[PATCH v4 2/3] Drivers: hv: vmbus: Add vmbus_alloc_buffer()/vmbus_free_buffer() for CoCo VMs
From: Kameron Carr
Date: Tue Aug 11 2026 - 12:17:06 EST
On CoCo VMs without confidential VMBus, the netvsc send and receive buffers
must be made host-visible by decrypting them. These buffers are vmalloc'ed,
but set_memory_decrypted()/encrypted() do not work on vmalloc'ed memory.
This use case is (so far) unique to netvsc, so solve it locally rather than
changing the set_memory() or allocation APIs.
Add vmbus_alloc_buffer()/vmbus_free_buffer() to the VMBus core. When the
guest's isolation model requires it, allocate the buffer as a list of
physically-contiguous chunks via alloc_pages_node(), starting at
MAX_PAGE_ORDER and falling back to smaller orders so the allocation still
succeeds under memory fragmentation. Each chunk is decrypted in place via
set_memory_decrypted() on its direct-map address, and the chunks are then
stitched into a single virtually-contiguous range with vmap(). Buffers that
do not need decryption keep using vzalloc().
To free the buffer, vmbus_free_buffer() calls vunmap() on the range then
re-encrypts and frees each chunk individually; any chunk that fails
re-encryption is leaked to prevent accidentally freeing decrypted memory.
This approach minimizes scattering of decrypted 4 KiB pages through the
kernel direct map and the resulting shattering of large page mappings.
Signed-off-by: Kameron Carr <kameroncarr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Michael Kelley <mhklinux@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/hv/channel.c | 155 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
include/linux/hyperv.h | 7 ++
2 files changed, 162 insertions(+)
diff --git a/drivers/hv/channel.c b/drivers/hv/channel.c
index 4782f50..f437061 100644
--- a/drivers/hv/channel.c
+++ b/drivers/hv/channel.c
@@ -13,11 +13,13 @@
#include <linux/wait.h>
#include <linux/mm.h>
#include <linux/slab.h>
+#include <linux/log2.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/hyperv.h>
#include <linux/uio.h>
#include <linux/interrupt.h>
#include <linux/set_memory.h>
+#include <linux/vmalloc.h>
#include <linux/export.h>
#include <asm/page.h>
#include <asm/mshyperv.h>
@@ -608,6 +610,159 @@ int vmbus_establish_gpadl_caller_decrypted(struct vmbus_channel *channel,
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(vmbus_establish_gpadl_caller_decrypted);
+/**
+ * vmbus_free_buffer - release a buffer allocated by vmbus_alloc_buffer().
+ *
+ * @addr: buffer address, or NULL if none was allocated (e.g. cleanup from a
+ * failed allocation)
+ * @chunks: chunks array from vmbus_alloc_buffer(), or NULL
+ * @chunk_cnt: number of entries in @chunks
+ *
+ * When @chunks is NULL the buffer is a plain vzalloc() allocation.
+ *
+ * Otherwise tear down the vmap, and for each chunk re-encrypt and free
+ * the underlying pages. Any chunk that cannot be re-encrypted is leaked.
+ */
+void vmbus_free_buffer(void *addr, struct page **chunks, u32 chunk_cnt)
+{
+ u32 i;
+
+ if (!chunks) {
+ vfree(addr);
+ return;
+ }
+
+ vunmap(addr);
+
+ for (i = 0; i < chunk_cnt; i++) {
+ unsigned long vaddr =
+ (unsigned long)page_address(chunks[i]);
+ unsigned int order = folio_order(page_folio(chunks[i]));
+
+ if (set_memory_encrypted(vaddr, 1U << order))
+ continue;
+ __free_pages(chunks[i], order);
+ }
+
+ kvfree(chunks);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(vmbus_free_buffer);
+
+/**
+ * vmbus_alloc_buffer - allocate a host-visible, virtually-contiguous buffer.
+ *
+ * @channel: the channel the buffer will be attached to
+ * @size: requested buffer size in bytes (will be rounded up to PAGE_SIZE)
+ * @chunks_out: on success, set to the array of underlying chunks, or NULL when
+ * the buffer was allocated with vzalloc()
+ * @chunk_cnt_out: on success, set to the number of chunks
+ *
+ * Buffers not requiring decryption are allocated with vzalloc().
