diff --git a/CREDITS b/CREDITS
index 1d616640bbf6..4fcf9cd8544c 100644
--- a/CREDITS
+++ b/CREDITS
@@ -3219,6 +3219,11 @@ S: 69 rue Dunois
 S: 75013 Paris
 S: France
 
+N: Aleksa Sarai
+E: cyphar@cyphar.com
+W: https://www.cyphar.com/
+D: `pids` cgroup subsystem
+
 N: Dipankar Sarma
 E: dipankar@in.ibm.com
 D: RCU
diff --git a/include/linux/cgroup_subsys.h b/include/linux/cgroup_subsys.h
index ec43bce7e1ea..1f36945fd23d 100644
--- a/include/linux/cgroup_subsys.h
+++ b/include/linux/cgroup_subsys.h
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ SUBSYS(hugetlb)
  * Subsystems that implement the can_fork() family of callbacks.
  */
 SUBSYS_TAG(CANFORK_START)
+
+#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_CGROUP_PIDS)
+SUBSYS(pids)
+#endif
+
 SUBSYS_TAG(CANFORK_END)
 
 /*
diff --git a/init/Kconfig b/init/Kconfig
index af09b4fb43d2..2184b34cbf73 100644
--- a/init/Kconfig
+++ b/init/Kconfig
@@ -955,6 +955,22 @@ config CGROUP_FREEZER
 	  Provides a way to freeze and unfreeze all tasks in a
 	  cgroup.
 
+config CGROUP_PIDS
+	bool "PIDs cgroup subsystem"
+	help
+	  Provides enforcement of process number limits in the scope of a
+	  cgroup. Any attempt to fork more processes than is allowed in the
+	  cgroup will fail. PIDs are fundamentally a global resource because it
+	  is fairly trivial to reach PID exhaustion before you reach even a
+	  conservative kmemcg limit. As a result, it is possible to grind a
+	  system to halt without being limited by other cgroup policies. The
+	  PIDs cgroup subsystem is designed to stop this from happening.
+
+	  It should be noted that organisational operations (such as attaching
+	  to a cgroup hierarchy will *not* be blocked by the PIDs subsystem),
+	  since the PIDs limit only affects a process's ability to fork, not to
+	  attach to a cgroup.
+
 config CGROUP_DEVICE
 	bool "Device controller for cgroups"
 	help
diff --git a/kernel/Makefile b/kernel/Makefile
index 43c4c920f30a..718fb8afab7a 100644
--- a/kernel/Makefile
+++ b/kernel/Makefile
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_BACKTRACE_SELF_TEST) += backtracetest.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_COMPAT) += compat.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_CGROUPS) += cgroup.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_CGROUP_FREEZER) += cgroup_freezer.o
+obj-$(CONFIG_CGROUP_PIDS) += cgroup_pids.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_CPUSETS) += cpuset.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_UTS_NS) += utsname.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_USER_NS) += user_namespace.o
diff --git a/kernel/cgroup_pids.c b/kernel/cgroup_pids.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d75488824ae2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kernel/cgroup_pids.c
@@ -0,0 +1,366 @@
+/*
+ * Process number limiting controller for cgroups.
+ *
+ * Used to allow a cgroup hierarchy to stop any new processes from fork()ing
+ * after a certain limit is reached.
+ *
+ * Since it is trivial to hit the task limit without hitting any kmemcg limits
+ * in place, PIDs are a fundamental resource. As such, PID exhaustion must be
+ * preventable in the scope of a cgroup hierarchy by allowing resource limiting
+ * of the number of tasks in a cgroup.
+ *
+ * In order to use the `pids` controller, set the maximum number of tasks in
+ * pids.max (this is not available in the root cgroup for obvious reasons). The
+ * number of processes currently in the cgroup is given by pids.current.
+ * Organisational operations are not blocked by cgroup policies, so it is
+ * possible to have pids.current > pids.max. However, it is not possible to
+ * violate a cgroup policy through fork(). fork() will return -EAGAIN if forking
+ * would cause a cgroup policy to be violated.
+ *
+ * To set a cgroup to have no limit, set pids.max to "max". This is the default
+ * for all new cgroups (N.B. that PID limits are hierarchical, so the most
+ * stringent limit in the hierarchy is followed).
+ *
+ * pids.current tracks all child cgroup hierarchies, so parent/pids.current is
+ * a superset of parent/child/pids.current.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 Aleksa Sarai <cyphar@cyphar.com>
+ *
+ * This file is subject to the terms and conditions of version 2 of the GNU
+ * General Public License.  See the file COPYING in the main directory of the
+ * Linux distribution for more details.
