[PATCH] ARM: i.MX8M: enable MMU in PBL around fw-external BL32 verify

[SCHNEIDER Johannes]

Hoi Sascha,


> On 2026-06-16 14:49, Johannes Schneider wrote:
> > The BL32 fw-external blob is loaded into DRAM by the PBL and then
> > SHA-256-verified inside get_builtin_firmware_ext(). The verify runs
> > in PBL phase 1 with the MMU off and D-cache cold, walking ~720 KiB
> > through uncached DRAM accesses; on a Cortex-A53 this costs around
> > 2 s of pre-BL31 wall-clock on every boot.
> >
> > The verify is the only thing anchoring the BL32 content to the
> > signed PBL: HABv4 on i.MX8M only signs and loads what fits in
> > on-chip SRAM (= the PBL), and BL31/BL32 reach DRAM via PBL-driven
> > copies, so skipping the SHA-256 would be a security regression.
> >
> > Turn on MMU + D-cache once the DRAM is populated and right before
> > the SHA-256 verify + BL31/BL32 memcpy run, and drop the MMU again
> > right before the BL31 entry (BL31 expects MMU off). Mirrors the
> > Rockchip handling in commits f2ae1a4a85 ("ARM: rockchip: atf:
> > enable MMU in PBL") and a0ef3a1b5c ("ARM: rockchip: atf: pass
> > correct memsize to mmu_early_enable()").
> >
> > Measured on i.MX8MM and i.MX8MP (Cortex-A53, ~720 KiB BL32 blob):
> > the BL32 verify drops from ~2 s to ~300 ms (generic-C SHA-256 in
> > both cases, the difference is the D-cache state) and the BL31
> > early-init also benefits from the warm cache (~200 ms saved).
> >
> > Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-7
> > Signed-off-by: Johannes Schneider <johannes.schneider at leica-geosystems.com>
> > ---
> > --- a/arch/arm/mach-imx/atf.c
> > +++ b/arch/arm/mach-imx/atf.c
> > @@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
> >  #include <mach/imx/xload.h>
> >  #include <mach/imx/snvs.h>
> >  #include <pbl.h>
> > +#include <asm/mmu.h>
> >
> >  static void imx_adjust_optee_memory(void **bl32, void **bl32_image, size_t *bl32_size)
> >  {
> > @@ -187,6 +188,9 @@
> >                    "r" (tfa_dest - 16) :
> >                    "cc");
> >
> > +     /* BL31 expects MMU off. */
> > +     mmu_disable();
> > +
> >       /*
> >        * If enabled the bl_params are passed via x0 to the TF-A, except for
> >        * the i.MX8MQ which doesn't support bl_params yet.
> > @@ -284,6 +288,12 @@
> >       imx8m_setup_snvs();
> >       imx8mm_load_bl33(bl33);
> >
> > +     /* Cache DRAM for the BL32 verify + BL31/BL32 memcpy that follow. */
> > +     mmu_early_enable(MX8M_DDR_CSD1_BASE_ADDR,
> > +                      imx8m_barebox_earlymem_size(32),
> > +                      MX8M_DDR_CSD1_BASE_ADDR +
> > +                      imx8m_barebox_earlymem_size(32) - OPTEE_SIZE);
> 
> mmu_early_enable() only takes two arguments.
> 
> Please add a new imx8m_mmu_early_enable() function usable for all i.MX8M to
> enable the MMU.
> 
> We already have this snippet elsewhere:
> 
>         endmem = MX8M_DDR_CSD1_BASE_ADDR;
>         if (cpu_is_mx8mn())
>                 endmem += imx8m_barebox_earlymem_size(16);
>         else
>                 endmem += imx8m_barebox_earlymem_size(32);
> 
> Which could help implementing this function.
> 
> Sascha
>

Ok, done so and merged into one v2 patchset together with the PIO+MMU / SDMA chain
the new version of this patch is now this one:
https://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/barebox/2026-July/056905.html


gruß
Johannes