.ENODEV
+	}
+	fs, root, err := fsType.NewFilesystem(ctx, creds, source, *opts)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	// We can't hold vfs.mountMu while calling FilesystemImpl methods due to
+	// lock ordering.
+	vd, err := vfs.GetDentryAt(ctx, creds, target, &GetDentryOptions{})
+	if err != nil {
+		root.decRef(fs)
+		fs.decRef()
+		return err
+	}
+	vfs.mountMu.Lock()
+	for {
+		if vd.dentry.IsDisowned() {
+			vfs.mountMu.Unlock()
+			vd.DecRef()
+			root.decRef(fs)
+			fs.decRef()
+			return syserror.ENOENT
+		}
+		// vd might have been mounted over between vfs.GetDentryAt() and
+		// vfs.mountMu.Lock().
+		if !vd.dentry.isMounted() {
+			break
+		}
+		nextmnt := vfs.mounts.Lookup(vd.mount, vd.dentry)
+		if nextmnt == nil {
+			break
+		}
+		nextmnt.incRef()
+		nextmnt.root.incRef(nextmnt.fs)
+		vd.DecRef()
+		vd = VirtualDentry{
+			mount:  nextmnt,
+			dentry: nextmnt.root,
+		}
+	}
+	// TODO: Linux requires that either both the mount point and the mount root
+	// are directories, or neither are, and returns ENOTDIR if this is not the
+	// case.
+	mntns := vd.mount.ns
+	mnt := &Mount{
+		fs:   fs,
+		root: root,
+		ns:   mntns,
+		refs: 1,
+	}
+	mnt.storeKey(vd.mount, vd.dentry)
+	atomic.AddUint32(&vd.dentry.mounts, 1)
+	mntns.mountpoints[vd.dentry] = struct{}{}
+	vfsmpmounts, ok := vfs.mountpoints[vd.dentry]
+	if !ok {
+		vfsmpmounts = make(map[*Mount]struct{})
+		vfs.mountpoints[vd.dentry] = vfsmpmounts
+	}
+	vfsmpmounts[mnt] = struct{}{}
+	vfs.mounts.Insert(mnt)
+	vfs.mountMu.Unlock()
+	return nil
+}
+
+// getMountAt returns the last Mount in the stack mounted at (mnt, d). It takes
+// a reference on the returned Mount. If (mnt, d) is not a mount point,
+// getMountAt returns nil.
+//
+// getMountAt is analogous to Linux's fs/namei.c:follow_mount().
+//
+// Preconditions: References are held on mnt and d.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) getMountAt(mnt *Mount, d *Dentry) *Mount {
+	// The first mount is special-cased:
+	//
+	// - The caller is assumed to have checked d.isMounted() already. (This
+	// isn't a precondition because it doesn't matter for correctness.)
+	//
+	// - We return nil, instead of mnt, if there is no mount at (mnt, d).
+	//
+	// - We don't drop the caller's references on mnt and d.
+retryFirst:
+	next := vfs.mounts.Lookup(mnt, d)
+	if next == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if !next.tryIncMountedRef() {
+		// Raced with umount.
+		goto retryFirst
+	}
+	mnt = next
+	d = next.root
+	// We don't need to take Dentry refs anywhere in this function because
+	// Mounts hold references on Mount.root, which is immutable.
+	for d.isMounted() {
+		next := vfs.mounts.Lookup(mnt, d)
+		if next == nil {
+			break
+		}
+		if !next.tryIncMountedRef() {
+			// Raced with umount.
+			continue
+		}
+		mnt.decRef()
+		mnt = next
+		d = next.root
+	}
+	return mnt
+}
+
+// getMountpointAt returns the mount point for the stack of Mounts including
+// mnt. It takes a reference on the returned Mount and Dentry. If no such mount
+// point exists (i.e. mnt is a root mount), getMountpointAt returns (nil, nil).
+//
+// Preconditions: References are held on mnt and root. vfsroot is not (mnt,
+// mnt.root).
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) getMountpointAt(mnt *Mount, vfsroot VirtualDentry) (*Mount, *Dentry) {
+	// The first mount is special-cased:
+	//
+	// - The caller must have already checked mnt against vfsroot.
+	//
+	// - We return nil, instead of mnt, if there is no mount point for mnt.
+	//
+	// - We don't drop the caller's reference on mnt.
+retryFirst:
+	epoch := vfs.mounts.seq.BeginRead()
+	parent, point := mnt.loadKey()
+	if !vfs.mounts.seq.ReadOk(epoch) {
+		goto retryFirst
+	}
+	if parent == nil {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	if !parent.tryIncMountedRef() {
+		// Raced with umount.
+		goto retryFirst
+	}
+	if !point.tryIncRef(parent.fs) {
+		// Since Mount holds a reference on Mount.key.point, this can only
+		// happen due to a racing change to Mount.key.
+		parent.decRef()
+		goto retryFirst
+	}
+	mnt = parent
+	d := point
+	for {
+		if mnt == vfsroot.mount && d == vfsroot.dentry {
+			break
+		}
+		if d != mnt.root {
+			break
+		}
+	retryNotFirst:
+		epoch := vfs.mounts.seq.BeginRead()
+		parent, point := mnt.loadKey()
+		if !vfs.mounts.seq.ReadOk(epoch) {
+			goto retryNotFirst
+		}
+		if parent == nil {
+			break
+		}
+		if !parent.tryIncMountedRef() {
+			// Raced with umount.
+			goto retryNotFirst
+		}
+		if !point.tryIncRef(parent.fs) {
+			// Since Mount holds a reference on Mount.key.point, this can
+			// only happen due to a racing change to Mount.key.
+			parent.decRef()
+			goto retryNotFirst
+		}
+		if !vfs.mounts.seq.ReadOk(epoch) {
+			point.decRef(parent.fs)
+			parent.decRef()
+			goto retryNotFirst
+		}
+		d.decRef(mnt.fs)
+		mnt.decRef()
+		mnt = parent
+		d = point
+	}
+	return mnt, d
+}
+
+// tryIncMountedRef increments mnt's reference count and returns true. If mnt's
+// reference count is already zero, or has been eagerly unmounted,
+// tryIncMountedRef does nothing and returns false.
+//
+// tryIncMountedRef does not require that a reference is held on mnt.
+func (mnt *Mount) tryIncMountedRef() bool {
+	for {
+		refs := atomic.LoadInt64(&mnt.refs)
+		if refs <= 0 { // refs < 0 => MSB set => eagerly unmounted
+			return false
+		}
+		if atomic.CompareAndSwapInt64(&mnt.refs, refs, refs+1) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func (mnt *Mount) incRef() {
+	// In general, negative values for mnt.refs are valid because the MSB is
+	// the eager-unmount bit.
+	atomic.AddInt64(&mnt.refs, 1)
+}
+
+func (mnt *Mount) decRef() {
+	refs := atomic.AddInt64(&mnt.refs, -1)
+	if refs&^math.MinInt64 == 0 { // mask out MSB
+		parent, point := mnt.loadKey()
+		if point != nil {
+			point.decRef(parent.fs)
+			parent.decRef()
+		}
+		mnt.root.decRef(mnt.fs)
+		mnt.fs.decRef()
+	}
+}
+
+// CheckBeginWrite increments the counter of in-progress write operations on
+// mnt. If mnt is mounted MS_RDONLY, CheckBeginWrite does nothing and returns
+// EROFS.
+//
+// If CheckBeginWrite succeeds, EndWrite must be called when the write
+// operation is finished.
+func (mnt *Mount) CheckBeginWrite() error {
+	if atomic.AddInt64(&mnt.writers, 1) < 0 {
+		atomic.AddInt64(&mnt.writers, -1)
+		return syserror.EROFS
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// EndWrite indicates that a write operation signaled by a previous successful
+// call to CheckBeginWrite has finished.
+func (mnt *Mount) EndWrite() {
+	atomic.AddInt64(&mnt.writers, -1)
+}
+
+// Preconditions: VirtualFilesystem.mountMu must be locked for writing.
+func (mnt *Mount) setReadOnlyLocked(ro bool) error {
+	if oldRO := atomic.LoadInt64(&mnt.writers) < 0; oldRO == ro {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if ro {
+		if !atomic.CompareAndSwapInt64(&mnt.writers, 0, math.MinInt64) {
+			return syserror.EBUSY
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+	// Unset MSB without dropping any temporary increments from failed calls to
+	// mnt.CheckBeginWrite().
+	atomic.AddInt64(&mnt.writers, math.MinInt64)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Filesystem returns the mounted Filesystem. It does not take a reference on
+// the returned Filesystem.
+func (mnt *Mount) Filesystem() *Filesystem {
+	return mnt.fs
+}
+
+// IncRef increments mntns' reference count.
+func (mntns *MountNamespace) IncRef() {
+	if atomic.AddInt64(&mntns.refs, 1) <= 1 {
+		panic("MountNamespace.IncRef() called without holding a reference")
+	}
+}
+
+// DecRef decrements mntns' reference count.
