[PATCH v4] efivarfs: add nostatfs mount option to skip QueryVariableInfo()

[Prashant Singh <singhpra@juniper.net>]

QueryVariableInfo() is an EFI runtime service that, on some firmware,
takes tens of milliseconds and runs with preemption disabled, stalling
the CPU that services it. efivarfs_statfs() calls it (rate-limited since
commit b2326338dc68 ("efivarfs: Rate limit statfs() handler")) to report
the variable-store used/available capacity, so any statfs(2) -- e.g.
every "df" -- can inject that stall into unrelated latency-sensitive
workloads on the same CPU.

Add a negatable "nostatfs" mount option: with nostatfs, statfs(2) skips
QueryVariableInfo() and reports zero used/available; with statfs it
reports the capacity as before. It defaults to nostatfs on
CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT so real-time kernels do not take the stall out of the
box, but statfs can be passed there to force reporting back on -- e.g.
for tools such as fwupd that need the efivars free space to update Secure
Boot key databases.

The option can also be toggled on a live mount via remount, so reporting
can be enabled only for the duration of a firmware update without
unmounting the boot-time efivarfs mount:

  mount -o remount,statfs   /sys/firmware/efi/efivars   # reporting on
  mount -o remount,nostatfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars   # reporting off

Tested on an Intel Xeon E5-2628L v4, 6.12 kernel, via
"strace -T -e trace=statfs df" on the efivarfs mount.

Cost of the firmware call (CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT not set, so reporting is
enabled by default). Default mount calls QueryVariableInfo() and returns
the real store capacity, ~66-129 ms per call:

  statfs("/sys/firmware/efi/efivars", {f_type=EFIVARFS_MAGIC,
      f_bsize=1, f_blocks=90024, f_bfree=33387, f_bavail=28267, ...})
      = 0 <0.129124>

With -o nostatfs the firmware call is skipped, capacity reported as
zero, ~11 us per call:

  statfs("/sys/firmware/efi/efivars", {f_type=EFIVARFS_MAGIC,
      f_bsize=1, f_blocks=0, f_bfree=0, f_bavail=0, ...}) = 0 <0.000011>

PREEMPT_RT default and live remount toggle (CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT=y). The
boot-time mount defaults to nostatfs (mount shows nostatfs); no firmware
call, capacity zero:

  statfs(... f_blocks=0, f_bfree=0, f_bavail=0, ...) = 0 <0.000018>

Enabling reporting in place with "mount -o remount,statfs" (mount now
shows statfs) takes the ~70 ms firmware call and returns the real
capacity, without unmounting:

  statfs(... f_blocks=90024, f_bfree=30315, f_bavail=25195, ...)
      = 0 <0.070293>

Disabling it again with "mount -o remount,nostatfs" returns to the fast,
zero-capacity path:

  statfs(... f_blocks=0, f_bfree=0, f_bavail=0, ...) = 0 <0.000014>

An unrelated remount that does not respecify the option preserves it: a
"mount -o remount,rw" after "remount,statfs" leaves the mount showing
statfs.

Suggested-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
Suggested-by: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Prashant Singh <singhpra@juniper.net>
---
Changes since v3:
- Drop the show_options "statfs" branch; the absence of "nostatfs" now
  indicates reporting is on (Ard Biesheuvel).
- Drop the uid/gid copies on the remount path; efivarfs_reconfigure()
  applies only nostatfs, so they were dead code (Ard Biesheuvel).

Changes since v2:
- Make the flag negatable (fsparam_flag_no): "statfs" forces reporting
  back on, "nostatfs" skips QueryVariableInfo(). Default stays nostatfs
  on PREEMPT_RT. This lets fwupd get the efivars free space it needs for
  Secure Boot key (KEK/DB/DBX) updates on an RT kernel by mounting with
  -o statfs (Luis Claudio R. Goncalves, Steve McIntyre).
- Support toggling the option on a live mount via remount, so reporting
  can be enabled just for a firmware update without unmounting efivarfs
  (Sebastian Andrzej Siewior). Options not respecified on remount are
  preserved.
- Add PREEMPT_RT + remount test data to the commit message.

Changes since v1:
- Replace the sysctl with a mount option named "nostatfs", per review
  (Ard Biesheuvel).

v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260917071600.5587-1-singhpra@juniper.net/
v2: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260919044124.8268-1-singhpra@juniper.net/
v3: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260925113145.7396-1-singhpra@juniper.net/

 Documentation/filesystems/efivarfs.rst | 16 +++++++++++
 fs/efivarfs/internal.h                 |  1 +
 fs/efivarfs/super.c                    | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++----
 3 files changed, 50 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/efivarfs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/efivarfs.rst
index f646c3f0980f..cd81ee84115b 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/efivarfs.rst
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/efivarfs.rst
@@ -37,6 +37,22 @@ accidentally.
           |4_bytes_of_attributes + efivar_data|
           +-----------------------------------+
 
+Mount options
+=============
+
+statfs / nostatfs
+      Control whether ``statfs(2)`` reports the variable-store used/available
+      capacity. Obtaining it requires the ``QueryVariableInfo()`` EFI runtime
+      service, which on some firmware takes tens of milliseconds and runs with
+      preemption disabled, stalling the calling CPU. With ``nostatfs`` the call
+      is skipped and ``statfs(2)`` reports zero. The default is to report,
+      except on ``CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT`` where it defaults to ``nostatfs``; pass
+      ``statfs`` there to force reporting back on (e.g. for tools such as fwupd
+      that need the free space for firmware updates). The option can also be
+      flipped on a live mount with ``mount -o remount,statfs`` /
+      ``mount -o remount,nostatfs``, so reporting can be enabled only for the
+      duration of a firmware update without unmounting efivarfs.
+
 *See also:*
 
