Re: [PATCH v3] KVM: arm64: Prevent the host from using an smc with imm16 != 0

From: Sebastian Ene

Date: Tue Mar 31 2026 - 05:29:45 EST


On Tue, Mar 31, 2026 at 3:41 AM Vincent Donnefort <vdonnefort@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Mar 30, 2026 at 10:54:41AM +0000, Sebastian Ene wrote:
> > The ARM Service Calling Convention (SMCCC) specifies that the function
> > identifier and parameters should be passed in registers, leaving the
> > 16-bit immediate field un-handled in pKVM when an SMC instruction is
> > trapped.
> > Since the HVC is a private interface between EL2 and the host,
> > enforce the host kernel running under pKVM to use an immediate value
> > of 0 only when using SMCs to make it clear for non-compliant software
> > talking to Trustzone that we only use SMCCC.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Sebastian Ene <sebastianene@xxxxxxxxxx>
>

Hello,

> Reviewed-by: Vincent Donnefort <vdonnefort@xxxxxxxxxx>
>

Thanks for reviewing,
Sebastian

> > ---
> > v2 -> current:
> > - move the ESR decoding of the imm16 in the handle_host_smc where it
> > was supposed to be
> > - updated the commit message to include the reason behind while we are
> > not doing for HVCs as well
> > - updated the commit message to clarify that pKVM is not handling the
> > imm16
> >
> > v1 -> v2:
> > - Dropped injecting an UNDEF and return an error instead
> > (SMCCC_RET_NOT_SUPPORTED)
> > - Used the mask ESR_ELx_xVC_IMM_MASK instead of masking with U16_MAX
> > - Updated the title of the commit message from:
> > "[PATCH] KVM: arm64: Inject UNDEF when host is executing an
> > smc with imm16 != 0"
> >
> > Link to v2:
> > https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260325113138.4171430-1-sebastianene@xxxxxxxxxx/
> > Link to v1:
> > https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260324135728.3532400-1-sebastianene@xxxxxxxxxx/
> >
> > ---
> > arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c | 7 +++++++
> > 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c
> > index e7790097db93..461cf5cb5ac7 100644
> > --- a/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c
> > +++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c
> > @@ -676,8 +676,14 @@ static void default_host_smc_handler(struct kvm_cpu_context *host_ctxt)
> > static void handle_host_smc(struct kvm_cpu_context *host_ctxt)
> > {
> > DECLARE_REG(u64, func_id, host_ctxt, 0);
> > + u64 esr = read_sysreg_el2(SYS_ESR);
> > bool handled;
> >
> > + if (esr & ESR_ELx_xVC_IMM_MASK) {
> > + cpu_reg(host_ctxt, 0) = SMCCC_RET_NOT_SUPPORTED;
> > + goto exit_skip_instr;
> > + }
> > +
> > func_id &= ~ARM_SMCCC_CALL_HINTS;
> >
> > handled = kvm_host_psci_handler(host_ctxt, func_id);
> > @@ -686,6 +692,7 @@ static void handle_host_smc(struct kvm_cpu_context *host_ctxt)
> > if (!handled)
> > default_host_smc_handler(host_ctxt);
> >
> > +exit_skip_instr:
> > /* SMC was trapped, move ELR past the current PC. */
> > kvm_skip_host_instr();
> > }
> > --
> > 2.53.0.1018.g2bb0e51243-goog
> >