+func (mntns *MountNamespace) DecRef() {
+	if refs := atomic.AddInt64(&mntns.refs, 0); refs == 0 {
+		// TODO: unmount mntns.root
+	} else if refs < 0 {
+		panic("MountNamespace.DecRef() called without holding a reference")
+	}
+}
+
+// Root returns mntns' root. A reference is taken on the returned
+// VirtualDentry.
+func (mntns *MountNamespace) Root() VirtualDentry {
+	vd := VirtualDentry{
+		mount:  mntns.root,
+		dentry: mntns.root.root,
+	}
+	vd.IncRef()
+	return vd
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/mount_test.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/mount_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f394d7483
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/mount_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,465 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"runtime"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestMountTableLookupEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	var mt mountTable
+	mt.Init()
+
+	parent := &Mount{}
+	point := &Dentry{}
+	if m := mt.Lookup(parent, point); m != nil {
+		t.Errorf("empty mountTable lookup: got %p, wanted nil", m)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestMountTableInsertLookup(t *testing.T) {
+	var mt mountTable
+	mt.Init()
+
+	mount := &Mount{}
+	mount.storeKey(&Mount{}, &Dentry{})
+	mt.Insert(mount)
+
+	if m := mt.Lookup(mount.parent(), mount.point()); m != mount {
+		t.Errorf("mountTable positive lookup: got %p, wanted %p", m, mount)
+	}
+
+	otherParent := &Mount{}
+	if m := mt.Lookup(otherParent, mount.point()); m != nil {
+		t.Errorf("mountTable lookup with wrong mount parent: got %p, wanted nil", m)
+	}
+	otherPoint := &Dentry{}
+	if m := mt.Lookup(mount.parent(), otherPoint); m != nil {
+		t.Errorf("mountTable lookup with wrong mount point: got %p, wanted nil", m)
+	}
+}
+
+// TODO: concurrent lookup/insertion/removal
+
+// must be powers of 2
+var benchNumMounts = []int{1 << 2, 1 << 5, 1 << 8}
+
+// For all of the following:
+//
+// - BenchmarkMountTableFoo tests usage pattern "Foo" for mountTable.
+//
+// - BenchmarkMountMapFoo tests usage pattern "Foo" for a
+// sync.RWMutex-protected map. (Mutator benchmarks do not use a RWMutex, since
+// mountTable also requires external synchronization between mutators.)
+//
+// - BenchmarkMountSyncMapFoo tests usage pattern "Foo" for a sync.Map.
+//
+// ParallelLookup is by far the most common and performance-sensitive operation
+// for this application. NegativeLookup is also important, but less so (only
+// relevant with multiple mount namespaces and significant differences in
+// mounts between them). Insertion and removal are benchmarked for
+// completeness.
+const enableComparativeBenchmarks = false
+
+func newBenchMount() *Mount {
+	mount := &Mount{}
+	mount.storeKey(&Mount{}, &Dentry{})
+	return mount
+}
+
+func vdkey(mnt *Mount) VirtualDentry {
+	parent, point := mnt.loadKey()
+	return VirtualDentry{
+		mount:  parent,
+		dentry: point,
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountTableParallelLookup(b *testing.B) {
+	for numG, maxG := 1, runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0); numG >= 0 && numG <= maxG; numG *= 2 {
+		for _, numMounts := range benchNumMounts {
+			desc := fmt.Sprintf("%dx%d", numG, numMounts)
+			b.Run(desc, func(b *testing.B) {
+				var mt mountTable
+				mt.Init()
+				keys := make([]VirtualDentry, 0, numMounts)
+				for i := 0; i < numMounts; i++ {
+					mount := newBenchMount()
+					mt.Insert(mount)
+					keys = append(keys, vdkey(mount))
+				}
+
+				var ready sync.WaitGroup
+				begin := make(chan struct{})
+				var end sync.WaitGroup
+				for g := 0; g < numG; g++ {
+					ready.Add(1)
+					end.Add(1)
+					go func() {
+						defer end.Done()
+						ready.Done()
+						<-begin
+						for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+							k := keys[i&(numMounts-1)]
+							m := mt.Lookup(k.mount, k.dentry)
+							if m == nil {
+								b.Fatalf("lookup failed")
+							}
+							if parent := m.parent(); parent != k.mount {
+								b.Fatalf("lookup returned mount with parent %p, wanted %p", parent, k.mount)
+							}
+							if point := m.point(); point != k.dentry {
+								b.Fatalf("lookup returned mount with point %p, wanted %p", point, k.dentry)
+							}
+						}
+					}()
+				}
+
+				ready.Wait()
+				b.ResetTimer()
+				close(begin)
+				end.Wait()
+			})
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountMapParallelLookup(b *testing.B) {
+	if !enableComparativeBenchmarks {
+		b.Skipf("comparative benchmarks are disabled")
+	}
+
+	for numG, maxG := 1, runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0); numG >= 0 && numG <= maxG; numG *= 2 {
+		for _, numMounts := range benchNumMounts {
+			desc := fmt.Sprintf("%dx%d", numG, numMounts)
+			b.Run(desc, func(b *testing.B) {
+				var mu sync.RWMutex
+				ms := make(map[VirtualDentry]*Mount)
+				keys := make([]VirtualDentry, 0, numMounts)
+				for i := 0; i < numMounts; i++ {
+					mount := newBenchMount()
+					key := vdkey(mount)
+					ms[key] = mount
+					keys = append(keys, key)
+				}
+
+				var ready sync.WaitGroup
+				begin := make(chan struct{})
+				var end sync.WaitGroup
+				for g := 0; g < numG; g++ {
+					ready.Add(1)
+					end.Add(1)
+					go func() {
+						defer end.Done()
+						ready.Done()
+						<-begin
+						for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+							k := keys[i&(numMounts-1)]
+							mu.RLock()
+							m := ms[k]
+							mu.RUnlock()
+							if m == nil {
+								b.Fatalf("lookup failed")
+							}
+							if parent := m.parent(); parent != k.mount {
+								b.Fatalf("lookup returned mount with parent %p, wanted %p", parent, k.mount)
+							}
+							if point := m.point(); point != k.dentry {
+								b.Fatalf("lookup returned mount with point %p, wanted %p", point, k.dentry)
+							}
+						}
+					}()
+				}
+
+				ready.Wait()
+				b.ResetTimer()
+				close(begin)
+				end.Wait()
+			})
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountSyncMapParallelLookup(b *testing.B) {
+	if !enableComparativeBenchmarks {
+		b.Skipf("comparative benchmarks are disabled")
+	}
+
+	for numG, maxG := 1, runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0); numG >= 0 && numG <= maxG; numG *= 2 {
+		for _, numMounts := range benchNumMounts {
+			desc := fmt.Sprintf("%dx%d", numG, numMounts)
+			b.Run(desc, func(b *testing.B) {
+				var ms sync.Map
+				keys := make([]VirtualDentry, 0, numMounts)
+				for i := 0; i < numMounts; i++ {
+					mount := newBenchMount()
+					key := vdkey(mount)
+					ms.Store(key, mount)
+					keys = append(keys, key)
+				}
+
+				var ready sync.WaitGroup
+				begin := make(chan struct{})
+				var end sync.WaitGroup
+				for g := 0; g < numG; g++ {
+					ready.Add(1)
+					end.Add(1)
+					go func() {
+						defer end.Done()
+						ready.Done()
+						<-begin
+						for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+							k := keys[i&(numMounts-1)]
+							mi, ok := ms.Load(k)
+							if !ok {
+								b.Fatalf("lookup failed")
+							}
+							m := mi.(*Mount)
+							if parent := m.parent(); parent != k.mount {
+								b.Fatalf("lookup returned mount with parent %p, wanted %p", parent, k.mount)
+							}
+							if point := m.point(); point != k.dentry {
+								b.Fatalf("lookup returned mount with point %p, wanted %p", point, k.dentry)
+							}
+						}
+					}()
+				}
+
+				ready.Wait()
+				b.ResetTimer()
+				close(begin)
+				end.Wait()
+			})
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountTableNegativeLookup(b *testing.B) {
+	for _, numMounts := range benchNumMounts {
+		desc := fmt.Sprintf("%d", numMounts)
+		b.Run(desc, func(b *testing.B) {
+			var mt mountTable
+			mt.Init()
+			for i := 0; i < numMounts; i++ {
+				mt.Insert(newBenchMount())
+			}
+			negkeys := make([]VirtualDentry, 0, numMounts)
+			for i := 0; i < numMounts; i++ {
+				negkeys = append(negkeys, VirtualDentry{
+					mount:  &Mount{},
+					dentry: &Dentry{},
+				})
+			}
+
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				k := negkeys[i&(numMounts-1)]
+				m := mt.Lookup(k.mount, k.dentry)
+				if m != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("lookup got %p, wanted nil", m)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountMapNegativeLookup(b *testing.B) {
+	if !enableComparativeBenchmarks {
+		b.Skipf("comparative benchmarks are disabled")
+	}
+
+	for _, numMounts := range benchNumMounts {
+		desc := fmt.Sprintf("%d", numMounts)
+		b.Run(desc, func(b *testing.B) {
+			var mu sync.RWMutex
+			ms := make(map[VirtualDentry]*Mount)
+			for i := 0; i < numMounts; i++ {
+				mount := newBenchMount()
+				ms[vdkey(mount)] = mount
+			}
+			negkeys := make([]VirtualDentry, 0, numMounts)
+			for i := 0; i < numMounts; i++ {
+				negkeys = append(negkeys, VirtualDentry{
+					mount:  &Mount{},
+					dentry: &Dentry{},
+				})
+			}
+
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				k := negkeys[i&(numMounts-1)]
+				mu.RLock()
+				m := ms[k]
+				mu.RUnlock()
+				if m != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("lookup got %p, wanted nil", m)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountSyncMapNegativeLookup(b *testing.B) {
+	if !enableComparativeBenchmarks {
+		b.Skipf("comparative benchmarks are disabled")
+	}
+
+	for _, numMounts := range benchNumMounts {
+		desc := fmt.Sprintf("%d", numMounts)
+		b.Run(desc, func(b *testing.B) {
+			var ms sync.Map
+			for i := 0; i < numMounts; i++ {
+				mount := newBenchMount()
+				ms.Store(vdkey(mount), mount)
+			}
+			negkeys := make([]VirtualDentry, 0, numMounts)
+			for i := 0; i < numMounts; i++ {
+				negkeys = append(negkeys, VirtualDentry{
+					mount:  &Mount{},
+					dentry: &Dentry{},
+				})
+			}
+
+			b.ResetTimer()
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				k := negkeys[i&(numMounts-1)]
+				m, _ := ms.Load(k)
+				if m != nil {
+					b.Fatalf("lookup got %p, wanted nil", m)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountTableInsert(b *testing.B) {
+	// Preallocate Mounts so that allocation time isn't included in the
+	// benchmark.