 - Documentation/admin-guide/acpi/ssdt-overlays.rst
diff --git a/fs/efivarfs/internal.h b/fs/efivarfs/internal.h
index f913b6824289..0cb053884b4b 100644
--- a/fs/efivarfs/internal.h
+++ b/fs/efivarfs/internal.h
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 struct efivarfs_mount_opts {
 	kuid_t uid;
 	kgid_t gid;
+	bool nostatfs;		/* skip QueryVariableInfo() in statfs() */
 };
 
 struct efivarfs_fs_info {
diff --git a/fs/efivarfs/super.c b/fs/efivarfs/super.c
index 8d33f11db2a1..efeada6e314f 100644
--- a/fs/efivarfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/efivarfs/super.c
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ static int efivarfs_show_options(struct seq_file *m, struct dentry *root)
 	if (!gid_eq(opts->gid, GLOBAL_ROOT_GID))
 		seq_printf(m, ",gid=%u",
 				from_kgid_munged(&init_user_ns, opts->gid));
+	/* Absence of nostatfs means statfs() reports real capacity. */
+	if (opts->nostatfs)
+		seq_puts(m, ",nostatfs");
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -82,13 +85,19 @@ static int efivarfs_statfs(struct dentry *dentry, struct kstatfs *buf)
 	const u32 attr = EFI_VARIABLE_NON_VOLATILE |
 			 EFI_VARIABLE_BOOTSERVICE_ACCESS |
 			 EFI_VARIABLE_RUNTIME_ACCESS;
+	struct efivarfs_fs_info *sfi = dentry->d_sb->s_fs_info;
 	u64 storage_space, remaining_space, max_variable_size;
 	u64 id = huge_encode_dev(dentry->d_sb->s_dev);
 	efi_status_t status;
 
-	/* Some UEFI firmware does not implement QueryVariableInfo() */
+	/*
+	 * Some UEFI firmware does not implement QueryVariableInfo(); the
+	 * nostatfs mount option also disables this (preempt-disabled,
+	 * potentially slow) call entirely, reporting zero used/available.
+	 */
 	storage_space = remaining_space = 0;
-	if (efi_rt_services_supported(EFI_RT_SUPPORTED_QUERY_VARIABLE_INFO)) {
+	if (!READ_ONCE(sfi->mount_opts.nostatfs) &&
+	    efi_rt_services_supported(EFI_RT_SUPPORTED_QUERY_VARIABLE_INFO)) {
 		static DEFINE_RATELIMIT_STATE(_rs, 2 * HZ, 5);
 		static u64 storage, remaining;
 		static DEFINE_SPINLOCK(lock);
@@ -323,12 +332,13 @@ static int efivarfs_callback(efi_char16_t *name16, efi_guid_t vendor,
 }
 
 enum {
-	Opt_uid, Opt_gid,
+	Opt_uid, Opt_gid, Opt_statfs,
 };
 
 static const struct fs_parameter_spec efivarfs_parameters[] = {
 	fsparam_uid("uid", Opt_uid),
 	fsparam_gid("gid", Opt_gid),
+	fsparam_flag_no("statfs", Opt_statfs),
 	{},
 };
 
@@ -350,6 +360,9 @@ static int efivarfs_parse_param(struct fs_context *fc, struct fs_parameter *para
 	case Opt_gid:
 		opts->gid = result.gid;
 		break;
+	case Opt_statfs:
+		opts->nostatfs = result.negated;
+		break;
 	default:
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
@@ -402,11 +415,17 @@ static int efivarfs_get_tree(struct fs_context *fc)
 
 static int efivarfs_reconfigure(struct fs_context *fc)
 {
+	struct efivarfs_fs_info *sfi = fc->root->d_sb->s_fs_info;
+	struct efivarfs_fs_info *new_sfi = fc->s_fs_info;
+
 	if (!efivar_supports_writes() && !(fc->sb_flags & SB_RDONLY)) {
 		pr_err("Firmware does not support SetVariableRT. Can not remount with rw\n");
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
+	/* statfs() reads nostatfs without s_umount; mark the concurrent update. */
+	WRITE_ONCE(sfi->mount_opts.nostatfs, new_sfi->mount_opts.nostatfs);
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -524,8 +543,17 @@ static int efivarfs_init_fs_context(struct fs_context *fc)
 	if (!sfi)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
-	sfi->mount_opts.uid = GLOBAL_ROOT_UID;
-	sfi->mount_opts.gid = GLOBAL_ROOT_GID;
+	if (fc->purpose == FS_CONTEXT_FOR_RECONFIGURE) {
+		/* nostatfs is writable via remount; keep it if not respecified. */
+		struct efivarfs_fs_info *old = fc->root->d_sb->s_fs_info;
+
+		sfi->mount_opts.nostatfs = READ_ONCE(old->mount_opts.nostatfs);
+	} else {
+		sfi->mount_opts.uid = GLOBAL_ROOT_UID;
+		sfi->mount_opts.gid = GLOBAL_ROOT_GID;
+		/* QueryVariableInfo() stalls the CPU; default nostatfs on PREEMPT_RT. */
+		sfi->mount_opts.nostatfs = IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT);
+	}
 
 	fc->s_fs_info = sfi;
 	fc->ops = &efivarfs_context_ops;

base-commit: 9b87fdc9af2fbfcdb5c24a64139685ef80f6573f
-- 
2.34.1