[PATCH] arm64: contpte: fix set_access_flags() no-op check for SMMU/ATS faults

Breno Leitao leitao at debian.org
Wed Mar 4 09:37:25 PST 2026


On Mon, Mar 02, 2026 at 10:37:51PM -0800, Piotr Jaroszynski wrote:
> contpte_ptep_set_access_flags() compared the gathered ptep_get() value
> against the requested entry to detect no-ops. ptep_get() ORs AF/dirty
> from all sub-PTEs in the CONT block, so a dirty sibling can make the
> target appear already-dirty. When the gathered value matches entry, the
> function returns 0 even though the target sub-PTE still has PTE_RDONLY
> set in hardware.
> 
> For CPU page-table walks this is benign: with FEAT_HAFDBS the hardware
> may set AF/dirty on any sub-PTE and the CPU TLB treats the gathered
> result as authoritative for the entire range. But an SMMU without HTTU
> (or with HA/HD disabled in CD.TCR) evaluates each descriptor
> individually and will keep raising F_PERMISSION on the unchanged target
> sub-PTE, causing an infinite fault loop.
> 
> Gathering can therefore cause false no-ops when only a sibling has been
> updated:
>  - write faults: target still has PTE_RDONLY (needs PTE_RDONLY cleared)
>  - read faults:  target still lacks PTE_AF
> 
> Fix by checking all sub-PTEs' access flags individually (not via the
> gathered view) before returning no-op, and use the raw target PTE for
> the write-bit unfold decision. The access-flag mask matches the one
> used by __ptep_set_access_flags().
> 
> Per Arm ARM (DDI 0487) D8.7.1 ("The Contiguous bit"), any sub-PTE in a CONT
> range may become the effective cached translation and software must
> maintain consistent attributes across the range.
> 
> Fixes: 4602e5757bcc ("arm64/mm: wire up PTE_CONT for user mappings")
> 
> Reviewed-by: Alistair Popple <apopple at nvidia.com>
> Cc: Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts at arm.com>
> Cc: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas at arm.com>
> Cc: Will Deacon <will at kernel.org>
> Cc: Jason Gunthorpe <jgg at nvidia.com>
> Cc: John Hubbard <jhubbard at nvidia.com>
> Cc: Zi Yan <ziy at nvidia.com>
> Cc: Breno Leitao <leitao at debian.org>
> Cc: stable at vger.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Piotr Jaroszynski <pjaroszynski at nvidia.com>

Tested-by: Breno Leitao <leitao at debian.org>



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