+	mounts := make([]*Mount, 0, b.N)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		mounts = append(mounts, newBenchMount())
+	}
+
+	var mt mountTable
+	mt.Init()
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	for i := range mounts {
+		mt.Insert(mounts[i])
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountMapInsert(b *testing.B) {
+	if !enableComparativeBenchmarks {
+		b.Skipf("comparative benchmarks are disabled")
+	}
+
+	// Preallocate Mounts so that allocation time isn't included in the
+	// benchmark.
+	mounts := make([]*Mount, 0, b.N)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		mounts = append(mounts, newBenchMount())
+	}
+
+	ms := make(map[VirtualDentry]*Mount)
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	for i := range mounts {
+		mount := mounts[i]
+		ms[vdkey(mount)] = mount
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountSyncMapInsert(b *testing.B) {
+	if !enableComparativeBenchmarks {
+		b.Skipf("comparative benchmarks are disabled")
+	}
+
+	// Preallocate Mounts so that allocation time isn't included in the
+	// benchmark.
+	mounts := make([]*Mount, 0, b.N)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		mounts = append(mounts, newBenchMount())
+	}
+
+	var ms sync.Map
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	for i := range mounts {
+		mount := mounts[i]
+		ms.Store(vdkey(mount), mount)
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountTableRemove(b *testing.B) {
+	mounts := make([]*Mount, 0, b.N)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		mounts = append(mounts, newBenchMount())
+	}
+	var mt mountTable
+	mt.Init()
+	for i := range mounts {
+		mt.Insert(mounts[i])
+	}
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	for i := range mounts {
+		mt.Remove(mounts[i])
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountMapRemove(b *testing.B) {
+	if !enableComparativeBenchmarks {
+		b.Skipf("comparative benchmarks are disabled")
+	}
+
+	mounts := make([]*Mount, 0, b.N)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		mounts = append(mounts, newBenchMount())
+	}
+	ms := make(map[VirtualDentry]*Mount)
+	for i := range mounts {
+		mount := mounts[i]
+		ms[vdkey(mount)] = mount
+	}
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	for i := range mounts {
+		mount := mounts[i]
+		delete(ms, vdkey(mount))
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkMountSyncMapRemove(b *testing.B) {
+	if !enableComparativeBenchmarks {
+		b.Skipf("comparative benchmarks are disabled")
+	}
+
+	mounts := make([]*Mount, 0, b.N)
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		mounts = append(mounts, newBenchMount())
+	}
+	var ms sync.Map
+	for i := range mounts {
+		mount := mounts[i]
+		ms.Store(vdkey(mount), mount)
+	}
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	for i := range mounts {
+		mount := mounts[i]
+		ms.Delete(vdkey(mount))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/mount_unsafe.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/mount_unsafe.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b0511aa40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/mount_unsafe.go
@@ -0,0 +1,356 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+// +build go1.12
+// +build !go1.14
+
+// Check go:linkname function signatures when updating Go version.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"math/bits"
+	"reflect"
+	"sync/atomic"
+	"unsafe"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/third_party/gvsync"
+)
+
+// mountKey represents the location at which a Mount is mounted. It is
+// structurally identical to VirtualDentry, but stores its fields as
+// unsafe.Pointer since mutators synchronize with VFS path traversal using
+// seqcounts.
+type mountKey struct {
+	parent unsafe.Pointer // *Mount
+	point  unsafe.Pointer // *Dentry
+}
+
+// Invariant: mnt.key's fields are nil. parent and point are non-nil.
+func (mnt *Mount) storeKey(parent *Mount, point *Dentry) {
+	atomic.StorePointer(&mnt.key.parent, unsafe.Pointer(parent))
+	atomic.StorePointer(&mnt.key.point, unsafe.Pointer(point))
+}
+
+func (mnt *Mount) loadKey() (*Mount, *Dentry) {
+	return (*Mount)(atomic.LoadPointer(&mnt.key.parent)), (*Dentry)(atomic.LoadPointer(&mnt.key.point))
+}
+
+func (mnt *Mount) parent() *Mount {
+	return (*Mount)(atomic.LoadPointer(&mnt.key.parent))
+}
+
+func (mnt *Mount) point() *Dentry {
+	return (*Dentry)(atomic.LoadPointer(&mnt.key.point))
+}
+
+// mountTable maps (mount parent, mount point) pairs to mounts. It supports
+// efficient concurrent lookup, even in the presence of concurrent mutators
+// (provided mutation is sufficiently uncommon).
+//
+// mountTable.Init() must be called on new mountTables before use.
+type mountTable struct {
+	// mountTable is implemented as a seqcount-protected hash table that
+	// resolves collisions with linear probing, featuring Robin Hood insertion
+	// and backward shift deletion. These minimize probe length variance,
+	// significantly improving the performance of linear probing at high load
+	// factors. (mountTable doesn't use bucketing, which is the other major
+	// technique commonly used in high-performance hash tables; the efficiency
+	// of bucketing is largely due to SIMD lookup, and Go lacks both SIMD
+	// intrinsics and inline assembly, limiting the performance of this
+	// approach.)
+
+	seq  gvsync.SeqCount
+	seed uint32 // for hashing keys
+
+	// size holds both length (number of elements) and capacity (number of
+	// slots): capacity is stored as its base-2 log (referred to as order) in
+	// the least significant bits of size, and length is stored in the
+	// remaining bits. Go defines bit shifts >= width of shifted unsigned
+	// operand as shifting to 0, which differs from x86's SHL, so the Go
+	// compiler inserts a bounds check for each bit shift unless we mask order
+	// anyway (cf. runtime.bucketShift()), and length isn't used by lookup;
+	// thus this bit packing gets us more bits for the length (vs. storing
+	// length and cap in separate uint32s) for ~free.
+	size uint64
+
+	slots unsafe.Pointer // []mountSlot; never nil after Init
+}
+
+type mountSlot struct {
+	// We don't store keys in slots; instead, we just check Mount.parent and
+	// Mount.point directly. Any practical use of lookup will need to touch
+	// Mounts anyway, and comparing hashes means that false positives are
+	// extremely rare, so this isn't an extra cache line touch overall.
+	value unsafe.Pointer // *Mount
+	hash  uintptr
+}
+
+const (
+	mtSizeOrderBits = 6 // log2 of pointer size in bits
+	mtSizeOrderMask = (1 << mtSizeOrderBits) - 1
+	mtSizeOrderOne  = 1
+	mtSizeLenLSB    = mtSizeOrderBits
+	mtSizeLenOne    = 1 << mtSizeLenLSB
+	mtSizeLenNegOne = ^uint64(mtSizeOrderMask) // uint64(-1) << mtSizeLenLSB
+
+	mountSlotBytes = unsafe.Sizeof(mountSlot{})
+	mountKeyBytes  = unsafe.Sizeof(mountKey{})
+
+	// Tuning parameters.
+	//
+	// Essentially every mountTable will contain at least /proc, /sys, and
+	// /dev/shm, so there is ~no reason for mtInitCap to be < 4.
+	mtInitOrder  = 2
+	mtInitCap    = 1 << mtInitOrder
+	mtMaxLoadNum = 13
+	mtMaxLoadDen = 16
+)
+
+func init() {
+	// We can't just define mtSizeOrderBits as follows because Go doesn't have
+	// constexpr.
