Re: [PATCH v7 05/12] KVM: guest_memfd: Add flag to remove from direct map

David Hildenbrand
2025-09-25T19:28:54Z

On 25.09.25 17:52, Roy, Patrick wrote:
> On Thu, 2025-09-25 at 12:00 +0100, David Hildenbrand wrote:
>> On 24.09.25 17:22, Roy, Patrick wrote:
>>> Add GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_NO_DIRECT_MAP flag for KVM_CREATE_GUEST_MEMFD()
>>> ioctl. When set, guest_memfd folios will be removed from the direct map
>>> after preparation, with direct map entries only restored when the folios
>>> are freed.
>>>
>>> To ensure these folios do not end up in places where the kernel cannot
>>> deal with them, set AS_NO_DIRECT_MAP on the guest_memfd's struct
>>> address_space if GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_NO_DIRECT_MAP is requested.
>>>
>>> Add KVM_CAP_GUEST_MEMFD_NO_DIRECT_MAP to let userspace discover whether
>>> guest_memfd supports GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_NO_DIRECT_MAP. Support depends on
>>> guest_memfd itself being supported, but also on whether linux supports
>>> manipulatomg the direct map at page granularity at all (possible most of
>>> the time, outliers being arm64 where its impossible if the direct map
>>> has been setup using hugepages, as arm64 cannot break these apart due to
>>> break-before-make semantics, and powerpc, which does not select
>>> ARCH_HAS_SET_DIRECT_MAP, though also doesn't support guest_memfd
>>> anyway).
>>>
>>> Note that this flag causes removal of direct map entries for all
>>> guest_memfd folios independent of whether they are "shared" or "private"
>>> (although current guest_memfd only supports either all folios in the
>>> "shared" state, or all folios in the "private" state if
>>> GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_MMAP is not set). The usecase for removing direct map
>>> entries of also the shared parts of guest_memfd are a special type of
>>> non-CoCo VM where, host userspace is trusted to have access to all of
>>> guest memory, but where Spectre-style transient execution attacks
>>> through the host kernel's direct map should still be mitigated. In this
>>> setup, KVM retains access to guest memory via userspace mappings of
>>> guest_memfd, which are reflected back into KVM's memslots via
>>> userspace_addr. This is needed for things like MMIO emulation on x86_64
>>> to work.
>>>
>>> Direct map entries are zapped right before guest or userspace mappings
>>> of gmem folios are set up, e.g. in kvm_gmem_fault_user_mapping() or
>>> kvm_gmem_get_pfn() [called from the KVM MMU code]. The only place where
>>> a gmem folio can be allocated without being mapped anywhere is
>>> kvm_gmem_populate(), where handling potential failures of direct map
>>> removal is not possible (by the time direct map removal is attempted,
>>> the folio is already marked as prepared, meaning attempting to re-try
>>> kvm_gmem_populate() would just result in -EEXIST without fixing up the
>>> direct map state). These folios are then removed form the direct map
>>> upon kvm_gmem_get_pfn(), e.g. when they are mapped into the guest later.
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Patrick Roy <roypat@amazon.co.uk>
>>> ---
>>> Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst | 5 +++
>>> arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_host.h | 12 ++++++
>>> include/linux/kvm_host.h | 6 +++
>>> include/uapi/linux/kvm.h | 2 +
>>> virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c | 61 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
>>> virt/kvm/kvm_main.c | 5 +++
>>> 6 files changed, 90 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>>
>>> diff --git a/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst b/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
>>> index c17a87a0a5ac..b52c14d58798 100644
>>> --- a/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
>>> +++ b/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
>>> @@ -6418,6 +6418,11 @@ When the capability KVM_CAP_GUEST_MEMFD_MMAP is supported, the 'flags' field
>>> supports GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_MMAP. Setting this flag on guest_memfd creation
>>> enables mmap() and faulting of guest_memfd memory to host userspace.
>>>
>>> +When the capability KVM_CAP_GMEM_NO_DIRECT_MAP is supported, the 'flags' field
>>> +supports GUEST_MEMFG_FLAG_NO_DIRECT_MAP. Setting this flag makes the guest_memfd
>>> +instance behave similarly to memfd_secret, and unmaps the memory backing it from
>>> +the kernel's address space after allocation.
>>> +
>>
>> Do we want to document what the implication of that is? Meaning,
>> limitations etc. I recall that we would need the user mapping for gmem
>> slots to be properly set up.
>>
>> Is that still the case in this patch set?
>
> The ->userspace_addr thing is the general requirement for non-CoCo VMs,
> and not specific for direct map removal (e.g. I expect direct map
> removal to just work out of the box for CoCo setups, where KVM already
> cannot access guest memory, ignoring the question of whether direct map
> removal is even useful for CoCo VMs). So I don't think it should be
> documented as part of
> KVM_CAP_GMEM_NO_DIRECT_MAP/GUEST_MEMFG_FLAG_NO_DIRECT_MAP (heh, there's
> a typo I just noticed.

