[PATCH v2 2/3] arm64: mm: Handle invalid large leaf mappings correctly

Ryan Roberts
2026-03-30T16:17:21Z

It has been possible for a long time to mark ptes in the linear map as
invalid. This is done for secretmem, kfence, realm dma memory un/share,
and others, by simply clearing the PTE_VALID bit. But until commit
a166563e7ec37 ("arm64: mm: support large block mapping when
rodata=full") large leaf mappings were never made invalid in this way.

It turns out various parts of the code base are not equipped to handle
invalid large leaf mappings (in the way they are currently encoded) and
I've observed a kernel panic while booting a realm guest on a
BBML2_NOABORT system as a result:

[ 15.432706] software IO TLB: Memory encryption is active and system is using DMA bounce buffers
[ 15.476896] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffff000019600000
[ 15.513762] Mem abort info:
[ 15.527245] ESR = 0x0000000096000046
[ 15.548553] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
[ 15.572146] SET = 0, FnV = 0
[ 15.592141] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
[ 15.612694] FSC = 0x06: level 2 translation fault
[ 15.640644] Data abort info:
[ 15.661983] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000046, ISS2 = 0x00000000
[ 15.694875] CM = 0, WnR = 1, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
[ 15.723740] GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0
[ 15.755776] swapper pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000081f3f000
[ 15.800410] [ffff000019600000] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=180000009ffff403, pud=180000009fffe403, pmd=00e8000199600704
[ 15.855046] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000046 [#1] SMP
[ 15.886394] Modules linked in:
[ 15.900029] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 7.0.0-rc4-dirty #4 PREEMPT
[ 15.935258] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT)
[ 15.955612] pstate: 21400005 (nzCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[ 15.986009] pc : __pi_memcpy_generic+0x128/0x22c
[ 16.006163] lr : swiotlb_bounce+0xf4/0x158
[ 16.024145] sp : ffff80008000b8f0
[ 16.038896] x29: ffff80008000b8f0 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: 0000000000000000
[ 16.069953] x26: ffffb3976d261ba8 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: ffff000019600000
[ 16.100876] x23: 0000000000000001 x22: ffff0000043430d0 x21: 0000000000007ff0
[ 16.131946] x20: 0000000084570010 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: ffff00001ffe3fcc
[ 16.163073] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 00000000003fffff x15: 646e612065766974
[ 16.194131] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000
[ 16.225059] x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000010 x9 : 0000000000000018
[ 16.256113] x8 : 0000000000000018 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000
[ 16.287203] x5 : ffff000019607ff0 x4 : ffff000004578000 x3 : ffff000019600000
[ 16.318145] x2 : 0000000000007ff0 x1 : ffff000004570010 x0 : ffff000019600000
[ 16.349071] Call trace:
[ 16.360143] __pi_memcpy_generic+0x128/0x22c (P)
[ 16.380310] swiotlb_tbl_map_single+0x154/0x2b4
[ 16.400282] swiotlb_map+0x5c/0x228
[ 16.415984] dma_map_phys+0x244/0x2b8
[ 16.432199] dma_map_page_attrs+0x44/0x58
[ 16.449782] virtqueue_map_page_attrs+0x38/0x44
[ 16.469596] virtqueue_map_single_attrs+0xc0/0x130
[ 16.490509] virtnet_rq_alloc.isra.0+0xa4/0x1fc
[ 16.510355] try_fill_recv+0x2a4/0x584
[ 16.526989] virtnet_open+0xd4/0x238
[ 16.542775] __dev_open+0x110/0x24c
[ 16.558280] __dev_change_flags+0x194/0x20c
[ 16.576879] netif_change_flags+0x24/0x6c
[ 16.594489] dev_change_flags+0x48/0x7c
[ 16.611462] ip_auto_config+0x258/0x1114
[ 16.628727] do_one_initcall+0x80/0x1c8
[ 16.645590] kernel_init_freeable+0x208/0x2f0
[ 16.664917] kernel_init+0x24/0x1e0
[ 16.680295] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20
[ 16.696369] Code: 927cec03 cb0e0021 8b0e0042 a9411c26 (a900340c)
[ 16.723106] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
[ 16.752866] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b
[ 16.792556] Kernel Offset: 0x3396ea200000 from 0xffff800080000000
[ 16.818966] PHYS_OFFSET: 0xfff1000080000000
[ 16.837237] CPU features: 0x0000000,00060005,13e38581,957e772f
[ 16.862904] Memory Limit: none
[ 16.876526] ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b ]---