+	if ptrBits := uint(unsafe.Sizeof(uintptr(0)) * 8); mtSizeOrderBits != bits.TrailingZeros(ptrBits) {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("mtSizeOrderBits (%d) must be %d = log2 of pointer size in bits (%d)", mtSizeOrderBits, bits.TrailingZeros(ptrBits), ptrBits))
+	}
+	if bits.OnesCount(uint(mountSlotBytes)) != 1 {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("sizeof(mountSlotBytes) (%d) must be a power of 2 to use bit masking for wraparound", mountSlotBytes))
+	}
+	if mtInitCap <= 1 {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("mtInitCap (%d) must be at least 2 since mountTable methods assume that there will always be at least one empty slot", mtInitCap))
+	}
+	if mtMaxLoadNum >= mtMaxLoadDen {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("invalid mountTable maximum load factor (%d/%d)", mtMaxLoadNum, mtMaxLoadDen))
+	}
+}
+
+// Init must be called exactly once on each mountTable before use.
+func (mt *mountTable) Init() {
+	mt.seed = rand32()
+	mt.size = mtInitOrder
+	mt.slots = newMountTableSlots(mtInitCap)
+}
+
+func newMountTableSlots(cap uintptr) unsafe.Pointer {
+	slice := make([]mountSlot, cap, cap)
+	hdr := (*reflect.SliceHeader)(unsafe.Pointer(&slice))
+	return unsafe.Pointer(hdr.Data)
+}
+
+// Lookup returns the Mount with the given parent, mounted at the given point.
+// If no such Mount exists, Lookup returns nil.
+//
+// Lookup may be called even if there are concurrent mutators of mt.
+func (mt *mountTable) Lookup(parent *Mount, point *Dentry) *Mount {
+	key := mountKey{parent: unsafe.Pointer(parent), point: unsafe.Pointer(point)}
+	hash := memhash(noescape(unsafe.Pointer(&key)), uintptr(mt.seed), mountKeyBytes)
+
+loop:
+	for {
+		epoch := mt.seq.BeginRead()
+		size := atomic.LoadUint64(&mt.size)
+		slots := atomic.LoadPointer(&mt.slots)
+		if !mt.seq.ReadOk(epoch) {
+			continue
+		}
+		tcap := uintptr(1) << (size & mtSizeOrderMask)
+		mask := tcap - 1
+		off := (hash & mask) * mountSlotBytes
+		offmask := mask * mountSlotBytes
+		for {
+			// This avoids bounds checking.
+			slot := (*mountSlot)(unsafe.Pointer(uintptr(slots) + off))
+			slotValue := atomic.LoadPointer(&slot.value)
+			slotHash := atomic.LoadUintptr(&slot.hash)
+			if !mt.seq.ReadOk(epoch) {
+				// The element we're looking for might have been moved into a
+				// slot we've previously checked, so restart entirely.
+				continue loop
+			}
+			if slotValue == nil {
+				return nil
+			}
+			if slotHash == hash {
+				mount := (*Mount)(slotValue)
+				var mountKey mountKey
+				mountKey.parent = atomic.LoadPointer(&mount.key.parent)
+				mountKey.point = atomic.LoadPointer(&mount.key.point)
+				if !mt.seq.ReadOk(epoch) {
+					continue loop
+				}
+				if key == mountKey {
+					return mount
+				}
+			}
+			off = (off + mountSlotBytes) & offmask
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// Insert inserts the given mount into mt.
+//
+// Preconditions: There are no concurrent mutators of mt. mt must not already
+// contain a Mount with the same mount point and parent.
+func (mt *mountTable) Insert(mount *Mount) {
+	hash := memhash(unsafe.Pointer(&mount.key), uintptr(mt.seed), mountKeyBytes)
+
+	// We're under the maximum load factor if:
+	//
+	//          (len+1) / cap <= mtMaxLoadNum / mtMaxLoadDen
+	// (len+1) * mtMaxLoadDen <= mtMaxLoadNum * cap
+	tlen := mt.size >> mtSizeLenLSB
+	order := mt.size & mtSizeOrderMask
+	tcap := uintptr(1) << order
+	if ((tlen + 1) * mtMaxLoadDen) <= (uint64(mtMaxLoadNum) << order) {
+		// Atomically insert the new element into the table.
+		mt.seq.BeginWrite()
+		atomic.AddUint64(&mt.size, mtSizeLenOne)
+		mtInsertLocked(mt.slots, tcap, unsafe.Pointer(mount), hash)
+		mt.seq.EndWrite()
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Otherwise, we have to expand. Double the number of slots in the new
+	// table.
+	newOrder := order + 1
+	if newOrder > mtSizeOrderMask {
+		panic("mount table size overflow")
+	}
+	newCap := uintptr(1) << newOrder
+	newSlots := newMountTableSlots(newCap)
+	// Copy existing elements to the new table.
+	oldCur := mt.slots
+	// Go does not permit pointers to the end of allocated objects, so we
+	// must use a pointer to the last element of the old table. The
+	// following expression is equivalent to
+	// `slots+(cap-1)*mountSlotBytes` but has a critical path length of 2
+	// arithmetic instructions instead of 3.
+	oldLast := unsafe.Pointer((uintptr(mt.slots) - mountSlotBytes) + (tcap * mountSlotBytes))
+	for {
+		oldSlot := (*mountSlot)(oldCur)
+		if oldSlot.value != nil {
+			// Don't need to lock mt.seq yet since newSlots isn't visible
+			// to readers.
+			mtInsertLocked(newSlots, newCap, oldSlot.value, oldSlot.hash)
+		}
+		if oldCur == oldLast {
+			break
+		}
+		oldCur = unsafe.Pointer(uintptr(oldCur) + mountSlotBytes)
+	}
+	// Insert the new element into the new table.
+	mtInsertLocked(newSlots, newCap, unsafe.Pointer(mount), hash)
+	// Atomically switch to the new table.
+	mt.seq.BeginWrite()
+	atomic.AddUint64(&mt.size, mtSizeLenOne|mtSizeOrderOne)
+	atomic.StorePointer(&mt.slots, newSlots)
+	mt.seq.EndWrite()
+}
+
+// Preconditions: There are no concurrent mutators of the table (slots, cap).
+// If the table is visible to readers, then mt.seq must be in a writer critical
+// section. cap must be a power of 2.
+func mtInsertLocked(slots unsafe.Pointer, cap uintptr, value unsafe.Pointer, hash uintptr) {
+	mask := cap - 1
+	off := (hash & mask) * mountSlotBytes
+	offmask := mask * mountSlotBytes
+	disp := uintptr(0)
+	for {
+		slot := (*mountSlot)(unsafe.Pointer(uintptr(slots) + off))
+		slotValue := slot.value
+		if slotValue == nil {
+			atomic.StorePointer(&slot.value, value)
+			atomic.StoreUintptr(&slot.hash, hash)
+			return
+		}
+		// If we've been displaced farther from our first-probed slot than the
+		// element stored in this one, swap elements and switch to inserting
+		// the replaced one. (This is Robin Hood insertion.)
+		slotHash := slot.hash
+		slotDisp := ((off / mountSlotBytes) - slotHash) & mask
+		if disp > slotDisp {
+			atomic.StorePointer(&slot.value, value)
+			atomic.StoreUintptr(&slot.hash, hash)
+			value = slotValue
+			hash = slotHash
+			disp = slotDisp
+		}
+		off = (off + mountSlotBytes) & offmask
+		disp++
+	}
+}
+
+// Remove removes the given mount from mt.
+//
+// Preconditions: There are no concurrent mutators of mt. mt must contain
+// mount.
+func (mt *mountTable) Remove(mount *Mount) {
+	hash := memhash(unsafe.Pointer(&mount.key), uintptr(mt.seed), mountKeyBytes)
+	tcap := uintptr(1) << (mt.size & mtSizeOrderMask)
+	mask := tcap - 1
+	slots := mt.slots
+	off := (hash & mask) * mountSlotBytes
+	offmask := mask * mountSlotBytes
+	for {
+		slot := (*mountSlot)(unsafe.Pointer(uintptr(slots) + off))
+		slotValue := slot.value
+		if slotValue == unsafe.Pointer(mount) {
+			// Found the element to remove. Move all subsequent elements
+			// backward until we either find an empty slot, or an element that
+			// is already in its first-probed slot. (This is backward shift
+			// deletion.)
+			mt.seq.BeginWrite()
+			for {
+				nextOff := (off + mountSlotBytes) & offmask
+				nextSlot := (*mountSlot)(unsafe.Pointer(uintptr(slots) + nextOff))
+				nextSlotValue := nextSlot.value
+				if nextSlotValue == nil {
+					break
+				}
+				nextSlotHash := nextSlot.hash
+				if (nextOff / mountSlotBytes) == (nextSlotHash & mask) {
+					break
+				}
+				atomic.StorePointer(&slot.value, nextSlotValue)
+				atomic.StoreUintptr(&slot.hash, nextSlotHash)
+				off = nextOff
+				slot = nextSlot
+			}
+			atomic.StorePointer(&slot.value, nil)
+			atomic.AddUint64(&mt.size, mtSizeLenNegOne)
+			mt.seq.EndWrite()
+			return
+		}
+		if checkInvariants && slotValue == nil {
+			panic(fmt.Sprintf("mountTable.Remove() called on missing Mount %v", mount))
+		}
+		off = (off + mountSlotBytes) & offmask
+	}
+}
+
+//go:linkname memhash runtime.memhash
+func memhash(p unsafe.Pointer, seed, s uintptr) uintptr
+
+//go:linkname rand32 runtime.fastrand
+func rand32() uint32
+
+// This is copy/pasted from runtime.noescape(), and is needed because arguments
+// apparently escape from all functions defined by linkname.
