Re: [PATCH v6 08/25] KVM: arm64: iommu: Shadow host stage-2 page table

From: Vincent Donnefort

Date: Mon Jul 13 2026 - 11:27:51 EST


On Mon, Jul 13, 2026 at 04:14:55PM +0100, Vincent Donnefort wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 13, 2026 at 02:00:31PM +0000, Mostafa Saleh wrote:
> > On Mon, Jul 13, 2026 at 02:24:19PM +0100, Vincent Donnefort wrote:
> > > On Fri, May 01, 2026 at 11:19:10AM +0000, Mostafa Saleh wrote:
> > > > Create a page-table for the IOMMU that shadows the host CPU stage-2
> > > > to establish DMA isolation.
> > > >
> > > > An initial snapshot is created after the driver init, then
> > > > on every permission change a callback would be called for
> > > > the IOMMU driver to update the page table.
> > > >
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > > > + */
> > > > + if (pte && !kvm_pte_valid(pte))
> > > > + return 0;
> > > > +
> > > > + if (kvm_pte_valid(pte)) {
> > > > + prot = pkvm_to_iommu_prot(kvm_pgtable_stage2_pte_prot(pte));
> > > > + /* If the range is mapped in a single PTE, it must be the same type.*/
> > > > + if (!addr_is_memory(start))
> > > > + prot |= IOMMU_MMIO;
> > > > +
> > > > + return kvm_iommu_ops->host_stage2_idmap(start, end, prot);
> > >
> > > Do we really need to do that when is_memory()?
> > >
> > > fix_host_ownership_walker() by calling host_stage2_idmap_locked() and
> > > host_stage2_set_owner_locked() should already handle the memory region. That
> > > would also get rid of kvm_idmap_initialized.
> > >
> > > So this one here could only take care of the MMIO?
> > >
> > > Overall we would have a common point of synchro which is
> > > fix_host_ownership_walker() after which the host ownership is ready for both
> > > CPU stage-2 and the IOMMU?
> > >
> >
> > I am not sure I understand, this is another empty page table, so we
> > have to walk all of the host CPU stage-2 page table to shadow it in the
> > IOMMU. if you are refering to the case where it handle zero ptes for
> > memory, I can drop that but it will not change much in this logic.
>
> In fixup_host_ownership() we already walk the hyp pgtable to know what needs to be
> map/unmapped from the host stage-2. Can't we rely on that for the IOMMU
> page-table as well?
>
> As of, fix_host_ownership() could handle the host stage-2 __and__ the iommu?

What I have in mind is the completely untested snippet:

index 75b00c323310..64cd175ad6c0 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/setup.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/setup.c
@@ -226,10 +226,11 @@ static int fix_host_ownership_walker(const struct kvm_pgtable_visit_ctx *ctx,
case PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_OWNED:
set_hyp_state(page, PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_OWNED);
set_host_state(page, PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_BORROWED);
+ kvm_iommu_host_stage2_idmap(phys, PAGE_SIZE, IOMMU_READ | IOMMU_WRITE);
break;
case PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_BORROWED:
set_hyp_state(page, PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_BORROWED);
- set_host_state(page, PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_OWNED);
+ kvm_iommu_host_stage2_idmap(phys, PAGE_SIZE, IOMMU_READ | IOMMU_WRITE);
break;
default:
return -EINVAL;
@@ -258,15 +259,20 @@ static int fix_host_ownership(void)
.cb = fix_host_ownership_walker,
.flags = KVM_PGTABLE_WALK_LEAF,
};
+ u64 mmio = 0;
int i, ret;

for (i = 0; i < hyp_memblock_nr; i++) {
struct memblock_region *reg = &hyp_memory[i];
u64 start = (u64)hyp_phys_to_virt(reg->base);

+ kvm_iommu_host_stage2_idmap(mmio, start, IOMMU_READ | IOMMU_WRITE | IOMMU_MMIO);
+
ret = kvm_pgtable_walk(&pkvm_pgtable, start, reg->size, &walker);
if (ret)
return ret;
+
+ mmio = start + reg->size;
}

I believe this does the same as kvm_iommu_snapshot_host_stage2(). WDYS?

