Re: [RFC PATCH] mm/vmalloc: add vmalloc_decrypted() and vzalloc_decrypted()

[Catalin Marinas]

On Thu, Jun 11, 2026 at 08:49:54AM -0300, Jason Gunthorpe wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 08, 2026 at 04:37:02PM +0100, Catalin Marinas wrote:
> > > +/**
> > > + * vzalloc_decrypted - allocate zeroed virtually contiguous decrypted memory
> > > + * @size:    allocation size
> > > + *
> > > + * Like vmalloc_decrypted(), but the memory is set to zero.
> > > + *
> > > + * Return: pointer to the allocated memory or %NULL on error
> > > + */
> > > +void *vzalloc_decrypted_noprof(unsigned long size)
> > > +{
> > > +	void *addr;
> > > +
> > > +	addr = __vmalloc_node_range_noprof(size, 1, VMALLOC_START, VMALLOC_END,
> > > +					   GFP_KERNEL,
> > > +					   pgprot_decrypted(PAGE_KERNEL),
> > > +					   VM_DECRYPTED, NUMA_NO_NODE,
> > > +					   __builtin_return_address(0));
> > > +	if (addr)
> > > +		memset(addr, 0, size);
> > 
> > Talking to Suzuki, the small window between set_memory_decrypted() and
> > memset() potentially exposing stale data is safe, at least for Arm CCA
> > as the memory would be scrubbed (there are other places in the kernel
> > where we do something similar). I assume that's also the case for other
> > architectures, although not sure what pKVM does.
> 
> It seems like a poor practice though, this should probably be
> re-organized to use __GFP_ZERO so things are ordered sensibly.

__GFP_ZERO doesn't work if the intermediate set_memory_decrypted()
mangles the data (e.g. changes encryption keys) and it no longer reads
as zeros.

> But what is the purpose of this? I guess some hyperv thing - but
> shouldn't we have a more structured way to "DMA map" things for the
> hypervisor instead of stuff like this? Why can't you use
> dma_alloc_coherent() which actually gives you an address that is
> sensible to pass to the hypervisor?

IIRC netvsc_init_buf() uses vzalloc() to allocate some memory and that
buffer ends up in set_memory_decrypted() via vmbus_establish_gpadl().
arm64 does not support changing the decrypted/shared attributed of
vmalloc mappings and I don't think we should add it. Better to just
allocate it properly upfront.

We might be able to use the DMA API but we won't get something like
vmalloc() - physically non-contiguous. I think dma_alloc_noncontiguous()
just falls back to dma_direct_alloc_pages() in the absence of an iommu.

-- 
Catalin