+//
+//go:nosplit
+func noescape(p unsafe.Pointer) unsafe.Pointer {
+	x := uintptr(p)
+	return unsafe.Pointer(x ^ 0)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/options.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/options.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..187e5410c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/options.go
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+)
+
+// GetDentryOptions contains options to VirtualFilesystem.GetDentryAt() and
+// FilesystemImpl.GetDentryAt().
+type GetDentryOptions struct {
+	// If CheckSearchable is true, FilesystemImpl.GetDentryAt() must check that
+	// the returned Dentry is a directory for which creds has search
+	// permission.
+	CheckSearchable bool
+}
+
+// MkdirOptions contains options to VirtualFilesystem.MkdirAt() and
+// FilesystemImpl.MkdirAt().
+type MkdirOptions struct {
+	// Mode is the file mode bits for the created directory.
+	Mode uint16
+}
+
+// MknodOptions contains options to VirtualFilesystem.MknodAt() and
+// FilesystemImpl.MknodAt().
+type MknodOptions struct {
+	// Mode is the file type and mode bits for the created file.
+	Mode uint16
+
+	// If Mode specifies a character or block device special file, DevMajor and
+	// DevMinor are the major and minor device numbers for the created device.
+	DevMajor uint32
+	DevMinor uint32
+}
+
+// OpenOptions contains options to VirtualFilesystem.OpenAt() and
+// FilesystemImpl.OpenAt().
+type OpenOptions struct {
+	// Flags contains access mode and flags as specified for open(2).
+	//
+	// FilesystemImpls is reponsible for implementing the following flags:
+	// O_RDONLY, O_WRONLY, O_RDWR, O_APPEND, O_CREAT, O_DIRECT, O_DSYNC,
+	// O_EXCL, O_NOATIME, O_NOCTTY, O_NONBLOCK, O_PATH, O_SYNC, O_TMPFILE, and
+	// O_TRUNC. VFS is responsible for handling O_DIRECTORY, O_LARGEFILE, and
+	// O_NOFOLLOW. VFS users are responsible for handling O_CLOEXEC, since file
+	// descriptors are mostly outside the scope of VFS.
+	Flags uint32
+
+	// If FilesystemImpl.OpenAt() creates a file, Mode is the file mode for the
+	// created file.
+	Mode uint16
+}
+
+// ReadOptions contains options to FileDescription.PRead(),
+// FileDescriptionImpl.PRead(), FileDescription.Read(), and
+// FileDescriptionImpl.Read().
+type ReadOptions struct {
+	// Flags contains flags as specified for preadv2(2).
+	Flags uint32
+}
+
+// RenameOptions contains options to VirtualFilesystem.RenameAt() and
+// FilesystemImpl.RenameAt().
+type RenameOptions struct {
+	// Flags contains flags as specified for renameat2(2).
+	Flags uint32
+}
+
+// SetStatOptions contains options to VirtualFilesystem.SetStatAt(),
+// FilesystemImpl.SetStatAt(), FileDescription.SetStat(), and
+// FileDescriptionImpl.SetStat().
+type SetStatOptions struct {
+	// Stat is the metadata that should be set. Only fields indicated by
+	// Stat.Mask should be set.
+	//
+	// If Stat specifies that a timestamp should be set,
+	// FilesystemImpl.SetStatAt() and FileDescriptionImpl.SetStat() must
+	// special-case StatxTimestamp.Nsec == UTIME_NOW as described by
+	// utimensat(2); however, they do not need to check for StatxTimestamp.Nsec
+	// == UTIME_OMIT (VFS users must unset the corresponding bit in Stat.Mask
+	// instead).
+	Stat linux.Statx
+}
+
+// StatOptions contains options to VirtualFilesystem.StatAt(),
+// FilesystemImpl.StatAt(), FileDescription.Stat(), and
+// FileDescriptionImpl.Stat().
+type StatOptions struct {
+	// Mask is the set of fields in the returned Statx that the FilesystemImpl
+	// or FileDescriptionImpl should provide. Bits are as in linux.Statx.Mask.
+	//
+	// The FilesystemImpl or FileDescriptionImpl may return fields not
+	// requested in Mask, and may fail to return fields requested in Mask that
+	// are not supported by the underlying filesystem implementation, without
+	// returning an error.
+	Mask uint32
+
+	// Sync specifies the synchronization required, and is one of
+	// linux.AT_STATX_SYNC_AS_STAT (which is 0, and therefore the default),
+	// linux.AT_STATX_SYNC_FORCE_SYNC, or linux.AT_STATX_SYNC_DONT_SYNC.
+	Sync uint32
+}
+
+// WriteOptions contains options to FileDescription.PWrite(),
+// FileDescriptionImpl.PWrite(), FileDescription.Write(), and
+// FileDescriptionImpl.Write().
+type WriteOptions struct {
+	// Flags contains flags as specified for pwritev2(2).
+	Flags uint32
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/permissions.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/permissions.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f8e74355c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/permissions.go
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+// AccessTypes is a bitmask of Unix file permissions.
+type AccessTypes uint16
+
+// Bits in AccessTypes.
+const (
+	MayRead  AccessTypes = 4
+	MayWrite             = 2
+	MayExec              = 1
+)
+
+// GenericCheckPermissions checks that creds has the given access rights on a
+// file with the given permissions, UID, and GID, subject to the rules of
+// fs/namei.c:generic_permission(). isDir is true if the file is a directory.
+func GenericCheckPermissions(creds *auth.Credentials, ats AccessTypes, isDir bool, mode uint16, kuid auth.KUID, kgid auth.KGID) error {
+	// Check permission bits.
+	perms := mode
+	if creds.EffectiveKUID == kuid {
+		perms >>= 6
+	} else if creds.InGroup(kgid) {
+		perms >>= 3
+	}
+	if uint16(ats)&perms == uint16(ats) {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	// Caller capabilities require that the file's KUID and KGID are mapped in
+	// the caller's user namespace; compare
+	// kernel/capability.c:privileged_wrt_inode_uidgid().
+	if !kuid.In(creds.UserNamespace).Ok() || !kgid.In(creds.UserNamespace).Ok() {
+		return syserror.EACCES
+	}
+	// CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH allows the caller to read and search arbitrary
+	// directories, and read arbitrary non-directory files.
+	if (isDir && (ats&MayWrite == 0)) || ats == MayRead {
+		if creds.HasCapability(linux.CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH) {
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+	// CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE allows arbitrary access to directories, read/write
+	// access to non-directory files, and execute access to non-directory files
+	// for which at least one execute bit is set.
+	if isDir || (ats&MayExec == 0) || (mode&0111 != 0) {
+		if creds.HasCapability(linux.CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE) {
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+	return syserror.EACCES
+}
+
+// AccessTypesForOpenFlags returns the access types required to open a file
+// with the given OpenOptions.Flags. Note that this is NOT the same thing as
+// the set of accesses permitted for the opened file:
+//
+// - O_TRUNC causes MayWrite to be set in the returned AccessTypes (since it
+// mutates the file), but does not permit the opened to write to the file
+// thereafter.
+//
+// - "Linux reserves the special, nonstandard access mode 3 (binary 11) in
+// flags to mean: check for read and write permission on the file and return a
+// file descriptor that can't be used for reading or writing." - open(2). Thus
+// AccessTypesForOpenFlags returns MayRead|MayWrite in this case, but
+// filesystems are responsible for ensuring that access is denied.
+//
+// Use May{Read,Write}FileWithOpenFlags() for these checks instead.
+func AccessTypesForOpenFlags(flags uint32) AccessTypes {
+	switch flags & linux.O_ACCMODE {
+	case linux.O_RDONLY:
+		if flags&linux.O_TRUNC != 0 {
+			return MayRead | MayWrite
+		}
+		return MayRead
+	case linux.O_WRONLY:
+		return MayWrite
+	default:
+		return MayRead | MayWrite
+	}
+}
+
+// MayReadFileWithOpenFlags returns true if a file with the given open flags
+// should be readable.
+func MayReadFileWithOpenFlags(flags uint32) bool {
+	switch flags & linux.O_ACCMODE {
+	case linux.O_RDONLY, linux.O_RDWR:
+		return true
+	default:
+		return false
+	}
+}
+
+// MayWriteFileWithOpenFlags returns true if a file with the given open flags
+// should be writable.
