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From: Fuad Tabba <fuad.tabba@linux.dev>
To: kvm@vger.kernel.org
Cc: kvmarm@lists.linux.dev, Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>,
	Alexandru Elisei <alexandru.elisei@arm.com>,
	Suzuki K Poulose <suzuki.poulose@arm.com>,
	Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>,
	Oliver Upton <oliver.upton@linux.dev>,
	Marc Zyngier <maz@kernel.org>, Fuad Tabba <tabba@google.com>
Subject: [PATCH kvmtool v1 5/5] arm64: Add --guest-memfd option to back guest RAM with guest_memfd
Date: Mon,  6 Jul 2026 09:35:55 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260706083555.302972-6-fuad.tabba@linux.dev> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260706083555.302972-1-fuad.tabba@linux.dev>

Back guest RAM with a guest_memfd created with GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_MMAP
and GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_INIT_SHARED, mmapped MAP_SHARED to provide the
userspace mapping.

Protected VMs need in-place shared/private conversion of guest_memfd,
which the kernel does not support yet, so reject the combination of
--protected and --guest-memfd.

Signed-off-by: Fuad Tabba <fuad.tabba@linux.dev>
---
 arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h |  5 +++-
 arm64/kvm.c                         | 38 +++++++++++++++++++++++------
 include/kvm/kvm.h                   |  1 +
 include/kvm/util.h                  |  1 +
 kvm.c                               |  1 +
 util/util.c                         | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 6 files changed, 71 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h b/arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h
index c2702d5..d8a8ef7 100644
--- a/arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h
+++ b/arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ struct kvm_config_arch {
 	bool		no_pvtime;
 	bool		psci;
 	bool		protected;
+	bool		guest_memfd;
 };
 
 int irqchip_parser(const struct option *opt, const char *arg, int unset);
@@ -73,6 +74,8 @@ int sve_vl_parser(const struct option *opt, const char *arg, int unset);
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('\0', "e2h0", &(cfg)->e2h0,					\
 		    "Create guest without VHE support"),			\
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('\0', "protected", &(cfg)->protected,			\
-			"Create a protected VM when pKVM is enabled"),
+			"Create a protected VM when pKVM is enabled"),		\
+	OPT_BOOLEAN('\0', "guest-memfd", &(cfg)->guest_memfd,			\
+			"Use guest_memfd to back guest RAM"),
 
 #endif /* ARM_COMMON__KVM_CONFIG_ARCH_H */
diff --git a/arm64/kvm.c b/arm64/kvm.c
index fb0b98d..b594578 100644
--- a/arm64/kvm.c
+++ b/arm64/kvm.c
@@ -49,9 +49,14 @@ void kvm__init_ram(struct kvm *kvm)
 	kvm->arch.ram_alloc_size = kvm->ram_size;
 	if (!kvm->cfg.hugetlbfs_path)
 		kvm->arch.ram_alloc_size += SZ_2M;
-	kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start = mmap_anon_or_hugetlbfs(kvm,
-						kvm->cfg.hugetlbfs_path,
-						kvm->arch.ram_alloc_size);
+
+	if (kvm->cfg.arch.guest_memfd)
+		kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start =
+			mmap_guest_memfd(kvm, kvm->arch.ram_alloc_size);
+	else
+		kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start =
+			mmap_anon_or_hugetlbfs(kvm, kvm->cfg.hugetlbfs_path,
+					       kvm->arch.ram_alloc_size);
 
 	if (kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start == MAP_FAILED)
 		die("Failed to map %lld bytes for guest memory (%d)",
@@ -60,17 +65,25 @@ void kvm__init_ram(struct kvm *kvm)
 	kvm->ram_start = (void *)ALIGN((unsigned long)kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start,
 					SZ_2M);
 
-	madvise(kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start, kvm->arch.ram_alloc_size,
-		MADV_MERGEABLE);
+	if (!kvm->cfg.arch.guest_memfd) {
+		madvise(kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start, kvm->arch.ram_alloc_size,
+			MADV_MERGEABLE);
 
-	madvise(kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start, kvm->arch.ram_alloc_size,
-		MADV_HUGEPAGE);
+		madvise(kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start, kvm->arch.ram_alloc_size,
+			MADV_HUGEPAGE);
+	}
 
 	phys_start	= kvm->cfg.ram_addr;
 	phys_size	= kvm->ram_size;
 	host_mem	= kvm->ram_start;
 
-	err = kvm__register_ram(kvm, phys_start, phys_size, host_mem);
+	if (kvm->cfg.arch.guest_memfd)
+		err = kvm__register_ram_guest_memfd(kvm, phys_start,
+						    phys_size, host_mem,
+						    kvm->ram_guest_memfd,
+						    host_mem - kvm->arch.ram_alloc_start);
+	else
+		err = kvm__register_ram(kvm, phys_start, phys_size, host_mem);
 	if (err)
 		die("Failed to register %lld bytes of memory at physical "
 		    "address 0x%llx [err %d]", phys_size, phys_start, err);
@@ -468,6 +481,15 @@ void kvm__arch_validate_cfg(struct kvm *kvm)
 	if (kvm->cfg.arch.e2h0 && !kvm->cfg.arch.nested_virt)
 		pr_warning("--e2h0 requires --nested, ignoring");
 