Okay I was rather wondering whether this will be the first patch set
where it is actually required to be set. In the basic mmap series, I am
not sure yet if we really depend on it (but IIRC we did document it, but
do no sanity checks etc).

"MEMFG". Also "GMEM" needs to be "GUEST_MEMFD".
> Will fix that), but rather as part of GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_MMAP. I can add a
> patch it there (or maybe send it separately, since FLAG_MMAP is already
> in -next?).

Yes, it's in kvm/next and will go upstream soon.

>
>>> When the KVM MMU performs a PFN lookup to service a guest fault and the backing
>>> guest_memfd has the GUEST_MEMFD_FLAG_MMAP set, then the fault will always be
>>> consumed from guest_memfd, regardless of whether it is a shared or a private
>>> diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_host.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_host.h
>>> index 2f2394cce24e..0bfd8e5fd9de 100644
>>> --- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_host.h
>>> +++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_host.h
>>> @@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
>>> #include <linux/maple_tree.h>
>>> #include <linux/percpu.h>
>>> #include <linux/psci.h>
>>> +#include <linux/set_memory.h>
>>> #include <asm/arch_gicv3.h>
>>> #include <asm/barrier.h>
>>> #include <asm/cpufeature.h>
>>> @@ -1706,5 +1707,16 @@ void compute_fgu(struct kvm *kvm, enum fgt_group_id fgt);
>>> void get_reg_fixed_bits(struct kvm *kvm, enum vcpu_sysreg reg, u64 *res0, u64 *res1);
>>> void check_feature_map(void);
>>>
>>> +#ifdef CONFIG_KVM_GUEST_MEMFD
>>> +static inline bool kvm_arch_gmem_supports_no_direct_map(void)
>>> +{
>>> + /*
>>> + * Without FWB, direct map access is needed in kvm_pgtable_stage2_map(),
>>> + * as it calls dcache_clean_inval_poc().
>>> + */
>>> + return can_set_direct_map() && cpus_have_final_cap(ARM64_HAS_STAGE2_FWB);
>>> +}
>>> +#define kvm_arch_gmem_supports_no_direct_map kvm_arch_gmem_supports_no_direct_map
>>> +#endif /* CONFIG_KVM_GUEST_MEMFD */
>>>
>>
>> I strongly assume that the aarch64 support should be moved to a separate
>> patch -- if possible, see below.
>>
>>> #endif /* __ARM64_KVM_HOST_H__ */
>>> diff --git a/include/linux/kvm_host.h b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
>>> index 1d0585616aa3..73a15cade54a 100644
>>> --- a/include/linux/kvm_host.h
>>> +++ b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
>>> @@ -731,6 +731,12 @@ static inline bool kvm_arch_has_private_mem(struct kvm *kvm)
>>> bool kvm_arch_supports_gmem_mmap(struct kvm *kvm);
>>> #endif
>>>
>>> +#ifdef CONFIG_KVM_GUEST_MEMFD
>>> +#ifndef kvm_arch_gmem_supports_no_direct_map
>>> +#define kvm_arch_gmem_supports_no_direct_map can_set_direct_map
>>> +#endif
>>
>> Hm, wouldn't it be better to have an opt-in per arch, and really only
>> unlock the ones we know work (tested etc), explicitly in separate patches.
>>
>
> Ack, can definitely do that. Something like
>
> #ifndef kvm_arch_gmem_supports_no_direct_map
> static inline bool kvm_arch_gmem_supports_no_direct_map()
> {
> return false;
> }
> #endif
>
> and then actual definitions (in separate patches) in the arm64 and x86
> headers?
>
> On a related note, maybe PATCH 2 should only export
> set_direct_map_valid_noflush() for the architectures on which we
> actually need it? Which would only be x86, since arm64 doesnt allow
> building KVM as a module, and nothing else supports guest_memfd right
> now.

Yes, that's probably best. Could be done in the same arch patch then.

--
Cheers

David / dhildenb