[PATCH v3 2/4] KVM: arm64: Trap MTE access and discovery when MTE is disabled
Fuad Tabba
tabba at google.com
Thu Jan 22 03:22:16 PST 2026
If MTE is not supported by the hardware, or is disabled in the kernel
configuration (`CONFIG_ARM64_MTE=n`) or command line (`arm64.nomte`),
the kernel stops advertising MTE to userspace and avoids using MTE
instructions. However, this is a software-level disable only.
When MTE hardware is present and enabled by EL3 firmware, leaving
`HCR_EL2.ATA` set allows the host to execute MTE instructions (STG, LDG,
etc.) and access allocation tags in physical memory.
Prevent this by clearing `HCR_EL2.ATA` when MTE is disabled. Remove it
from the `HCR_HOST_NVHE_FLAGS` default, and conditionally set it in
`cpu_prepare_hyp_mode()` only when `system_supports_mte()` returns true.
This causes MTE instructions to trap to EL2 when `HCR_EL2.ATA` is
cleared.
Additionally, set `HCR_EL2.TID5` when MTE is disabled. This traps reads
of `GMID_EL1` (Multiple tag transfer ID register) to EL2, preventing the
discovery of MTE parameters (such as tag block size) when the feature is
suppressed.
Early boot code in `head.S` temporarily keeps `HCR_ATA` set to avoid
special-casing initialization paths. This is safe because this code
executes before untrusted code runs and will clear `HCR_ATA` if MTE is
disabled.
Signed-off-by: Fuad Tabba <tabba at google.com>
---
arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_arm.h | 2 +-
arch/arm64/kernel/head.S | 2 +-
arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c | 6 ++++++
3 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_arm.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_arm.h
index e500600e4b9b..752e3e1604e8 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_arm.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_arm.h
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@
HCR_BSU_IS | HCR_FB | HCR_TACR | \
HCR_AMO | HCR_SWIO | HCR_TIDCP | HCR_RW | HCR_TLOR | \
HCR_FMO | HCR_IMO | HCR_PTW | HCR_TID3 | HCR_TID1)
-#define HCR_HOST_NVHE_FLAGS (HCR_RW | HCR_API | HCR_APK | HCR_ATA)
+#define HCR_HOST_NVHE_FLAGS (HCR_RW | HCR_API | HCR_APK)
#define HCR_HOST_NVHE_PROTECTED_FLAGS (HCR_HOST_NVHE_FLAGS | HCR_TSC)
#define HCR_HOST_VHE_FLAGS (HCR_RW | HCR_TGE | HCR_E2H | HCR_AMO | HCR_IMO | HCR_FMO)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/head.S b/arch/arm64/kernel/head.S
index ca04b338cb0d..87a822e5c4ca 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/head.S
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/head.S
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ SYM_INNER_LABEL(init_el2, SYM_L_LOCAL)
isb
0:
- init_el2_hcr HCR_HOST_NVHE_FLAGS
+ init_el2_hcr HCR_HOST_NVHE_FLAGS | HCR_ATA
init_el2_state
/* Hypervisor stub */
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c
index 4f80da0c0d1d..aeac113e5e74 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c
@@ -2044,6 +2044,12 @@ static void __init cpu_prepare_hyp_mode(int cpu, u32 hyp_va_bits)
params->hcr_el2 = HCR_HOST_NVHE_PROTECTED_FLAGS;
else
params->hcr_el2 = HCR_HOST_NVHE_FLAGS;
+
+ if (system_supports_mte())
+ params->hcr_el2 |= HCR_ATA;
+ else
+ params->hcr_el2 |= HCR_TID5;
+
if (cpus_have_final_cap(ARM64_KVM_HVHE))
params->hcr_el2 |= HCR_E2H;
params->vttbr = params->vtcr = 0;
--
2.52.0.457.g6b5491de43-goog
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