+ */
+
+#include <linux/kernel.h>
+#include <linux/threads.h>
+#include <linux/atomic.h>
+#include <linux/cgroup.h>
+#include <linux/slab.h>
+
+#define PIDS_MAX (PID_MAX_LIMIT + 1ULL)
+#define PIDS_MAX_STR "max"
+
+struct pids_cgroup {
+	struct cgroup_subsys_state	css;
+
+	/*
+	 * Use 64-bit types so that we can safely represent "max" as
+	 * %PIDS_MAX = (%PID_MAX_LIMIT + 1).
+	 */
+	atomic64_t			counter;
+	int64_t				limit;
+};
+
+static struct pids_cgroup *css_pids(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css)
+{
+	return container_of(css, struct pids_cgroup, css);
+}
+
+static struct pids_cgroup *parent_pids(struct pids_cgroup *pids)
+{
+	return css_pids(pids->css.parent);
+}
+
+static struct cgroup_subsys_state *
+pids_css_alloc(struct cgroup_subsys_state *parent)
+{
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids;
+
+	pids = kzalloc(sizeof(struct pids_cgroup), GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (!pids)
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+
+	pids->limit = PIDS_MAX;
+	atomic64_set(&pids->counter, 0);
+	return &pids->css;
+}
+
+static void pids_css_free(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css)
+{
+	kfree(css_pids(css));
+}
+
+/**
+ * pids_cancel - uncharge the local pid count
+ * @pids: the pid cgroup state
+ * @num: the number of pids to cancel
+ *
+ * This function will WARN if the pid count goes under 0, because such a case is
+ * a bug in the pids controller proper.
+ */
+static void pids_cancel(struct pids_cgroup *pids, int num)
+{
+	/*
+	 * A negative count (or overflow for that matter) is invalid,
+	 * and indicates a bug in the `pids` controller proper.
+	 */
+	WARN_ON_ONCE(atomic64_add_negative(-num, &pids->counter));
+}
+
+/**
+ * pids_uncharge - hierarchically uncharge the pid count
+ * @pids: the pid cgroup state
+ * @num: the number of pids to uncharge
+ */
+static void pids_uncharge(struct pids_cgroup *pids, int num)
+{
+	struct pids_cgroup *p;
+
+	for (p = pids; p; p = parent_pids(p))
+		pids_cancel(p, num);
+}
+
+/**
+ * pids_charge - hierarchically charge the pid count
+ * @pids: the pid cgroup state
+ * @num: the number of pids to charge
+ *
+ * This function does *not* follow the pid limit set. It cannot fail and the new
+ * pid count may exceed the limit. This is only used for reverting failed
+ * attaches, where there is no other way out than violating the limit.
+ */
+static void pids_charge(struct pids_cgroup *pids, int num)
+{
+	struct pids_cgroup *p;
+
+	for (p = pids; p; p = parent_pids(p))
+		atomic64_add(num, &p->counter);
+}
+
+/**
+ * pids_try_charge - hierarchically try to charge the pid count
+ * @pids: the pid cgroup state
+ * @num: the number of pids to charge
+ *
+ * This function follows the set limit. It will fail if the charge would cause
+ * the new value to exceed the hierarchical limit. Returns 0 if the charge
+ * succeded, otherwise -EAGAIN.
+ */
+static int pids_try_charge(struct pids_cgroup *pids, int num)
+{
+	struct pids_cgroup *p, *q;
+
+	for (p = pids; p; p = parent_pids(p)) {
+		int64_t new = atomic64_add_return(num, &p->counter);
+
+		/*
+		 * Since new is capped to the maximum number of pid_t, if
+		 * p->limit is %PIDS_MAX then we know that this test will never
+		 * fail.
+		 */
+		if (new > p->limit)
+			goto revert;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+
+revert:
+	for (q = pids; q != p; q = parent_pids(q))
+		pids_cancel(q, num);
+	pids_cancel(p, num);
+
+	return -EAGAIN;
+}
+
+static int pids_can_attach(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css,
+			   struct cgroup_taskset *tset)
+{
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids = css_pids(css);
+	struct task_struct *task;
+
+	cgroup_taskset_for_each(task, tset) {
+		struct cgroup_subsys_state *old_css;
+		struct pids_cgroup *old_pids;
+
+		/*
+		 * Grab a ref to each task's css. We don't drop the ref until
+		 * we either fail and hit ->cancel_attach() or succeed and hit
+		 * ->attach().
