Re: [PATCH v2 1/3] arm64: mm: Fix rodata=full block mapping support for realm guests

Ryan Roberts
2026-04-07T10:13:11Z

On 07/04/2026 10:32, Catalin Marinas wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 07, 2026 at 09:43:42AM +0100, Ryan Roberts wrote:
>> On 03/04/2026 11:31, Catalin Marinas wrote:
>>> On Thu, Apr 02, 2026 at 09:43:59PM +0100, Catalin Marinas wrote:
>>>> Another thing I couldn't get my head around - IIUC is_realm_world()
>>>> won't return true for map_mem() yet (if in a realm). Can we have realms
>>>> on hardware that does not support BBML2_NOABORT? We may not have
>>>> configuration with rodata_full set (it should be complementary to realm
>>>> support).
>>>
>>> With rodata_full==false, can_set_direct_map() returns false initially
>>> but after arm64_rsi_init() it starts returning true if is_realm_world().
>>> The side-effect is that map_mem() goes for block mappings and
>>> linear_map_requires_bbml2 set to false. Later on,
>>> linear_map_maybe_split_to_ptes() will skip the splitting.
>>>
>>> Unless I'm missing something, is_realm_world() calls in
>>> force_pte_mapping() and can_set_direct_map() are useless. I'd remove
>>> them and either require BBML2_NOABORT with CCA or get the user to force
>>> rodata_full when running in realms. Or move arm64_rsi_init() even
>>> earlier?
>>
>> I'd need Suzuki to comment on this. As I said in the other mail, I was treating
>> this like a pre-existing bug. But I guess linear_map_requires_bbml2 ending up
>> wrong is a problem here. I'm not sure it's quite as simple as requiring
>> BBML2_NOABORT with CCA as we still need can_set_direct_map() to return true if
>> we are in a realm.
>
> can_set_direct_map() == true is not a property of the realm but rather a
> requirement.

Yes indeed. It would be better to call it might_set_direct_map() or something
like that...

> In the absence of BBML2_NOABORT, I guess the test was added
> under the assumption that force_pte_mapping() also returns true if
> is_realm_world(). We might as well add a variable or static label to
> track whether can_set_direct_map() is possible and avoid tests that
> duplicate force_pte_mapping().

I'm not sure I follow. We have linear_map_requires_bbml2 which is inteded to
track this shape of thing; if we have forced pte mapping then the value of
can_set_direct_map() is irrelevant - we will never need to split because we are
already pte-mapped. But if can_set_direct_map() initially returns false because
is_realm_world() incorrectly returns false in the early boot environment, then
linear_map_requires_bbml2 will be set to false, and we will incorrectly
short-circuit splitting any block mappings in split_kernel_leaf_mapping().

I think we are agreed on the problem. But I don't understand how tracking
can_set_direct_map() in a cached variable helps with that.

>
> This won't solve the is_realm_world() changing polarity during boot but
> at least we know it won't suddenly make can_set_direct_map() return
> true when it shouldn't.

But is_real_world() _should_ make can_set_direct_map() return true, shouldn't
it? If we are in realm-world, we need to be able to flip the NS_SHARED bit on
parts of the linear map. So if we are in realm-world, we _might_ need to update
he direct map and that's what can_set_direct_map() is supposed to tell us.