This panic occurs because the swiotlb memory was previously shared to
the host (__set_memory_enc_dec()), which involves transitioning the
(large) leaf mappings to invalid, sharing to the host, then marking the
mappings valid again. But pageattr_p[mu]d_entry() would only update the
entry if it is a section mapping, since otherwise it concluded it must
be a table entry so shouldn't be modified. But p[mu]d_sect() only
returns true if the entry is valid. So the result was that the large
leaf entry was made invalid in the first pass then ignored in the second
pass. It remains invalid until the above code tries to access it and
blows up.

The simple fix would be to update pageattr_pmd_entry() to use
!pmd_table() instead of pmd_sect(). That would solve this problem.

But the ptdump code also suffers from a similar issue. It checks
pmd_leaf() and doesn't call into the arch-specific note_page() machinery
if it returns false. As a result of this, ptdump wasn't even able to
show the invalid large leaf mappings; it looked like they were valid
which made this super fun to debug. the ptdump code is core-mm and
pmd_table() is arm64-specific so we can't use the same trick to solve
that.

But we already support the concept of "present-invalid" for user space
entries. And even better, pmd_leaf() will return true for a leaf mapping
that is marked present-invalid. So let's just use that encoding for
present-invalid kernel mappings too. Then we can use pmd_leaf() where we
previously used pmd_sect() and everything is magically fixed.

Additionally, from inspection kernel_page_present() was broken in a
similar way, so I'm also updating that to use pmd_leaf().

The transitional page tables component was also similarly broken; it
creates a copy of the kernel page tables, making RO leaf mappings RW in
the process. It also makes invalid (but-not-none) pte mappings valid.
But it was not doing this for large leaf mappings. This could have
resulted in crashes at kexec- or hibernate-time. This code is fixed to
flip "present-invalid" mappings back to "present-valid" at all levels.

Finally, I have hardened split_pmd()/split_pud() so that if it is passed
a "present-invalid" leaf, it will maintain that property in the split
leaves, since I wasn't able to convince myself that it would only ever
be called for "present-valid" leaves.

Fixes: a166563e7ec37 ("arm64: mm: support large block mapping when rodata=full")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@arm.com>
---
arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable-prot.h | 2 ++
arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h | 9 +++--
arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c | 4 +++
arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c | 50 +++++++++++++++------------
arch/arm64/mm/trans_pgd.c | 42 ++++------------------
5 files changed, 48 insertions(+), 59 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable-prot.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable-prot.h
index f560e64202674..212ce1b02e15e 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable-prot.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable-prot.h
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
*/
#define PTE_PRESENT_INVALID (PTE_NG) /* only when !PTE_VALID */

+#define PTE_PRESENT_VALID_KERNEL (PTE_VALID | PTE_MAYBE_NG)
+
#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_USERFAULTFD_WP
#define PTE_UFFD_WP (_AT(pteval_t, 1) << 58) /* uffd-wp tracking */
#define PTE_SWP_UFFD_WP (_AT(pteval_t, 1) << 3) /* only for swp ptes */
diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
index b3e58735c49bd..dd062179b9b66 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
@@ -322,9 +322,11 @@ static inline pte_t pte_mknoncont(pte_t pte)
return clear_pte_bit(pte, __pgprot(PTE_CONT));
}