+ *
+ * Buffers requiring decryption are allocated as a series of
+ * physically-contiguous chunks, starting at MAX_PAGE_ORDER and falling back to
+ * smaller orders on allocation failure. Each chunk is transitioned to
+ * host-visible via set_memory_decrypted() on its direct-map address, then all
+ * chunks are combined into a virtually-contiguous range via vmap().
+ *
+ * Return: the buffer's virtual address, or NULL on failure.
+ */
+void *vmbus_alloc_buffer(struct vmbus_channel *channel,
+ u32 size,
+ struct page ***chunks_out,
+ u32 *chunk_cnt_out)
+{
+ unsigned long nr_pages = PFN_UP(size);
+ unsigned long remaining = nr_pages;
+ unsigned long page_idx = 0;
+ struct page **chunks = NULL;
+ struct page **pages = NULL;
+ int order = MAX_PAGE_ORDER;
+ u32 chunk_cnt = 0;
+ void *addr;
+ u32 i;
+ int ret;
+
+ *chunks_out = NULL;
+ *chunk_cnt_out = 0;
+
+ if (!nr_pages)
+ return NULL;
+
+ /* If the buffer does not need to be decrypted, just use vzalloc() */
+ if (!hv_is_isolation_supported() || channel->co_external_memory)
+ return vzalloc(nr_pages << PAGE_SHIFT);
+
+ /* Worst case: every chunk is a single page. */
+ chunks = kvmalloc_array(nr_pages, sizeof(*chunks),
+ GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_ZERO);
+ if (!chunks)
+ goto err;
+
+ pages = kvmalloc_array(nr_pages, sizeof(*pages), GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!pages)
+ goto err;
+
+ while (remaining) {
+ struct page *page;
+ gfp_t gfp;
+
+ order = min(order, ilog2(remaining));
+
+ /*
+ * Use __GFP_NORETRY | __GFP_NOWARN to avoid OOM-killing,
+ * but try harder at order 0 since that is the final
+ * fallback.
+ * __GFP_COMP stores order information in the page folio.
+ */
+ gfp = GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_ZERO;
+ if (order)
+ gfp |= __GFP_COMP | __GFP_NORETRY | __GFP_NOWARN;
+
+ page = alloc_pages_node(cpu_to_node(channel->target_cpu),
+ gfp, order);
+ if (!page) {
+ if (!order--)
+ goto err;
+ continue;
+ }
+
+ ret = set_memory_decrypted((unsigned long)page_address(page),
+ 1U << order);
+ if (ret) {
+ /*
+ * set_memory_decrypted() failed; the page state is
+ * unknown so it must be leaked rather than freed.
+ */
+ goto err;
+ }
+
+ chunks[chunk_cnt++] = page;
+
+ for (i = 0; i < (1U << order); i++)
+ pages[page_idx++] = page + i;
+
+ remaining -= 1U << order;
+ }
+
+ addr = vmap(pages, nr_pages, VM_MAP, pgprot_decrypted(PAGE_KERNEL));
+ if (!addr)
+ goto err;
+
+ memset(addr, 0, nr_pages << PAGE_SHIFT);
+
+ kvfree(pages);
+ *chunks_out = chunks;
+ *chunk_cnt_out = chunk_cnt;
+ return addr;
+
+err:
+ kvfree(pages);
+ vmbus_free_buffer(NULL, chunks, chunk_cnt);
+ return NULL;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(vmbus_alloc_buffer);
+
/**
* request_arr_init - Allocates memory for the requestor array. Each slot
* keeps track of the next available slot in the array. Initially, each
diff --git a/include/linux/hyperv.h b/include/linux/hyperv.h
index 1146add..f843ee0 100644
--- a/include/linux/hyperv.h
+++ b/include/linux/hyperv.h
@@ -1214,6 +1214,13 @@ extern int vmbus_establish_gpadl_caller_decrypted(struct vmbus_channel *channel,
extern int vmbus_teardown_gpadl(struct vmbus_channel *channel,
struct vmbus_gpadl *gpadl);
+extern void *vmbus_alloc_buffer(struct vmbus_channel *channel,
+ u32 size,
+ struct page ***chunks_out,
+ u32 *chunk_cnt_out);
+
+extern void vmbus_free_buffer(void *addr, struct page **chunks, u32 chunk_cnt);
+
void vmbus_reset_channel_cb(struct vmbus_channel *channel);
extern int vmbus_recvpacket(struct vmbus_channel *channel,
--
2.45.4