diff --git a/sys/fs/fuse/fuse_vnops.c b/sys/fs/fuse/fuse_vnops.c
--- a/sys/fs/fuse/fuse_vnops.c
+++ b/sys/fs/fuse/fuse_vnops.c
@@ -1754,6 +1754,8 @@
 {
 	struct vnode *vp = ap->a_vp;
 	struct mount *mp;
+	struct fuse_filehandle *fufh;
+	int err;
 
 	switch (ap->a_name) {
 	case _PC_FILESIZEBITS:
@@ -1784,8 +1786,24 @@
 			off_t offset = 0;
 
 			/* Issue a FUSE_LSEEK to find out if it's implemented */
-			fuse_vnop_do_lseek(vp, curthread, curthread->td_ucred,
-			    curthread->td_proc->p_pid, &offset, SEEK_DATA);
+			err = fuse_vnop_do_lseek(vp, curthread,
+			    curthread->td_ucred, curthread->td_proc->p_pid,
+			    &offset, SEEK_HOLE);
+			if (err == EBADF) {
+				/*
+				 * pathconf() doesn't necessarily open the
+				 * file.  So we may need to do it here.
+				 */
+				fuse_filehandle_open(vp, FREAD, &fufh,
+				    curthread, curthread->td_ucred);
+				err = fuse_vnop_do_lseek(vp, curthread,
+				    curthread->td_ucred,
+				    curthread->td_proc->p_pid, &offset,
+				    SEEK_HOLE);
+				fuse_filehandle_close(vp, fufh, curthread,
+				    curthread->td_ucred);
+			}
+
 		}
 
 		if (fsess_is_impl(mp, FUSE_LSEEK)) {
diff --git a/tests/sys/fs/fusefs/lseek.cc b/tests/sys/fs/fusefs/lseek.cc
--- a/tests/sys/fs/fusefs/lseek.cc
+++ b/tests/sys/fs/fusefs/lseek.cc
@@ -141,6 +141,34 @@
 	leak(fd);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Use pathconf, rather than fpathconf, on a file not already opened.
+ * Regression test for https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=278135
+ */
+TEST_F(LseekPathconf, pathconf)
+{
+	const char FULLPATH[] = "mountpoint/some_file.txt";
+	const char RELPATH[] = "some_file.txt";
+	const uint64_t ino = 42;
+	off_t fsize = 1 << 30;	/* 1 GiB */
+	off_t offset_out = 1 << 29;
+
+	expect_lookup(RELPATH, ino, S_IFREG | 0644, fsize, 1);
+	expect_open(ino, 0, 1);
+	EXPECT_CALL(*m_mock, process(
+		ResultOf([=](auto in) {
+			return (in.header.opcode == FUSE_LSEEK);
+		}, Eq(true)),
+		_)
+	).WillOnce(Invoke(ReturnImmediate([=](auto i __unused, auto& out) {
+		SET_OUT_HEADER_LEN(out, lseek);
+		out.body.lseek.offset = offset_out;
+	})));
+	expect_release(ino, FuseTest::FH);
+
+	EXPECT_EQ(1, pathconf(FULLPATH, _PC_MIN_HOLE_SIZE)) << strerror(errno);
+}
+
 /*
  * If no FUSE_LSEEK operation has been attempted since mount, try one as soon
  * as a pathconf request comes in.  This is the typical pattern of bsdtar.  It