+func MayWriteFileWithOpenFlags(flags uint32) bool {
+	switch flags & linux.O_ACCMODE {
+	case linux.O_WRONLY, linux.O_RDWR:
+		return true
+	default:
+		return false
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/resolving_path.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/resolving_path.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d05c8583
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/resolving_path.go
@@ -0,0 +1,453 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"sync"
+
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/fspath"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+// ResolvingPath represents the state of an in-progress path resolution, shared
+// between VFS and FilesystemImpl methods that take a path.
+//
+// From the perspective of FilesystemImpl methods, a ResolvingPath represents a
+// starting Dentry on the associated Filesystem (on which a reference is
+// already held) and a stream of path components relative to that Dentry.
+//
+// ResolvingPath is loosely analogous to Linux's struct nameidata.
+type ResolvingPath struct {
+	vfs   *VirtualFilesystem
+	root  VirtualDentry // refs borrowed from PathOperation
+	mount *Mount
+	start *Dentry
+	pit   fspath.Iterator
+
+	flags         uint16
+	mustBeDir     bool // final file must be a directory?
+	mustBeDirOrig bool
+	symlinks      uint8 // number of symlinks traversed
+	symlinksOrig  uint8
+	curPart       uint8 // index into parts
+	numOrigParts  uint8
+
+	creds *auth.Credentials
+
+	// Data associated with resolve*Errors, stored in ResolvingPath so that
+	// those errors don't need to allocate.
+	nextMount        *Mount  // ref held if not nil
+	nextStart        *Dentry // ref held if not nil
+	absSymlinkTarget fspath.Path
+
+	// ResolvingPath must track up to two relative paths: the "current"
+	// relative path, which is updated whenever a relative symlink is
+	// encountered, and the "original" relative path, which is updated from the
+	// current relative path by handleError() when resolution must change
+	// filesystems (due to reaching a mount boundary or absolute symlink) and
+	// overwrites the current relative path when Restart() is called.
+	parts     [1 + linux.MaxSymlinkTraversals]fspath.Iterator
+	origParts [1 + linux.MaxSymlinkTraversals]fspath.Iterator
+}
+
+const (
+	rpflagsHaveMountRef       = 1 << iota // do we hold a reference on mount?
+	rpflagsHaveStartRef                   // do we hold a reference on start?
+	rpflagsFollowFinalSymlink             // same as PathOperation.FollowFinalSymlink
+)
+
+func init() {
+	if maxParts := len(ResolvingPath{}.parts); maxParts > 255 {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("uint8 is insufficient to accommodate len(ResolvingPath.parts) (%d)", maxParts))
+	}
+}
+
+// Error types that communicate state from the FilesystemImpl-caller,
+// VFS-callee side of path resolution (i.e. errors returned by
+// ResolvingPath.Resolve*()) to the VFS-caller, FilesystemImpl-callee side
+// (i.e. VFS methods => ResolvingPath.handleError()). These are empty structs
+// rather than error values because Go doesn't support non-primitive constants,
+// so error "constants" are really mutable vars, necessitating somewhat
+// expensive interface object comparisons.
+
+type resolveMountRootError struct{}
+
+// Error implements error.Error.
+func (resolveMountRootError) Error() string {
+	return "resolving mount root"
+}
+
+type resolveMountPointError struct{}
+
+// Error implements error.Error.
+func (resolveMountPointError) Error() string {
+	return "resolving mount point"
+}
+
+type resolveAbsSymlinkError struct{}
+
+// Error implements error.Error.
+func (resolveAbsSymlinkError) Error() string {
+	return "resolving absolute symlink"
+}
+
+var resolvingPathPool = sync.Pool{
+	New: func() interface{} {
+		return &ResolvingPath{}
+	},
+}
+
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) getResolvingPath(creds *auth.Credentials, pop *PathOperation) (*ResolvingPath, error) {
+	path, err := fspath.Parse(pop.Pathname)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	rp := resolvingPathPool.Get().(*ResolvingPath)
+	rp.vfs = vfs
+	rp.root = pop.Root
+	rp.mount = pop.Start.mount
+	rp.start = pop.Start.dentry
+	rp.pit = path.Begin
+	rp.flags = 0
+	if pop.FollowFinalSymlink {
+		rp.flags |= rpflagsFollowFinalSymlink
+	}
+	rp.mustBeDir = path.Dir
+	rp.mustBeDirOrig = path.Dir
+	rp.symlinks = 0
+	rp.curPart = 0
+	rp.numOrigParts = 1
+	rp.creds = creds
+	rp.parts[0] = path.Begin
+	rp.origParts[0] = path.Begin
+	return rp, nil
+}
+
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) putResolvingPath(rp *ResolvingPath) {
+	rp.root = VirtualDentry{}
+	rp.decRefStartAndMount()
+	rp.mount = nil
+	rp.start = nil
+	rp.releaseErrorState()
+	resolvingPathPool.Put(rp)
+}
+
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) decRefStartAndMount() {
+	if rp.flags&rpflagsHaveStartRef != 0 {
+		rp.start.decRef(rp.mount.fs)
+	}
+	if rp.flags&rpflagsHaveMountRef != 0 {
+		rp.mount.decRef()
+	}
+}
+
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) releaseErrorState() {
+	if rp.nextStart != nil {
+		rp.nextStart.decRef(rp.nextMount.fs)
+		rp.nextStart = nil
+	}
+	if rp.nextMount != nil {
+		rp.nextMount.decRef()
+		rp.nextMount = nil
+	}
+}
+
+// VirtualFilesystem returns the containing VirtualFilesystem.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) VirtualFilesystem() *VirtualFilesystem {
+	return rp.vfs
+}
+
+// Credentials returns the credentials of rp's provider.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) Credentials() *auth.Credentials {
+	return rp.creds
+}
+
+// Mount returns the Mount on which path resolution is currently occurring. It
+// does not take a reference on the returned Mount.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) Mount() *Mount {
+	return rp.mount
+}
+
+// Start returns the starting Dentry represented by rp. It does not take a
+// reference on the returned Dentry.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) Start() *Dentry {
+	return rp.start
+}
+
+// Done returns true if there are no remaining path components in the stream
+// represented by rp.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) Done() bool {
+	// We don't need to check for rp.curPart == 0 because rp.Advance() won't
+	// set rp.pit to a terminal iterator otherwise.
+	return !rp.pit.Ok()
+}
+
+// Final returns true if there is exactly one remaining path component in the
+// stream represented by rp.
+//
+// Preconditions: !rp.Done().
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) Final() bool {
+	return rp.curPart == 0 && !rp.pit.NextOk()
+}
+
+// Component returns the current path component in the stream represented by
+// rp.
+//
+// Preconditions: !rp.Done().
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) Component() string {
+	if checkInvariants {
+		if !rp.pit.Ok() {
+			panic("ResolvingPath.Component() called at end of relative path")
+		}
+	}
+	return rp.pit.String()
+}
+
+// Advance advances the stream of path components represented by rp.
+//
+// Preconditions: !rp.Done().
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) Advance() {
+	if checkInvariants {
+		if !rp.pit.Ok() {
+			panic("ResolvingPath.Advance() called at end of relative path")
+		}
+	}
+	next := rp.pit.Next()
+	if next.Ok() || rp.curPart == 0 { // have next component, or at end of path
+		rp.pit = next
+	} else { // at end of path segment, continue with next one
+		rp.curPart--
+		rp.pit = rp.parts[rp.curPart-1]
+	}
+}
+
+// Restart resets the stream of path components represented by rp to its state
+// on entry to the current FilesystemImpl method.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) Restart() {
+	rp.pit = rp.origParts[rp.numOrigParts-1]
+	rp.mustBeDir = rp.mustBeDirOrig
+	rp.symlinks = rp.symlinksOrig
+	rp.curPart = rp.numOrigParts - 1
+	copy(rp.parts[:], rp.origParts[:rp.numOrigParts])
+	rp.releaseErrorState()
+}
+
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) relpathCommit() {
+	rp.mustBeDirOrig = rp.mustBeDir
+	rp.symlinksOrig = rp.symlinks
+	rp.numOrigParts = rp.curPart + 1
+	copy(rp.origParts[:rp.curPart], rp.parts[:])
+	rp.origParts[rp.curPart] = rp.pit
+}
+
+// ResolveParent returns the VFS parent of d. It does not take a reference on
+// the returned Dentry.
+//
+// Preconditions: There are no concurrent mutators of d.
+//
+// Postconditions: If the returned error is nil, then the returned Dentry is
+// not nil.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) ResolveParent(d *Dentry) (*Dentry, error) {
+	var parent *Dentry
+	if d == rp.root.dentry && rp.mount == rp.root.mount {
+		// At contextual VFS root.
+		parent = d
+	} else if d == rp.mount.root {
+		// At mount root ...
+		mnt, mntpt := rp.vfs.getMountpointAt(rp.mount, rp.root)
+		if mnt != nil {
+			// ... of non-root mount.
+			rp.nextMount = mnt
+			rp.nextStart = mntpt
+			return nil, resolveMountRootError{}
+		}
+		// ... of root mount.
+		parent = d
+	} else if d.parent == nil {
+		// At filesystem root.
