[PATCH v9 3/6] KVM: arm64: Block cacheable PFNMAP mapping

ankita
2025-06-21T04:30:40Z

From: Ankit Agrawal <ankita@nvidia.com>

Fixes a security bug due to mismatched attributes between S1 and
S2 mapping.

Currently, it is possible for a region to be cacheable in the userspace
VMA, but mapped non cached in S2. This creates a potential issue where
the VMM may sanitize cacheable memory across VMs using cacheable stores,
ensuring it is zeroed. However, if KVM subsequently assigns this memory
to a VM as uncached, the VM could end up accessing stale, non-zeroed data
from a previous VM, leading to unintended data exposure. This is a security
risk.

Block such mismatch attributes case by returning EINVAL when userspace
try to map PFNMAP cacheable. Only allow NORMAL_NC and DEVICE_*.

CC: Oliver Upton <oliver.upton@linux.dev>
CC: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>
CC: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Suggested-by: Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@nvidia.com>
Signed-off-by: Ankit Agrawal <ankita@nvidia.com>
---
arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c | 34 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 33 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c
index 5fe24f30999d..68c0f1c25dec 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/mmu.c
@@ -1465,6 +1465,22 @@ static bool kvm_vma_mte_allowed(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
return vma->vm_flags & VM_MTE_ALLOWED;
}

+/*
+ * Determine the memory region cacheability from VMA's pgprot. This
+ * is used to set the stage 2 PTEs.
+ */
+static bool kvm_vma_is_cacheable(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
+{
+ switch (FIELD_GET(PTE_ATTRINDX_MASK, pgprot_val(vma->vm_page_prot))) {
+ case MT_NORMAL_NC:
+ case MT_DEVICE_nGnRnE:
+ case MT_DEVICE_nGnRE:
+ return false;
+ default:
+ return true;
+ }
+}
+
static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
struct kvm_s2_trans *nested,
struct kvm_memory_slot *memslot, unsigned long hva,
@@ -1472,7 +1488,7 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
{
int ret = 0;
bool write_fault, writable, force_pte = false;
- bool exec_fault, mte_allowed;
+ bool exec_fault, mte_allowed, is_vma_cacheable;
bool s2_force_noncacheable = false, vfio_allow_any_uc = false;
unsigned long mmu_seq;
phys_addr_t ipa = fault_ipa;
@@ -1617,6 +1633,8 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,

vm_flags = vma->vm_flags;

+ is_vma_cacheable = kvm_vma_is_cacheable(vma);
+
/* Don't use the VMA after the unlock -- it may have vanished */
vma = NULL;

@@ -1660,6 +1678,14 @@ static int user_mem_abort(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, phys_addr_t fault_ipa,
writable = false;
}

+ /*
+ * Prohibit a region to be mapped non cacheable in S2 and marked as
+ * cacheabled in the userspace VMA. Such mismatched mapping is a
+ * security risk.
+ */
+ if (is_vma_cacheable && s2_force_noncacheable)
+ return -EINVAL;
+
if (exec_fault && s2_force_noncacheable)
return -ENOEXEC;

@@ -2219,6 +2245,12 @@ int kvm_arch_prepare_memory_region(struct kvm *kvm,
ret = -EINVAL;
break;
}
+
+ /* Cacheable PFNMAP is not allowed */
+ if (kvm_vma_is_cacheable(vma)) {
+ ret = -EINVAL;
+ break;
+ }
}
hva = min(reg_end, vma->vm_end);
} while (hva < reg_end);
--
2.34.1