>
> >
> > > > + }
> > > > +
> > > > + /* In case of invalid PTE, we need to figure out which part of it is MMIO */
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > > > #include <nvhe/mm.h>
> > > > @@ -481,6 +482,14 @@ static int check_range_allowed_memory(u64 start, u64 end)
> > > > return 0;
> > > > }
> > > >
> > > > +u64 find_mem_range_from(u64 start, bool *is_memory)
> > > > +{
> > > > + struct kvm_mem_range r;
> > > > +
> > > > + *is_memory = !!find_mem_range(start, &r);
> > > > + return r.end;
> > > > +}
> > > > +
> > > > static bool range_is_memory(u64 start, u64 end)
> > > > {
> > > > struct kvm_mem_range r;
> > > > @@ -577,8 +586,34 @@ int host_stage2_idmap_locked(phys_addr_t addr, u64 size,
> > > >
> > > > static void __host_update_page_state(phys_addr_t addr, u64 size, enum pkvm_page_state state)
> > >
> > > I would really split this. I know that this is convinient, but as the function
> > > says, it only update the page state so it shouldn't hide an update to the IOMMU.
> >
> > I mention a couple of alternatives in the commit message, I tried to
> > implement it differently which was harder to reason about as the calls
> > was scattered everywhere and any small refactor will possibly break it.
> >
> > Did you have a split in my mind? I open to rework it.
>
> Yes, I meant the option #2.
>
> >
> > >
> > > Beside, we have examples already in Android where we want to update the
> > > page-state but not the IOMMU, so it doesn't feel future-proof...
> > >
> > > > {
> > > > + enum pkvm_page_state old = get_host_state(hyp_phys_to_page(addr));
> > > > + enum kvm_pgtable_prot prot = 0;
> > > > +
> > > > for_each_hyp_page(page, addr, size)
> > > > set_host_state(page, state);
> > > > +
> > > > + /*
> > > > + * Any transition to PKVM_NOPAGE, unmaps the page from the host
> > > > + * Any transition to PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_BORROWED, maps the page in the host
> > > > + * Any transition to PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_OWNED is ignored as page is already mapped.
> > > > + * Transitions to PKVM_PAGE_OWNED from anything but PKVM_NOPAGE are ignored.
> > > > + * Transitions to PKVM_PAGE_OWNED from PKVM_NOPAGE will map the page.
> > > > + */
> > > > + if ((state == PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_OWNED) ||
> > > > + ((state == PKVM_PAGE_OWNED) && (old != PKVM_NOPAGE)))
> > > > + return;
> > > > +
> > > > + if ((state == PKVM_PAGE_SHARED_BORROWED) ||
> > > > + (state == PKVM_PAGE_OWNED))
> > > > + prot = PKVM_HOST_MEM_PROT;
> > >
> > > ... and that would avoid that sort of things here. The caller decides if the IOMMU
> > > is updated or not.
> >
> > Typically, the IOMMU is updated if the CPU is.
> >
> > >
> > > And as the patch says, we "shadow" the host stage2. So probably modifying
> > > host_stage2_idmap and host_stage2_set_owner_metdata() sounds really a better
> > > approach.
> >
> > Initially, before the pKVM merge upstream I was doing something similar
> > as that only required one hook [1]. However, after rebasing I found that
> > would be too complicated and I have to add many more (as mentioned in
> > the commit message). But I can re-visit this approach in v7.
>
> What bit would be more complicated? As you've wrote in the commit message, in
> option#2 you only need two calls really:
>
> * host_stage2_set_owner_locked()
> * host_stage2_set_owner_metadata_locked().
>
> This fits better the narative for the "shadow" page-table: when we map the host
> stage-2, we map the iommu and when we unmap the host stage-2, we unmap the
> iommu.
>
> >
> > [1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250819215156.2494305-11-smostafa@xxxxxxxxxx/
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Mostafa
> >