+		parent = d
+	} else {
+		parent = d.parent
+	}
+	if parent.isMounted() {
+		if mnt := rp.vfs.getMountAt(rp.mount, parent); mnt != nil {
+			rp.nextMount = mnt
+			return nil, resolveMountPointError{}
+		}
+	}
+	return parent, nil
+}
+
+// ResolveChild returns the VFS child of d with the given name. It does not
+// take a reference on the returned Dentry. If no such child exists,
+// ResolveChild returns (nil, nil).
+//
+// Preconditions: There are no concurrent mutators of d.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) ResolveChild(d *Dentry, name string) (*Dentry, error) {
+	child := d.children[name]
+	if child == nil {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	if child.isMounted() {
+		if mnt := rp.vfs.getMountAt(rp.mount, child); mnt != nil {
+			rp.nextMount = mnt
+			return nil, resolveMountPointError{}
+		}
+	}
+	return child, nil
+}
+
+// ResolveComponent returns the Dentry reached by starting at d and resolving
+// the current path component in the stream represented by rp. It does not
+// advance the stream. It does not take a reference on the returned Dentry. If
+// no such Dentry exists, ResolveComponent returns (nil, nil).
+//
+// Preconditions: !rp.Done(). There are no concurrent mutators of d.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) ResolveComponent(d *Dentry) (*Dentry, error) {
+	switch pc := rp.Component(); pc {
+	case ".":
+		return d, nil
+	case "..":
+		return rp.ResolveParent(d)
+	default:
+		return rp.ResolveChild(d, pc)
+	}
+}
+
+// ShouldFollowSymlink returns true if, supposing that the current path
+// component in pcs represents a symbolic link, the symbolic link should be
+// followed.
+//
+// Preconditions: !rp.Done().
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) ShouldFollowSymlink() bool {
+	// Non-final symlinks are always followed.
+	return rp.flags&rpflagsFollowFinalSymlink != 0 || !rp.Final()
+}
+
+// HandleSymlink is called when the current path component is a symbolic link
+// to the given target. If the calling Filesystem method should continue path
+// traversal, HandleSymlink updates the path component stream to reflect the
+// symlink target and returns nil. Otherwise it returns a non-nil error.
+//
+// Preconditions: !rp.Done().
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) HandleSymlink(target string) error {
+	if rp.symlinks >= linux.MaxSymlinkTraversals {
+		return syserror.ELOOP
+	}
+	targetPath, err := fspath.Parse(target)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	rp.symlinks++
+	if targetPath.Absolute {
+		rp.absSymlinkTarget = targetPath
+		return resolveAbsSymlinkError{}
+	}
+	if !targetPath.Begin.Ok() {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("symbolic link has non-empty target %q that is both relative and has no path components?", target))
+	}
+	// Consume the path component that represented the symlink.
+	rp.Advance()
+	// Prepend the symlink target to the relative path.
+	rp.relpathPrepend(targetPath)
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) relpathPrepend(path fspath.Path) {
+	if rp.pit.Ok() {
+		rp.parts[rp.curPart] = rp.pit
+		rp.pit = path.Begin
+		rp.curPart++
+	} else {
+		// The symlink was the final path component, so now the symlink target
+		// is the whole path.
+		rp.pit = path.Begin
+		// Symlink targets can set rp.mustBeDir (if they end in a trailing /),
+		// but can't unset it.
+		if path.Dir {
+			rp.mustBeDir = true
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) handleError(err error) bool {
+	switch err.(type) {
+	case resolveMountRootError:
+		// Switch to the new Mount. We hold references on the Mount and Dentry
+		// (from VFS.getMountpointAt()).
+		rp.decRefStartAndMount()
+		rp.mount = rp.nextMount
+		rp.start = rp.nextStart
+		rp.flags |= rpflagsHaveMountRef | rpflagsHaveStartRef
+		rp.nextMount = nil
+		rp.nextStart = nil
+		// Commit the previous FileystemImpl's progress through the relative
+		// path. (Don't consume the path component that caused us to traverse
+		// through the mount root - i.e. the ".." - because we still need to
+		// resolve the mount point's parent in the new FilesystemImpl.)
+		rp.relpathCommit()
+		// Restart path resolution on the new Mount. Don't bother calling
+		// rp.releaseErrorState() since we already set nextMount and nextStart
+		// to nil above.
+		return true
+
+	case resolveMountPointError:
+		// Switch to the new Mount. We hold a reference on the Mount (from
+		// VFS.getMountAt()), but borrow the reference on the mount root from
+		// the Mount.
+		rp.decRefStartAndMount()
+		rp.mount = rp.nextMount
+		rp.start = rp.nextMount.root
+		rp.flags = rp.flags&^rpflagsHaveStartRef | rpflagsHaveMountRef
+		rp.nextMount = nil
+		// Consume the path component that represented the mount point.
+		rp.Advance()
+		// Commit the previous FilesystemImpl's progress through the relative
+		// path.
+		rp.relpathCommit()
+		// Restart path resolution on the new Mount.
+		rp.releaseErrorState()
+		return true
+
+	case resolveAbsSymlinkError:
+		// Switch to the new Mount. References are borrowed from rp.root.
+		rp.decRefStartAndMount()
+		rp.mount = rp.root.mount
+		rp.start = rp.root.dentry
+		rp.flags &^= rpflagsHaveMountRef | rpflagsHaveStartRef
+		// Consume the path component that represented the symlink.
+		rp.Advance()
+		// Prepend the symlink target to the relative path.
+		rp.relpathPrepend(rp.absSymlinkTarget)
+		// Commit the previous FilesystemImpl's progress through the relative
+		// path, including the symlink target we just prepended.
+		rp.relpathCommit()
+		// Restart path resolution on the new Mount.
+		rp.releaseErrorState()
+		return true
+
+	default:
+		// Not an error we can handle.
+		return false
+	}
+}
+
+// MustBeDir returns true if the file traversed by rp must be a directory.
+func (rp *ResolvingPath) MustBeDir() bool {
+	return rp.mustBeDir
+}
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/syscalls.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/syscalls.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..23f2b9e08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/syscalls.go
@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/abi/linux"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/context"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/sentry/kernel/auth"
+	"gvisor.dev/gvisor/pkg/syserror"
+)
+
+// PathOperation specifies the path operated on by a VFS method.
+//
+// PathOperation is passed to VFS methods by pointer to reduce memory copying:
+// it's somewhat large and should never escape. (Options structs are passed by
+// pointer to VFS and FileDescription methods for the same reason.)
+type PathOperation struct {
+	// Root is the VFS root. References on Root are borrowed from the provider
+	// of the PathOperation.
+	//
+	// Invariants: Root.Ok().
+	Root VirtualDentry
+
+	// Start is the starting point for the path traversal. References on Start
+	// are borrowed from the provider of the PathOperation (i.e. the caller of
+	// the VFS method to which the PathOperation was passed).
+	//
+	// Invariants: Start.Ok(). If Pathname.Absolute, then Start == Root.
+	Start VirtualDentry
+
+	// Path is the pathname traversed by this operation.
+	Pathname string
+
+	// If FollowFinalSymlink is true, and the Dentry traversed by the final
+	// path component represents a symbolic link, the symbolic link should be
+	// followed.
+	FollowFinalSymlink bool
+}
+
+// GetDentryAt returns a VirtualDentry representing the given path, at which a
+// file must exist. A reference is taken on the returned VirtualDentry.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) GetDentryAt(ctx context.Context, creds *auth.Credentials, pop *PathOperation, opts *GetDentryOptions) (VirtualDentry, error) {
+	rp, err := vfs.getResolvingPath(creds, pop)
+	if err != nil {
+		return VirtualDentry{}, err
+	}
+	for {
+		d, err := rp.mount.fs.impl.GetDentryAt(ctx, rp, *opts)
+		if err == nil {
+			vd := VirtualDentry{
+				mount:  rp.mount,
+				dentry: d,
+			}
+			rp.mount.incRef()
+			vfs.putResolvingPath(rp)
+			return vd, nil
+		}
+		if !rp.handleError(err) {
+			vfs.putResolvingPath(rp)
+			return VirtualDentry{}, err
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// MkdirAt creates a directory at the given path.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) MkdirAt(ctx context.Context, creds *auth.Credentials, pop *PathOperation, opts *MkdirOptions) error {
+	// "Under Linux, apart from the permission bits, the S_ISVTX mode bit is
+	// also honored." - mkdir(2)
+	opts.Mode &= 01777
+	rp, err := vfs.getResolvingPath(creds, pop)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	for {
+		err := rp.mount.fs.impl.MkdirAt(ctx, rp, *opts)
+		if err == nil {
+			vfs.putResolvingPath(rp)
+			return nil
+		}
+		if !rp.handleError(err) {
+			vfs.putResolvingPath(rp)
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// OpenAt returns a FileDescription providing access to the file at the given
+// path. A reference is taken on the returned FileDescription.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) OpenAt(ctx context.Context, creds *auth.Credentials, pop *PathOperation, opts *OpenOptions) (*FileDescription, error) {
+	// Remove:
+	//
+	// - O_LARGEFILE, which we always report in FileDescription status flags
+	// since only 64-bit architectures are supported at this time.
+	//
+	// - O_CLOEXEC, which affects file descriptors and therefore must be
+	// handled outside of VFS.
