diff --git a/fs/verity/fsverity_private.h b/fs/verity/fsverity_private.h
index 6e6854c19078..881d46f25e08 100644
--- a/fs/verity/fsverity_private.h
+++ b/fs/verity/fsverity_private.h
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ struct merkle_tree_params {
 	u64 tree_size;			/* Merkle tree size in bytes */
 	unsigned long tree_pages;	/* Merkle tree size in pages */
 
+	/* the hash of an all-zeroes block */
+	u8 zero_digest[FS_VERITY_MAX_DIGEST_SIZE];
+
 	/*
 	 * Starting block index for each tree level, ordered from leaf level (0)
 	 * to root level ('num_levels - 1')
diff --git a/fs/verity/measure.c b/fs/verity/measure.c
index 6a35623ebdf0..818083507885 100644
--- a/fs/verity/measure.c
+++ b/fs/verity/measure.c
@@ -68,8 +68,8 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(fsverity_ioctl_measure);
  * @alg: (out) the digest's algorithm, as a FS_VERITY_HASH_ALG_* value
  * @halg: (out) the digest's algorithm, as a HASH_ALGO_* value
  *
- * Retrieves the fsverity digest of the given file.  The file must have been
- * opened at least once since the inode was last loaded into the inode cache;
+ * Retrieves the fsverity digest of the given file. The
+ * fsverity_ensure_verity_info() must be called on the inode beforehand;
  * otherwise this function will not recognize when fsverity is enabled.
  *
  * The file's fsverity digest consists of @raw_digest in combination with either
diff --git a/fs/verity/open.c b/fs/verity/open.c
index dfa0d1afe0fe..d0c56a7faa3b 100644
--- a/fs/verity/open.c
+++ b/fs/verity/open.c
@@ -153,6 +153,9 @@ int fsverity_init_merkle_tree_params(struct merkle_tree_params *params,
 		goto out_err;
 	}
 
+	fsverity_hash_block(params, page_address(ZERO_PAGE(0)),
+			    params->zero_digest);
+
 	params->tree_size = offset << log_blocksize;
 	params->tree_pages = PAGE_ALIGN(params->tree_size) >> PAGE_SHIFT;
 	return 0;
diff --git a/fs/verity/pagecache.c b/fs/verity/pagecache.c
index 1819314ecaa3..99f5f53eea98 100644
--- a/fs/verity/pagecache.c
+++ b/fs/verity/pagecache.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 /*
  * Copyright 2019 Google LLC
  */
+#include "fsverity_private.h"
 
 #include <linux/export.h>
 #include <linux/fsverity.h>
@@ -56,3 +57,24 @@ void generic_readahead_merkle_tree(struct inode *inode, pgoff_t index,
 		folio_put(folio);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(generic_readahead_merkle_tree);
+
+/**
+ * fsverity_fill_zerohash() - fill folio with hashes of zero data block
+ * @folio:	folio to fill
+ * @offset:	offset in the folio to start
+ * @len:	length of the range to fill with hashes
+ * @vi:		fsverity info
+ */
+void fsverity_fill_zerohash(struct folio *folio, size_t offset, size_t len,
+			      struct fsverity_info *vi)
+{
+	size_t off = offset;
+
+	WARN_ON_ONCE(!IS_ALIGNED(offset, vi->tree_params.digest_size));
+	WARN_ON_ONCE(!IS_ALIGNED(len, vi->tree_params.digest_size));
+
+	for (; off < (offset + len); off += vi->tree_params.digest_size)
+		memcpy_to_folio(folio, off, vi->tree_params.zero_digest,
+				vi->tree_params.digest_size);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(fsverity_fill_zerohash);
diff --git a/include/linux/fsverity.h b/include/linux/fsverity.h
index a8f9aa75b792..6c467ded9751 100644
--- a/include/linux/fsverity.h
+++ b/include/linux/fsverity.h
@@ -201,6 +201,8 @@ bool fsverity_verify_blocks(struct fsverity_info *vi, struct folio *folio,
 			    size_t len, size_t offset);
 void fsverity_verify_bio(struct fsverity_info *vi, struct bio *bio);
 void fsverity_enqueue_verify_work(struct work_struct *work);
+void fsverity_fill_zerohash(struct folio *folio, size_t offset, size_t len,
+			    struct fsverity_info *vi);
 
 #else /* !CONFIG_FS_VERITY */
 
@@ -281,6 +283,12 @@ static inline void fsverity_enqueue_verify_work(struct work_struct *work)
 	WARN_ON_ONCE(1);
 }
 
+static inline void fsverity_fill_zerohash(struct folio *folio, size_t offset,
+		size_t len, struct fsverity_info *vi)
+{
+	WARN_ON_ONCE(1);
+}
+
 #endif	/* !CONFIG_FS_VERITY */
 
 static inline bool fsverity_verify_folio(struct fsverity_info *vi,