[PATCH v7 4/5] KVM: arm64: Allow cacheable stage 2 mapping using VMA flags

Ankit Agrawal ankita at nvidia.com
Thu Jun 19 05:14:38 PDT 2025


>> > -           disable_cmo = true;
>> > +           if (!is_vma_cacheable)
>> > +                   disable_cmo = true;
>>
>> I'm tempted to stick to the 'device' variable name. Or something like
>> s2_noncacheable. As I commented, it's not just about disabling CMOs.
>
> I think it would be clearer to have two concepts/variable then because
> the cases where it is really about preventing cachable access to
> prevent aborts are not linked to the logic that checks pfn valid. We
> have to detect those cases separately (through the VMA flags was it?).
>
> Having these two things together is IMHO confusing..
>
> Jason

Thanks Catalin and Jason for the comments.

Considering the feedback, I think we may do the following here:
1. Rename the device variable to S2_noncacheable to represent if the S2
    is going to be marked non cacheable. Otherwise S2 will be mapped NORMAL.
2. Detect what PFN has to be marked S2_noncacheable. If a PFN is not in the
    kernel map, mark as S2 except for PFNMAP + VMA cacheable.
3. Prohibit cacheable PFNMAP if hardware doesn't support FWB and CACHE DIC.
4. Prohibit S2 non cached mapping for cacheable VMA for all cases, whether
    pre-FWB hardware or not.

This would be how the patch would look.

diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c
index 339194441a25..979668d475bd 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c
@@ -1516,8 +1516,8 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
 {
        int ret = 0;
        bool write_fault, writable, force_pte = false;
-       bool exec_fault, mte_allowed, is_vma_cacheable;
-       bool device = false, vfio_allow_any_uc = false;
+       bool exec_fault, mte_allowed, is_vma_cacheable, cacheable_pfnmap = false;
+       bool s2_noncacheable = false, vfio_allow_any_uc = false;
        unsigned long mmu_seq;
        phys_addr_t ipa = fault_ipa;
        struct kvm *kvm = vcpu->kvm;
@@ -1660,6 +1660,15 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,

        is_vma_cacheable = kvm_vma_is_cacheable(vma);

+       if (vma->vm_flags & VM_PFNMAP) {
+               /* Reject COW VM_PFNMAP */
+               if (is_cow_mapping(vma->vm_flags))
+                       return -EINVAL;
+
+               if (is_vma_cacheable)
+                       cacheable_pfnmap = true;
+       }
+
        /* Don't use the VMA after the unlock -- it may have vanished */
        vma = NULL;

@@ -1684,8 +1693,16 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
                return -EFAULT;

        if (kvm_is_device_pfn(pfn)) {
-               if (is_vma_cacheable)
-                       return -EINVAL;
+               /*
+                * When FWB is unsupported KVM needs to do cache flushes
+                * (via dcache_clean_inval_poc()) of the underlying memory. This is
+                * only possible if the memory is already mapped into the kernel map.
+                *
+                * Outright reject as the cacheable device memory is not present in
+                * the kernel map and not suitable for cache management.
+                */
+               if (cacheable_pfnmap && !kvm_arch_supports_cacheable_pfnmap())
+                       return -EFAULT;

                /*
                 * If the page was identified as device early by looking at
@@ -1696,8 +1713,14 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
                 *
                 * In both cases, we don't let transparent_hugepage_adjust()
                 * change things at the last minute.
+                *
+                * Allow S2 to be mapped cacheable for PFNMAP device memory
+                * marked as cacheable in VMA. Note that such mapping is safe
+                * as the KVM S2 will have the same Normal memory type as the
+                * VMA has in the S1.
                 */
-               device = true;
+               if (!cacheable_pfnmap)
+                       s2_noncacheable = true;
        } else if (logging_active && !write_fault) {
                /*
                 * Only actually map the page as writable if this was a write
@@ -1706,7 +1729,15 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
                writable = false;
        }

-       if (exec_fault && device)
+       /*
+        * Prohibit a region to be mapped non cacheable in S2 and marked as
+        * cacheabled in the userspace VMA. Such mismatched mapping is a
+        * security risk.
+        */
+       if (is_vma_cacheable && s2_noncacheable)
+               return -EINVAL;
+
+       if (exec_fault && s2_noncacheable)
                return -ENOEXEC;

        /*
@@ -1739,7 +1770,7 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
         * If we are not forced to use page mapping, check if we are
         * backed by a THP and thus use block mapping if possible.
         */
-       if (vma_pagesize == PAGE_SIZE && !(force_pte || device)) {
+       if (vma_pagesize == PAGE_SIZE && !(force_pte || s2_noncacheable)) {
                if (fault_is_perm && fault_granule > PAGE_SIZE)
                        vma_pagesize = fault_granule;
                else
@@ -1753,7 +1784,7 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
                }
        }

-       if (!fault_is_perm && !device && kvm_has_mte(kvm)) {
+       if (!fault_is_perm && !s2_noncacheable && kvm_has_mte(kvm)) {
                /* Check the VMM hasn't introduced a new disallowed VMA */
                if (mte_allowed) {
                        sanitise_mte_tags(kvm, pfn, vma_pagesize);
@@ -1769,7 +1800,7 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
        if (exec_fault)
                prot |= KVM_PGTABLE_PROT_X;

-       if (device) {
+       if (s2_noncacheable) {
                if (vfio_allow_any_uc)
                        prot |= KVM_PGTABLE_PROT_NORMAL_NC;
                else
@@ -2266,8 +2297,12 @@ int kvm_arch_prepare_memory_region(struct kvm *kvm,
                                break;
                        }

-                       /* Cacheable PFNMAP is not allowed */
-                       if (kvm_vma_is_cacheable(vma)) {
+                       /*
+                        * Cacheable PFNMAP is allowed only if the hardware
+                        * supports it.
+                        */
+                       if (kvm_vma_is_cacheable(vma) &&
+                           !kvm_arch_supports_cacheable_pfnmap()) {
                                ret = -EINVAL;
                                break;
                        }




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