+	if (kvm->cfg.arch.guest_memfd) {
+		/* Requires in-place shared/private conversion of guest_memfd. */
+		if (kvm->cfg.arch.protected)
+			die("Protected VMs do not yet support guest_memfd");
+
+		if (kvm->cfg.hugetlbfs_path)
+			die("guest_memfd cannot be backed by hugetlbfs");
+	}
+
 	if (kvm->cfg.arch.protected) {
 		if (kvm->cfg.ram_size &&
 		    kvm->cfg.ram_size < DMA_MEM_REGION_SIZE) {
diff --git a/include/kvm/kvm.h b/include/kvm/kvm.h
index 5e7b5eb..95dc52f 100644
--- a/include/kvm/kvm.h
+++ b/include/kvm/kvm.h
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ struct kvm {
 	u64			ram_size;	/* Guest memory size, in bytes */
 	void			*ram_start;
 	u64			ram_pagesize;
+	int			ram_guest_memfd; /* guest_memfd backing RAM, -1 if none */
 	struct mutex		mem_banks_lock;
 	struct list_head	mem_banks;
 
diff --git a/include/kvm/util.h b/include/kvm/util.h
index a6dba11..9e23431 100644
--- a/include/kvm/util.h
+++ b/include/kvm/util.h
@@ -148,5 +148,6 @@ static inline int pow2_size(unsigned long x)
 struct kvm;
 void *mmap_hugetlbfs(struct kvm *kvm, const char *htlbfs_path, u64 size);
 void *mmap_anon_or_hugetlbfs(struct kvm *kvm, const char *hugetlbfs_path, u64 size);
+void *mmap_guest_memfd(struct kvm *kvm, u64 size);
 
 #endif /* KVM__UTIL_H */
diff --git a/kvm.c b/kvm.c
index 3d05756..a400dd2 100644
--- a/kvm.c
+++ b/kvm.c
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ struct kvm *kvm__new(void)
 	mutex_init(&kvm->mem_banks_lock);
 	kvm->sys_fd = -1;
 	kvm->vm_fd = -1;
+	kvm->ram_guest_memfd = -1;
 
 #ifdef KVM_BRLOCK_DEBUG
 	kvm->brlock_sem = (pthread_rwlock_t) PTHREAD_RWLOCK_INITIALIZER;
diff --git a/util/util.c b/util/util.c
index 05d49c4..c60fe02 100644
--- a/util/util.c
+++ b/util/util.c
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@
 #include "kvm/util.h"
 
 #include <kvm/kvm.h>
+#include <linux/kvm.h>
 #include <linux/magic.h>	/* For HUGETLBFS_MAGIC */
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
 #include <sys/mman.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <sys/statfs.h>
@@ -169,3 +171,35 @@ void *mmap_anon_or_hugetlbfs(struct kvm *kvm, const char *hugetlbfs_path, u64 si
 		return mmap(NULL, size, PROT_RW, MAP_ANON_NORESERVE, -1, 0);
 	}
 }
+
+/*
+ * Map guest RAM backed by a guest_memfd. The file descriptor must stay open
+ * for the lifetime of the VM: closing it invalidates the memslot bindings.
+ */
+void *mmap_guest_memfd(struct kvm *kvm, u64 size)
+{
+	u64 flags = GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_MMAP | GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_INIT_SHARED;
+	struct kvm_create_guest_memfd gmem = {
+		.size	= size,
+		.flags	= flags,
+	};
+	void *addr;
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = ioctl(kvm->vm_fd, KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, KVM_CAP_GUEST_MEMFD_FLAGS);
+	if (ret < 0 || ((u64)ret & flags) != flags)
+		die("kernel does not support guest_memfd with mmap");
+
+	ret = ioctl(kvm->vm_fd, KVM_CREATE_GUEST_MEMFD, &gmem);
+	if (ret < 0)
+		die_perror("KVM_CREATE_GUEST_MEMFD");
+
+	addr = mmap(NULL, size, PROT_RW, MAP_SHARED, ret, 0);
+	if (addr == MAP_FAILED)
+		die_perror("guest_memfd mmap");
+
+	kvm->ram_guest_memfd = ret;
+	kvm->ram_pagesize = getpagesize();
+
+	return addr;
+}
-- 
2.39.5


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-07-06  8:36 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 20+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-06  8:35 [PATCH kvmtool v1 0/5] Add guest_memfd support for arm64 Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06  8:35 ` [PATCH kvmtool v1 1/5] Initialize the return value in kvm__for_each_mem_bank() Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06  8:35 ` [PATCH kvmtool v1 2/5] Remove newline from end of die() aborts Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06 10:53   ` Suzuki K Poulose
2026-07-06 10:57     ` Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06  8:35 ` [PATCH kvmtool v1 3/5] Use kvm_userspace_memory_region2 for all memory registration Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06 10:23   ` Suzuki K Poulose
2026-07-06 10:41     ` Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06 10:46       ` Will Deacon
2026-07-06 10:47         ` Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06 10:57     ` Alexandru Elisei
2026-07-06 10:59       ` Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06  8:35 ` [PATCH kvmtool v1 4/5] Add guest_memfd support to kvm__register_mem() Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06 11:00   ` Suzuki K Poulose
2026-07-06 11:13     ` Suzuki K Poulose
2026-07-06 11:25       ` Fuad Tabba
2026-07-06 12:34         ` Suzuki K Poulose
2026-07-06  8:35 ` Fuad Tabba [this message]
2026-07-06 11:18   ` [PATCH kvmtool v1 5/5] arm64: Add --guest-memfd option to back guest RAM with guest_memfd Suzuki K Poulose
2026-07-06 11:24     ` Fuad Tabba

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