+		 */
+		old_css = task_get_css(task, pids_cgrp_id);
+		old_pids = css_pids(old_css);
+
+		pids_charge(pids, 1);
+		pids_uncharge(old_pids, 1);
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static void pids_cancel_attach(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css,
+			       struct cgroup_taskset *tset)
+{
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids = css_pids(css);
+	struct task_struct *task;
+
+	cgroup_taskset_for_each(task, tset) {
+		struct cgroup_subsys_state *old_css;
+		struct pids_cgroup *old_pids;
+
+		old_css = task_css(task, pids_cgrp_id);
+		old_pids = css_pids(old_css);
+
+		pids_charge(old_pids, 1);
+		pids_uncharge(pids, 1);
+		css_put(old_css);
+	}
+}
+
+static void pids_attach(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css,
+			struct cgroup_taskset *tset)
+{
+	struct task_struct *task;
+
+	cgroup_taskset_for_each(task, tset)
+		css_put(task_css(task, pids_cgrp_id));
+}
+
+static int pids_can_fork(struct task_struct *task, void **priv_p)
+{
+	struct cgroup_subsys_state *css;
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids;
+	int err;
+
+	/*
+	 * Use the "current" task_css for the pids subsystem as the tentative
+	 * css. It is possible we will charge the wrong hierarchy, in which
+	 * case we will forcefully revert/reapply the charge on the right
+	 * hierarchy after it is committed to the task proper.
+	 */
+	css = task_get_css(current, pids_cgrp_id);
+	pids = css_pids(css);
+
+	err = pids_try_charge(pids, 1);
+	if (err)
+		goto err_css_put;
+
+	*priv_p = css;
+	return 0;
+
+err_css_put:
+	css_put(css);
+	return err;
+}
+
+static void pids_cancel_fork(struct task_struct *task, void *priv)
+{
+	struct cgroup_subsys_state *css = priv;
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids = css_pids(css);
+
+	pids_uncharge(pids, 1);
+	css_put(css);
+}
+
+static void pids_fork(struct task_struct *task, void *priv)
+{
+	struct cgroup_subsys_state *css;
+	struct cgroup_subsys_state *old_css = priv;
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids;
+	struct pids_cgroup *old_pids = css_pids(old_css);
+
+	css = task_get_css(task, pids_cgrp_id);
+	pids = css_pids(css);
+
+	/*
+	 * If the association has changed, we have to revert and reapply the
+	 * charge/uncharge on the wrong hierarchy to the current one. Since
+	 * the association can only change due to an organisation event, its
+	 * okay for us to ignore the limit in this case.
+	 */
+	if (pids != old_pids) {
+		pids_uncharge(old_pids, 1);
+		pids_charge(pids, 1);
+	}
+
+	css_put(css);
+	css_put(old_css);
+}
+
+static void pids_exit(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css,
+		      struct cgroup_subsys_state *old_css,
+		      struct task_struct *task)
+{
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids = css_pids(old_css);
+
+	pids_uncharge(pids, 1);
+}
+
+static ssize_t pids_max_write(struct kernfs_open_file *of, char *buf,
+			      size_t nbytes, loff_t off)
+{
+	struct cgroup_subsys_state *css = of_css(of);
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids = css_pids(css);
+	int64_t limit;
+	int err;
+
+	buf = strstrip(buf);
+	if (!strcmp(buf, PIDS_MAX_STR)) {
+		limit = PIDS_MAX;
+		goto set_limit;
+	}
+
+	err = kstrtoll(buf, 0, &limit);
+	if (err)
+		return err;
+
+	if (limit < 0 || limit >= PIDS_MAX)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
+set_limit:
+	/*
+	 * Limit updates don't need to be mutex'd, since it isn't
+	 * critical that any racing fork()s follow the new limit.
+	 */
+	pids->limit = limit;
+	return nbytes;
+}
+
+static int pids_max_show(struct seq_file *sf, void *v)
+{
+	struct cgroup_subsys_state *css = seq_css(sf);
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids = css_pids(css);
+	int64_t limit = pids->limit;
+
+	if (limit >= PIDS_MAX)
+		seq_printf(sf, "%s\n", PIDS_MAX_STR);
+	else
+		seq_printf(sf, "%lld\n", limit);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static s64 pids_current_read(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css,
+			     struct cftype *cft)
+{
+	struct pids_cgroup *pids = css_pids(css);
+
+	return atomic64_read(&pids->counter);
+}
+
+static struct cftype pids_files[] = {
+	{
+		.name = "max",
+		.write = pids_max_write,
+		.seq_show = pids_max_show,
+		.flags = CFTYPE_NOT_ON_ROOT,
+	},
+	{
+		.name = "current",
+		.read_s64 = pids_current_read,
+	},
+	{ }	/* terminate */
+};
+
+struct cgroup_subsys pids_cgrp_subsys = {
+	.css_alloc	= pids_css_alloc,
+	.css_free	= pids_css_free,
+	.attach		= pids_attach,
+	.can_attach 	= pids_can_attach,
+	.cancel_attach 	= pids_cancel_attach,
+	.can_fork	= pids_can_fork,
+	.cancel_fork	= pids_cancel_fork,
+	.fork		= pids_fork,
+	.exit		= pids_exit,
+	.legacy_cftypes	= pids_files,
+	.dfl_cftypes	= pids_files,
+};