Re: [PATCH kvmtool v3 5/6] arm64: add FEAT_E2H0 support

Alexandru Elisei
2025-08-04T14:45:56Z

Hi,

According to the Arm ARM, FEAT_E2H0 can co-exist with FEAT_VHE; KVM implements
it differently and disables FEAT_VHE when KVM_ARM_VCPU_HAS_EL2_E2H0. Maybe the
subject should be "arm64: Add KVM_ARM_VCPU_HAS_EL2_E2H0 support"?

Also, 'add' should be capitalized.

On Tue, Jul 29, 2025 at 10:57:44AM +0100, Andre Przywara wrote:
> From: Marc Zyngier <maz@kernel.org>
>
> The --nested option allows a guest to boot at EL2 without FEAT_E2H0
> (i.e. mandating VHE support). While this is great for "modern" operating
> systems and hypervisors, a few legacy guests are stuck in a distant past.
>
> To support those, add the --e2h0 command line option, that exposes
> FEAT_E2H0 to the guest, at the expense of a number of other features, such
> as FEAT_NV2. This is conditioned on the host itself supporting FEAT_E2H0.
>
> Signed-off-by: Marc Zyngier <maz@kernel.org>
> Signed-off-by: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>
> ---
> arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h | 5 ++++-
> arm64/kvm-cpu.c | 5 +++++
> 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h b/arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h
> index 44c43367b..73bf4211a 100644
> --- a/arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h
> +++ b/arm64/include/kvm/kvm-config-arch.h
> @@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ struct kvm_config_arch {
> bool has_pmuv3;
> bool mte_disabled;
> bool nested_virt;
> + bool e2h0;
> u64 kaslr_seed;
> enum irqchip_type irqchip;
> u64 fw_addr;
> @@ -63,6 +64,8 @@ int sve_vl_parser(const struct option *opt, const char *arg, int unset);
> OPT_U64('\0', "counter-offset", &(cfg)->counter_offset, \
> "Specify the counter offset, defaulting to 0"), \
> OPT_BOOLEAN('\0', "nested", &(cfg)->nested_virt, \
> - "Start VCPUs in EL2 (for nested virt)"),
> + "Start VCPUs in EL2 (for nested virt)"), \
> + OPT_BOOLEAN('\0', "e2h0", &(cfg)->e2h0, \
> + "Create guest without VHE support"),
>
> #endif /* ARM_COMMON__KVM_CONFIG_ARCH_H */
> diff --git a/arm64/kvm-cpu.c b/arm64/kvm-cpu.c
> index 42dc11dad..5e4f3a7dd 100644
> --- a/arm64/kvm-cpu.c
> +++ b/arm64/kvm-cpu.c
> @@ -76,6 +76,11 @@ static void kvm_cpu__select_features(struct kvm *kvm, struct kvm_vcpu_init *init
> if (!kvm__supports_extension(kvm, KVM_CAP_ARM_EL2))
> die("EL2 (nested virt) is not supported");
> init->features[0] |= 1UL << KVM_ARM_VCPU_HAS_EL2;
> + if (kvm->cfg.arch.e2h0) {
> + if (!kvm__supports_extension(kvm, KVM_CAP_ARM_EL2_E2H0))
> + die("FEAT_E2H0 is not supported");
> + init->features[0] |= 1UL << KVM_ARM_VCPU_HAS_EL2_E2H0;
> + }

From the v6.16 documentation (emphasis added by me):

- KVM_ARM_VCPU_HAS_EL2_E2H0: Restrict Nested Virtualisation
support to HCR_EL2.E2H being RES0 (non-VHE).
Depends on KVM_CAP_ARM_EL2_E2H0.
**KVM_ARM_VCPU_HAS_EL2 must also be set**.

But I am able to run a VM with E2H0 set and EL2 unset:

# ./lkvm-static run -c2 -m1024 -k Image-v6.16-rc4-upstream --nodefaults -p "earlycon root=/dev/vda" --e2h0
Info: # lkvm run -k Image-v6.16-rc4-upstream -m 1024 -c 2 --name guest-165
[ 0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0000000000 [0x410fd0f0]
..
[ 0.390199] kvm [1]: HYP mode not available

If the documentation is correct, I would suggest that you also add a check for
nested virtualization being enabled in kvm__arch_validate_cfg().

Thanks,
Alex