[PATCH v3] vfio/fsl-mc: prevent read-only region mappings from becoming writable

From: Abdifatah Suruur

Date: Thu Sep 03 2026 - 05:38:38 EST


vfio_fsl_mc_mmap() rejects writable mappings of regions without the
WRITE flag, but leaves VM_MAYWRITE set. Userspace can map such a region
read-only and then upgrade the mapping to writable with mprotect().

Clear VM_MAYWRITE for regions without the WRITE flag, as i915 does for
its read-only objects and as fixed in drm/vc4 (CVE-2026-68445),
drm/panthor (CVE-2024-53071) and commit a5edadbae57e ("ptp: vmclock:
prevent read-only mappings from becoming writable").

Note this is defensive hardening: the fsl-mc bus publishes all device
regions with the WRITE flag set, so no device can currently reach the
read-only path. The guard costs nothing and keeps the mmap() interface
honest if a read-only region ever appears.

Fixes: 67247289688d4 ("vfio/fsl-mc: Allow userspace to MMAP fsl-mc device MMIO regions")
Signed-off-by: Abdifatah Suruur <suruurism@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v2: commit log now states plainly that the read-only path is
unreachable in practice, per Alex's review; dropped Cc: stable as
there is no reachable issue to backport.
v3: use 'commit <sha> ("<title>")' style for the vmclock reference
and point Fixes at the MMAP support commit, matching the same review
points on the vfio/platform patch.

--- a/drivers/vfio/fsl-mc/vfio_fsl_mc.c
+++ b/drivers/vfio/fsl-mc/vfio_fsl_mc.c
@@ -406,7 +406,11 @@
if (!(vdev->regions[index].flags & VFIO_REGION_INFO_FLAG_WRITE)
&& (vma->vm_flags & VM_WRITE))
return -EINVAL;

+ /* Prevent read-only region mappings from being upgraded with mprotect() */
+ if (!(vdev->regions[index].flags & VFIO_REGION_INFO_FLAG_WRITE))
+ vm_flags_clear(vma, VM_MAYWRITE);
+
vma->vm_private_data = mc_dev;

return vfio_fsl_mc_mmap_mmio(vdev->regions[index], vma);
}