diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/vm/userfaultfd.c b/tools/testing/selftests/vm/userfaultfd.c
index 7c3f1b0ab468..cae72867c173 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/vm/userfaultfd.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/vm/userfaultfd.c
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ static int bounces;
 #define TEST_SHMEM	3
 static int test_type;
 
+#define UFFD_FLAGS	(O_CLOEXEC | O_NONBLOCK | UFFD_USER_MODE_ONLY)
+
+/* test using /dev/userfaultfd, instead of userfaultfd(2) */
+static bool test_dev_userfaultfd;
+
 /* exercise the test_uffdio_*_eexist every ALARM_INTERVAL_SECS */
 #define ALARM_INTERVAL_SECS 10
 static volatile bool test_uffdio_copy_eexist = true;
@@ -125,6 +130,8 @@ struct uffd_stats {
 const char *examples =
     "# Run anonymous memory test on 100MiB region with 99999 bounces:\n"
     "./userfaultfd anon 100 99999\n\n"
+    "# Run the same anonymous memory test, but using /dev/userfaultfd:\n"
+    "./userfaultfd anon:dev 100 99999\n\n"
     "# Run share memory test on 1GiB region with 99 bounces:\n"
     "./userfaultfd shmem 1000 99\n\n"
     "# Run hugetlb memory test on 256MiB region with 50 bounces:\n"
@@ -141,6 +148,14 @@ static void usage(void)
 		"[hugetlbfs_file]\n\n");
 	fprintf(stderr, "Supported <test type>: anon, hugetlb, "
 		"hugetlb_shared, shmem\n\n");
+	fprintf(stderr, "'Test mods' can be joined to the test type string with a ':'. "
+		"Supported mods:\n");
+	fprintf(stderr, "\tsyscall - Use userfaultfd(2) (default)\n");
+	fprintf(stderr, "\tdev - Use /dev/userfaultfd instead of userfaultfd(2)\n");
+	fprintf(stderr, "\nExample test mod usage:\n");
+	fprintf(stderr, "# Run anonymous memory test with /dev/userfaultfd:\n");
+	fprintf(stderr, "./userfaultfd anon:dev 100 99999\n\n");
+
 	fprintf(stderr, "Examples:\n\n");
 	fprintf(stderr, "%s", examples);
 	exit(1);
@@ -154,12 +169,14 @@ static void usage(void)
 			ret, __LINE__);				\
 	} while (0)
 
-#define err(fmt, ...)				\
+#define errexit(exitcode, fmt, ...)		\
 	do {					\
 		_err(fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__);	\
-		exit(1);			\
+		exit(exitcode);			\
 	} while (0)
 
+#define err(fmt, ...) errexit(1, fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__)
+
 static void uffd_stats_reset(struct uffd_stats *uffd_stats,
 			     unsigned long n_cpus)
 {
@@ -383,13 +400,29 @@ static void assert_expected_ioctls_present(uint64_t mode, uint64_t ioctls)
 	}
 }
 
+static int __userfaultfd_open_dev(void)
+{
+	int fd, _uffd = -1;
+
+	fd = open("/dev/userfaultfd", O_RDWR | O_CLOEXEC);
+	if (fd < 0)
+		return -1;
+
+	_uffd = ioctl(fd, USERFAULTFD_IOC_NEW, UFFD_FLAGS);
+	close(fd);
+	return _uffd;
+}
+
 static void userfaultfd_open(uint64_t *features)
 {
 	struct uffdio_api uffdio_api;
 
-	uffd = syscall(__NR_userfaultfd, O_CLOEXEC | O_NONBLOCK | UFFD_USER_MODE_ONLY);
+	if (test_dev_userfaultfd)
+		uffd = __userfaultfd_open_dev();
+	else
+		uffd = syscall(__NR_userfaultfd, UFFD_FLAGS);
 	if (uffd < 0)
-		err("userfaultfd syscall not available in this kernel");
+		errexit(KSFT_SKIP, "creating userfaultfd failed");
 	uffd_flags = fcntl(uffd, F_GETFD, NULL);
 
 	uffdio_api.api = UFFD_API;
@@ -1584,8 +1617,6 @@ unsigned long default_huge_page_size(void)
 
 static void set_test_type(const char *type)
 {
-	uint64_t features = UFFD_API_FEATURES;
-
 	if (!strcmp(type, "anon")) {
 		test_type = TEST_ANON;
 		uffd_test_ops = &anon_uffd_test_ops;
@@ -1603,9 +1634,29 @@ static void set_test_type(const char *type)
 		test_type = TEST_SHMEM;
 		uffd_test_ops = &shmem_uffd_test_ops;
 		test_uffdio_minor = true;
-	} else {
-		err("Unknown test type: %s", type);
 	}
+}
+
+static void parse_test_type_arg(const char *raw_type)
+{
+	char *buf = strdup(raw_type);
+	uint64_t features = UFFD_API_FEATURES;
+
+	while (buf) {
+		const char *token = strsep(&buf, ":");
+
+		if (!test_type)
+			set_test_type(token);
+		else if (!strcmp(token, "dev"))
+			test_dev_userfaultfd = true;
+		else if (!strcmp(token, "syscall"))
+			test_dev_userfaultfd = false;
+		else
+			err("unrecognized test mod '%s'", token);
+	}
+
+	if (!test_type)
+		err("failed to parse test type argument: '%s'", raw_type);
 
 	if (test_type == TEST_HUGETLB)
 		page_size = default_huge_page_size();
@@ -1653,7 +1704,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		err("failed to arm SIGALRM");
 	alarm(ALARM_INTERVAL_SECS);
 
-	set_test_type(argv[1]);
+	parse_test_type_arg(argv[1]);
 
 	nr_cpus = sysconf(_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN);
 	nr_pages_per_cpu = atol(argv[2]) * 1024*1024 / page_size /