-static inline pte_t pte_mkvalid(pte_t pte)
+static inline pte_t pte_mkvalid_k(pte_t pte)
{
- return set_pte_bit(pte, __pgprot(PTE_VALID));
+ pte = clear_pte_bit(pte, __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_INVALID));
+ pte = set_pte_bit(pte, __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_VALID_KERNEL));
+ return pte;
}

static inline pte_t pte_mkinvalid(pte_t pte)
@@ -594,6 +596,7 @@ static inline int pmd_protnone(pmd_t pmd)
#define pmd_mkclean(pmd) pte_pmd(pte_mkclean(pmd_pte(pmd)))
#define pmd_mkdirty(pmd) pte_pmd(pte_mkdirty(pmd_pte(pmd)))
#define pmd_mkyoung(pmd) pte_pmd(pte_mkyoung(pmd_pte(pmd)))
+#define pmd_mkvalid_k(pmd) pte_pmd(pte_mkvalid_k(pmd_pte(pmd)))
#define pmd_mkinvalid(pmd) pte_pmd(pte_mkinvalid(pmd_pte(pmd)))
#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_USERFAULTFD_WP
#define pmd_uffd_wp(pmd) pte_uffd_wp(pmd_pte(pmd))
@@ -635,6 +638,8 @@ static inline pmd_t pmd_mkspecial(pmd_t pmd)

#define pud_young(pud) pte_young(pud_pte(pud))
#define pud_mkyoung(pud) pte_pud(pte_mkyoung(pud_pte(pud)))
+#define pud_mkwrite_novma(pud) pte_pud(pte_mkwrite_novma(pud_pte(pud)))
+#define pud_mkvalid_k(pud) pte_pud(pte_mkvalid_k(pud_pte(pud)))
#define pud_write(pud) pte_write(pud_pte(pud))

static inline pud_t pud_mkhuge(pud_t pud)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c b/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c
index 223947487a223..1575680675d8d 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c
@@ -602,6 +602,8 @@ static int split_pmd(pmd_t *pmdp, pmd_t pmd, gfp_t gfp, bool to_cont)
tableprot |= PMD_TABLE_PXN;

prot = __pgprot((pgprot_val(prot) & ~PTE_TYPE_MASK) | PTE_TYPE_PAGE);
+ if (!pmd_valid(pmd))
+ prot = pte_pgprot(pte_mkinvalid(pfn_pte(0, prot)));
prot = __pgprot(pgprot_val(prot) & ~PTE_CONT);
if (to_cont)
prot = __pgprot(pgprot_val(prot) | PTE_CONT);
@@ -647,6 +649,8 @@ static int split_pud(pud_t *pudp, pud_t pud, gfp_t gfp, bool to_cont)
tableprot |= PUD_TABLE_PXN;

prot = __pgprot((pgprot_val(prot) & ~PMD_TYPE_MASK) | PMD_TYPE_SECT);
+ if (!pud_valid(pud))
+ prot = pmd_pgprot(pmd_mkinvalid(pfn_pmd(0, prot)));
prot = __pgprot(pgprot_val(prot) & ~PTE_CONT);
if (to_cont)
prot = __pgprot(pgprot_val(prot) | PTE_CONT);
diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c b/arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c
index 358d1dc9a576f..ce035e1b4eaf6 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ static ptdesc_t set_pageattr_masks(ptdesc_t val, struct mm_walk *walk)
{
struct page_change_data *masks = walk->private;

+ /*
+ * Some users clear and set bits which alias each other (e.g. PTE_NG and
+ * PTE_PRESENT_INVALID). It is therefore important that we always clear
+ * first then set.
+ */
val &= ~(pgprot_val(masks->clear_mask));
val |= (pgprot_val(masks->set_mask));

@@ -36,7 +41,7 @@ static int pageattr_pud_entry(pud_t *pud, unsigned long addr,
{
pud_t val = pudp_get(pud);

