[PATCH v3 07/25] KVM: TDX: Drop superfluous page pinning in S-EPT management
From: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Date: 2025-10-17 00:33:01
Also in:
kvm, kvm-riscv, kvmarm, linux-coco, linux-mips, linux-riscv, linuxppc-dev, lkml, loongarch
Subsystem:
kernel virtual machine for x86 (kvm/x86), the rest, x86 architecture (32-bit and 64-bit) · Maintainers:
Sean Christopherson, Paolo Bonzini, Linus Torvalds, Thomas Gleixner, Ingo Molnar, Borislav Petkov, Dave Hansen
From: Yan Zhao <redacted>
Don't explicitly pin pages when mapping pages into the S-EPT, guest_memfd
doesn't support page migration in any capacity, i.e. there are no migrate
callbacks because guest_memfd pages *can't* be migrated. See the WARN in
kvm_gmem_migrate_folio().
Eliminating TDX's explicit pinning will also enable guest_memfd to support
in-place conversion between shared and private memory[1][2]. Because KVM
cannot distinguish between speculative/transient refcounts and the
intentional refcount for TDX on private pages[3], failing to release
private page refcount in TDX could cause guest_memfd to indefinitely wait
on decreasing the refcount for the splitting.
Under normal conditions, not holding an extra page refcount in TDX is safe
because guest_memfd ensures pages are retained until its invalidation
notification to KVM MMU is completed. However, if there're bugs in KVM/TDX
module, not holding an extra refcount when a page is mapped in S-EPT could
result in a page being released from guest_memfd while still mapped in the
S-EPT. But, doing work to make a fatal error slightly less fatal is a net
negative when that extra work adds complexity and confusion.
Several approaches were considered to address the refcount issue, including
- Attempting to modify the KVM unmap operation to return a failure,
which was deemed too complex and potentially incorrect[4].
- Increasing the folio reference count only upon S-EPT zapping failure[5].
- Use page flags or page_ext to indicate a page is still used by TDX[6],
which does not work for HVO (HugeTLB Vmemmap Optimization).
- Setting HWPOISON bit or leveraging folio_set_hugetlb_hwpoison()[7].
Due to the complexity or inappropriateness of these approaches, and the
fact that S-EPT zapping failure is currently only possible when there are
bugs in the KVM or TDX module, which is very rare in a production kernel,
a straightforward approach of simply not holding the page reference count
in TDX was chosen[8].
When S-EPT zapping errors occur, KVM_BUG_ON() is invoked to kick off all
vCPUs and mark the VM as dead. Although there is a potential window that a
private page mapped in the S-EPT could be reallocated and used outside the
VM, the loud warning from KVM_BUG_ON() should provide sufficient debug
information. To be robust against bugs, the user can enable panic_on_warn
as normal.
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/cover.1747264138.git.ackerleytng@google.com (local) [1]
Link: https://youtu.be/UnBKahkAon4 [2]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAGtprH_ypohFy9TOJ8Emm_roT4XbQUtLKZNFcM6Fr+fhTFkE0Q@mail.gmail.com (local) [3]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aEEEJbTzlncbRaRA@yzhao56-desk.sh.intel.com (local) [4]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aE%2Fq9VKkmaCcuwpU@yzhao56-desk.sh.intel.com (local) [5]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aFkeBtuNBN1RrDAJ@yzhao56-desk.sh.intel.com (local) [6]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/diqzy0tikran.fsf@ackerleytng-ctop.c.googlers.com (local) [7]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/53ea5239f8ef9d8df9af593647243c10435fd219.camel@intel.com (local) [8]
Suggested-by: Vishal Annapurve <redacted>
Suggested-by: Ackerley Tng <redacted>
Suggested-by: Rick Edgecombe <rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Yan Zhao <redacted>
Reviewed-by: Ira Weiny <ira.weiny@intel.com>
Reviewed-by: Kai Huang <redacted>
[sean: extract out of hugepage series, massage changelog accordingly]
Reviewed-by: Binbin Wu <redacted>
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
---
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/tdx.c | 28 ++++------------------------
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/tdx.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/tdx.c
index 29f344af4cc2..c3bae6b96dc4 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/tdx.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/tdx.c@@ -1583,29 +1583,22 @@ void tdx_load_mmu_pgd(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, hpa_t root_hpa, int pgd_level) td_vmcs_write64(to_tdx(vcpu), SHARED_EPT_POINTER, root_hpa); } -static void tdx_unpin(struct kvm *kvm, struct page *page) -{ - put_page(page); -} - static int tdx_mem_page_aug(struct kvm *kvm, gfn_t gfn, - enum pg_level level, struct page *page) + enum pg_level level, kvm_pfn_t pfn) { int tdx_level = pg_level_to_tdx_sept_level(level); struct kvm_tdx *kvm_tdx = to_kvm_tdx(kvm); + struct page *page = pfn_to_page(pfn); gpa_t gpa = gfn_to_gpa(gfn); u64 entry, level_state; u64 err; err = tdh_mem_page_aug(&kvm_tdx->td, gpa, tdx_level, page, &entry, &level_state); - if (unlikely(tdx_operand_busy(err))) { - tdx_unpin(kvm, page); + if (unlikely(tdx_operand_busy(err))) return -EBUSY; - } if (KVM_BUG_ON(err, kvm)) { pr_tdx_error_2(TDH_MEM_PAGE_AUG, err, entry, level_state); - tdx_unpin(kvm, page); return -EIO; }
@@ -1639,29 +1632,18 @@ static int tdx_sept_set_private_spte(struct kvm *kvm, gfn_t gfn, enum pg_level level, kvm_pfn_t pfn) { struct kvm_tdx *kvm_tdx = to_kvm_tdx(kvm); - struct page *page = pfn_to_page(pfn); /* TODO: handle large pages. */ if (KVM_BUG_ON(level != PG_LEVEL_4K, kvm)) return -EINVAL; - /* - * Because guest_memfd doesn't support page migration with - * a_ops->migrate_folio (yet), no callback is triggered for KVM on page - * migration. Until guest_memfd supports page migration, prevent page - * migration. - * TODO: Once guest_memfd introduces callback on page migration, - * implement it and remove get_page/put_page(). - */ - get_page(page); - /* * Read 'pre_fault_allowed' before 'kvm_tdx->state'; see matching * barrier in tdx_td_finalize(). */ smp_rmb(); if (likely(kvm_tdx->state == TD_STATE_RUNNABLE)) - return tdx_mem_page_aug(kvm, gfn, level, page); + return tdx_mem_page_aug(kvm, gfn, level, pfn); return tdx_mem_page_record_premap_cnt(kvm, gfn, level, pfn); }
@@ -1712,7 +1694,6 @@ static int tdx_sept_drop_private_spte(struct kvm *kvm, gfn_t gfn, return -EIO; } tdx_quirk_reset_page(page); - tdx_unpin(kvm, page); return 0; }
@@ -1792,7 +1773,6 @@ static int tdx_sept_zap_private_spte(struct kvm *kvm, gfn_t gfn, if (tdx_is_sept_zap_err_due_to_premap(kvm_tdx, err, entry, level) && !KVM_BUG_ON(!atomic64_read(&kvm_tdx->nr_premapped), kvm)) { atomic64_dec(&kvm_tdx->nr_premapped); - tdx_unpin(kvm, page); return 0; }
--
2.51.0.858.gf9c4a03a3a-goog