+	//
+	// - Unknown flags.
+	opts.Flags &= linux.O_ACCMODE | linux.O_CREAT | linux.O_EXCL | linux.O_NOCTTY | linux.O_TRUNC | linux.O_APPEND | linux.O_NONBLOCK | linux.O_DSYNC | linux.O_ASYNC | linux.O_DIRECT | linux.O_DIRECTORY | linux.O_NOFOLLOW | linux.O_NOATIME | linux.O_SYNC | linux.O_PATH | linux.O_TMPFILE
+	// Linux's __O_SYNC (which we call linux.O_SYNC) implies O_DSYNC.
+	if opts.Flags&linux.O_SYNC != 0 {
+		opts.Flags |= linux.O_DSYNC
+	}
+	// Linux's __O_TMPFILE (which we call linux.O_TMPFILE) must be specified
+	// with O_DIRECTORY and a writable access mode (to ensure that it fails on
+	// filesystem implementations that do not support it).
+	if opts.Flags&linux.O_TMPFILE != 0 {
+		if opts.Flags&linux.O_DIRECTORY == 0 {
+			return nil, syserror.EINVAL
+		}
+		if opts.Flags&linux.O_CREAT != 0 {
+			return nil, syserror.EINVAL
+		}
+		if opts.Flags&linux.O_ACCMODE == linux.O_RDONLY {
+			return nil, syserror.EINVAL
+		}
+	}
+	// O_PATH causes most other flags to be ignored.
+	if opts.Flags&linux.O_PATH != 0 {
+		opts.Flags &= linux.O_DIRECTORY | linux.O_NOFOLLOW | linux.O_PATH
+	}
+	// "On Linux, the following bits are also honored in mode: [S_ISUID,
+	// S_ISGID, S_ISVTX]" - open(2)
+	opts.Mode &= 07777
+
+	if opts.Flags&linux.O_NOFOLLOW != 0 {
+		pop.FollowFinalSymlink = false
+	}
+	rp, err := vfs.getResolvingPath(creds, pop)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if opts.Flags&linux.O_DIRECTORY != 0 {
+		rp.mustBeDir = true
+		rp.mustBeDirOrig = true
+	}
+	for {
+		fd, err := rp.mount.fs.impl.OpenAt(ctx, rp, *opts)
+		if err == nil {
+			vfs.putResolvingPath(rp)
+			return fd, nil
+		}
+		if !rp.handleError(err) {
+			vfs.putResolvingPath(rp)
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// StatAt returns metadata for the file at the given path.
+func (vfs *VirtualFilesystem) StatAt(ctx context.Context, creds *auth.Credentials, pop *PathOperation, opts *StatOptions) (linux.Statx, error) {
+	rp, err := vfs.getResolvingPath(creds, pop)
+	if err != nil {
+		return linux.Statx{}, err
+	}
+	for {
+		stat, err := rp.mount.fs.impl.StatAt(ctx, rp, *opts)
+		if err == nil {
+			vfs.putResolvingPath(rp)
+			return stat, nil
+		}
+		if !rp.handleError(err) {
+			vfs.putResolvingPath(rp)
+			return linux.Statx{}, err
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// StatusFlags returns file description status flags.
+func (fd *FileDescription) StatusFlags(ctx context.Context) (uint32, error) {
+	flags, err := fd.impl.StatusFlags(ctx)
+	flags |= linux.O_LARGEFILE
+	return flags, err
+}
+
+// SetStatusFlags sets file description status flags.
+func (fd *FileDescription) SetStatusFlags(ctx context.Context, flags uint32) error {
+	return fd.impl.SetStatusFlags(ctx, flags)
+}
+
+// TODO:
+//
+// - VFS.SyncAllFilesystems() for sync(2)
+//
+// - Something for syncfs(2)
+//
+// - VFS.LinkAt()
+//
+// - VFS.MknodAt()
+//
+// - VFS.ReadlinkAt()
+//
+// - VFS.RenameAt()
+//
+// - VFS.RmdirAt()
+//
+// - VFS.SetStatAt()
+//
+// - VFS.StatFSAt()
+//
+// - VFS.SymlinkAt()
+//
+// - VFS.UnlinkAt()
+//
+// - FileDescription.(almost everything)
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/vfs/vfs.go b/pkg/sentry/vfs/vfs.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4a8a69540
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/sentry/vfs/vfs.go
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The gVisor Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+// Package vfs implements a virtual filesystem layer.
+//
+// Lock order:
+//
+// Filesystem implementation locks
+//   VirtualFilesystem.mountMu
+// VirtualFilesystem.fsTypesMu
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"sync"
+)
+
+// A VirtualFilesystem (VFS for short) combines Filesystems in trees of Mounts.
+//
+// There is no analogue to the VirtualFilesystem type in Linux, as the
+// equivalent state in Linux is global.
+type VirtualFilesystem struct {
+	// mountMu serializes mount mutations.
+	//
+	// mountMu is analogous to Linux's namespace_sem.
+	mountMu sync.RWMutex
+
+	// mounts maps (mount parent, mount point) pairs to mounts. (Since mounts
+	// are uniquely namespaced, including mount parent in the key correctly
+	// handles both bind mounts and mount namespaces; Linux does the same.)
+	// Synchronization between mutators and readers is provided by mounts.seq;
+	// synchronization between mutators is provided by mountMu.
+	//
+	// mounts is used to follow mount points during path traversal. We use a
+	// single table rather than per-Dentry tables to reduce size (and therefore
+	// cache footprint) for the vast majority of Dentries that are not mount
+	// points.
+	//
+	// mounts is analogous to Linux's mount_hashtable.
+	mounts mountTable
+
+	// mountpoints maps mount points to mounts at those points in all
+	// namespaces. mountpoints is protected by mountMu.
+	//
+	// mountpoints is used to find mounts that must be unmounted due to
+	// removal of a mount point Dentry from another mount namespace. ("A file
+	// or directory that is a mount point in one namespace that is not a mount
+	// point in another namespace, may be renamed, unlinked, or removed
+	// (rmdir(2)) in the mount namespace in which it is not a mount point
+	// (subject to the usual permission checks)." - mount_namespaces(7))
+	//
+	// mountpoints is analogous to Linux's mountpoint_hashtable.
+	mountpoints map[*Dentry]map[*Mount]struct{}
+
+	// fsTypes contains all FilesystemTypes that are usable in the
+	// VirtualFilesystem. fsTypes is protected by fsTypesMu.
+	fsTypesMu sync.RWMutex
+	fsTypes   map[string]FilesystemType
+}
+
+// New returns a new VirtualFilesystem with no mounts or FilesystemTypes.
+func New() *VirtualFilesystem {
+	vfs := &VirtualFilesystem{
+		mountpoints: make(map[*Dentry]map[*Mount]struct{}),
+		fsTypes:     make(map[string]FilesystemType),
+	}
+	vfs.mounts.Init()
+	return vfs
+}
+
+// A VirtualDentry represents a node in a VFS tree, by combining a Dentry
+// (which represents a node in a Filesystem's tree) and a Mount (which
+// represents the Filesystem's position in a VFS mount tree).
+//
+// VirtualDentry's semantics are similar to that of a Go interface object
+// representing a pointer: it is a copyable value type that represents
+// references to another entity. The zero value of VirtualDentry is an "empty
+// VirtualDentry", directly analogous to a nil interface object.
+// VirtualDentry.Ok() checks that a VirtualDentry is not zero-valued; unless
+// otherwise specified, all other VirtualDentry methods require
+// VirtualDentry.Ok() == true.
+//
+// Mounts and Dentries are reference-counted, requiring that users call
+// VirtualDentry.{Inc,Dec}Ref() as appropriate. We often colloquially refer to
+// references on the Mount and Dentry referred to by a VirtualDentry as
+// references on the VirtualDentry itself. Unless otherwise specified, all
+// VirtualDentry methods require that a reference is held on the VirtualDentry.
+//
+// VirtualDentry is analogous to Linux's struct path.
+type VirtualDentry struct {
+	mount  *Mount
+	dentry *Dentry
+}
+
+// Ok returns true if vd is not empty. It does not require that a reference is
+// held.
+func (vd VirtualDentry) Ok() bool {
+	return vd.mount != nil
+}
+
+// IncRef increments the reference counts on the Mount and Dentry represented
+// by vd.
+func (vd VirtualDentry) IncRef() {
+	vd.mount.incRef()
+	vd.dentry.incRef(vd.mount.fs)
+}
+
+// DecRef decrements the reference counts on the Mount and Dentry represented
+// by vd.
+func (vd VirtualDentry) DecRef() {
+	vd.dentry.decRef(vd.mount.fs)
+	vd.mount.decRef()
+}
+
+// Mount returns the Mount associated with vd. It does not take a reference on
+// the returned Mount.
+func (vd VirtualDentry) Mount() *Mount {
+	return vd.mount
+}
+
+// Dentry returns the Dentry associated with vd. It does not take a reference
+// on the returned Dentry.
+func (vd VirtualDentry) Dentry() *Dentry {
+	return vd.dentry
+}