- if (pud_sect(val)) {
+ if (pud_leaf(val)) {
if (WARN_ON_ONCE((next - addr) != PUD_SIZE))
return -EINVAL;
val = __pud(set_pageattr_masks(pud_val(val), walk));
@@ -52,7 +57,7 @@ static int pageattr_pmd_entry(pmd_t *pmd, unsigned long addr,
{
pmd_t val = pmdp_get(pmd);

- if (pmd_sect(val)) {
+ if (pmd_leaf(val)) {
if (WARN_ON_ONCE((next - addr) != PMD_SIZE))
return -EINVAL;
val = __pmd(set_pageattr_masks(pmd_val(val), walk));
@@ -132,11 +137,12 @@ static int __change_memory_common(unsigned long start, unsigned long size,
ret = update_range_prot(start, size, set_mask, clear_mask);

/*
- * If the memory is being made valid without changing any other bits
- * then a TLBI isn't required as a non-valid entry cannot be cached in
- * the TLB.
+ * If the memory is being switched from present-invalid to valid without
+ * changing any other bits then a TLBI isn't required as a non-valid
+ * entry cannot be cached in the TLB.
*/
- if (pgprot_val(set_mask) != PTE_VALID || pgprot_val(clear_mask))
+ if (pgprot_val(set_mask) != PTE_PRESENT_VALID_KERNEL ||
+ pgprot_val(clear_mask) != PTE_PRESENT_INVALID)
flush_tlb_kernel_range(start, start + size);
return ret;
}
@@ -237,18 +243,18 @@ int set_memory_valid(unsigned long addr, int numpages, int enable)
{
if (enable)
return __change_memory_common(addr, PAGE_SIZE * numpages,
- __pgprot(PTE_VALID),
- __pgprot(0));
+ __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_VALID_KERNEL),
+ __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_INVALID));
else
return __change_memory_common(addr, PAGE_SIZE * numpages,
- __pgprot(0),
- __pgprot(PTE_VALID));
+ __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_INVALID),
+ __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_VALID_KERNEL));
}

int set_direct_map_invalid_noflush(struct page *page)
{
- pgprot_t clear_mask = __pgprot(PTE_VALID);
- pgprot_t set_mask = __pgprot(0);
+ pgprot_t clear_mask = __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_VALID_KERNEL);
+ pgprot_t set_mask = __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_INVALID);

if (!can_set_direct_map())
return 0;
@@ -259,8 +265,8 @@ int set_direct_map_invalid_noflush(struct page *page)

int set_direct_map_default_noflush(struct page *page)
{
- pgprot_t set_mask = __pgprot(PTE_VALID | PTE_WRITE);
- pgprot_t clear_mask = __pgprot(PTE_RDONLY);
+ pgprot_t set_mask = __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_VALID_KERNEL | PTE_WRITE);
+ pgprot_t clear_mask = __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_INVALID | PTE_RDONLY);

if (!can_set_direct_map())
return 0;
@@ -296,8 +302,8 @@ static int __set_memory_enc_dec(unsigned long addr,
* entries or Synchronous External Aborts caused by RIPAS_EMPTY
*/
ret = __change_memory_common(addr, PAGE_SIZE * numpages,
- __pgprot(set_prot),
- __pgprot(clear_prot | PTE_VALID));
+ __pgprot(set_prot | PTE_PRESENT_INVALID),
+ __pgprot(clear_prot | PTE_PRESENT_VALID_KERNEL));

if (ret)
return ret;
@@ -311,8 +317,8 @@ static int __set_memory_enc_dec(unsigned long addr,
return ret;

return __change_memory_common(addr, PAGE_SIZE * numpages,
- __pgprot(PTE_VALID),
- __pgprot(0));
+ __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_VALID_KERNEL),
+ __pgprot(PTE_PRESENT_INVALID));
}

