# Re: \[PATCH v4 04/14\] Documentation/x86: Secure Launch kernel documentation

- From: Robin Murphy \<robin.murphy@arm.com\>
- Date: 2021-12-03 16:03:51 
- List: linux-doc
- Page: https://ratatoskr.run/linux-doc/2021/12/1595625
- Thread: https://ratatoskr.run/linux-integrity/2021/08/1490548/t.md

```text
On 2021-12-03 15:47, Ross Philipson wrote:
> On 12/2/21 12:26, Robin Murphy wrote:
>> On 2021-08-27 14:28, Ross Philipson wrote:
>> [...]
>>> +IOMMU Configuration
>>> +-------------------
>>> +
>>> +When doing a Secure Launch, the IOMMU should always be enabled and
>>> the drivers
>>> +loaded. However, IOMMU passthrough mode should never be used. This
>>> leaves the
>>> +MLE completely exposed to DMA after the PMR's [2]_ are disabled.
>>> First, IOMMU
>>> +passthrough should be disabled by default in the build configuration::
>>> +
>>> +  "Device Drivers" -->
>>> +      "IOMMU Hardware Support" -->
>>> +          "IOMMU passthrough by default [ ]"
>>> +
>>> +This unset the Kconfig value CONFIG_IOMMU_DEFAULT_PASSTHROUGH.
>>
>> Note that the config structure has now changed, and if set, passthrough
>> is deselected by choosing a different default domain type.
>
> Thanks for the heads up. We will have to modify this for how things
> exist today.
>
>>
>>> +In addition, passthrough must be disabled on the kernel command line
>>> when doing
>>> +a Secure Launch as follows::
>>> +
>>> +  iommu=nopt iommu.passthrough=0
>>
>> This part is a bit silly - those options are literally aliases for the
>> exact same thing, and furthermore if the config is already set as
>> required then the sole effect either of them will have is to cause "(set
>> by kernel command line)" to be printed. There is no value in explicitly
>> overriding the default value with the default value - if anyone can
>> append an additional "iommu.passthrough=1" (or "iommu=pt") to the end of
>> the command line they'll still win.
>
> I feel like when we worked on this, it was still important to set those
> values. This could have been in an older kernel version. We will go back
> and verify what you are saying here and adjust the documentation
> accordingly.
>
> As to anyone just adding values to the command line, that is why the
> command line is part of the DRTM measurements.

Yeah, I had a vague memory that that was the case - basically if you can trust the command line as much as the config then it's definitely redundant to pass an option for this (see iommu_subsys_init() - it's now all plumbed through iommu_def_domain_type), and if you can't then passing them is futile anyway.

Cheers,
Robin.
```