static int realm_set_memory_encrypted(unsigned long addr, int numpages)
@@ -404,15 +410,15 @@ bool kernel_page_present(struct page *page)
pud = READ_ONCE(*pudp);
if (pud_none(pud))
return false;
- if (pud_sect(pud))
- return true;
+ if (pud_leaf(pud))
+ return pud_valid(pud);

pmdp = pmd_offset(pudp, addr);
pmd = READ_ONCE(*pmdp);
if (pmd_none(pmd))
return false;
- if (pmd_sect(pmd))
- return true;
+ if (pmd_leaf(pmd))
+ return pmd_valid(pmd);

ptep = pte_offset_kernel(pmdp, addr);
return pte_valid(__ptep_get(ptep));
diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/trans_pgd.c b/arch/arm64/mm/trans_pgd.c
index 18543b603c77b..cca9706a875c3 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/mm/trans_pgd.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/mm/trans_pgd.c
@@ -31,36 +31,6 @@ static void *trans_alloc(struct trans_pgd_info *info)
return info->trans_alloc_page(info->trans_alloc_arg);
}

-static void _copy_pte(pte_t *dst_ptep, pte_t *src_ptep, unsigned long addr)
-{
- pte_t pte = __ptep_get(src_ptep);
-
- if (pte_valid(pte)) {
- /*
- * Resume will overwrite areas that may be marked
- * read only (code, rodata). Clear the RDONLY bit from
- * the temporary mappings we use during restore.
- */
- __set_pte(dst_ptep, pte_mkwrite_novma(pte));
- } else if (!pte_none(pte)) {
- /*
- * debug_pagealloc will removed the PTE_VALID bit if
- * the page isn't in use by the resume kernel. It may have
- * been in use by the original kernel, in which case we need
- * to put it back in our copy to do the restore.
- *
- * Other cases include kfence / vmalloc / memfd_secret which
- * may call `set_direct_map_invalid_noflush()`.
- *
- * Before marking this entry valid, check the pfn should
- * be mapped.
- */
- BUG_ON(!pfn_valid(pte_pfn(pte)));
-
- __set_pte(dst_ptep, pte_mkvalid(pte_mkwrite_novma(pte)));
- }
-}
-
static int copy_pte(struct trans_pgd_info *info, pmd_t *dst_pmdp,
pmd_t *src_pmdp, unsigned long start, unsigned long end)
{
@@ -76,7 +46,11 @@ static int copy_pte(struct trans_pgd_info *info, pmd_t *dst_pmdp,

src_ptep = pte_offset_kernel(src_pmdp, start);
do {
- _copy_pte(dst_ptep, src_ptep, addr);
+ pte_t pte = __ptep_get(src_ptep);
+
+ if (pte_none(pte))
+ continue;
+ __set_pte(dst_ptep, pte_mkvalid_k(pte_mkwrite_novma(pte)));
} while (dst_ptep++, src_ptep++, addr += PAGE_SIZE, addr != end);

return 0;
@@ -109,8 +83,7 @@ static int copy_pmd(struct trans_pgd_info *info, pud_t *dst_pudp,
if (copy_pte(info, dst_pmdp, src_pmdp, addr, next))
return -ENOMEM;
} else {
- set_pmd(dst_pmdp,
- __pmd(pmd_val(pmd) & ~PMD_SECT_RDONLY));
+ set_pmd(dst_pmdp, pmd_mkvalid_k(pmd_mkwrite_novma(pmd)));
}
} while (dst_pmdp++, src_pmdp++, addr = next, addr != end);

@@ -145,8 +118,7 @@ static int copy_pud(struct trans_pgd_info *info, p4d_t *dst_p4dp,
if (copy_pmd(info, dst_pudp, src_pudp, addr, next))
return -ENOMEM;
} else {
- set_pud(dst_pudp,
- __pud(pud_val(pud) & ~PUD_SECT_RDONLY));
+ set_pud(dst_pudp, pud_mkvalid_k(pud_mkwrite_novma(pud)));
}
} while (dst_pudp++, src_pudp++, addr = next, addr != end);

--
2.43.0