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

From: Eric Auger

Date: Fri Sep 04 2026 - 11:25:25 EST


Hi,

On 9/3/26 11:29 AM, Abdifatah Suruur wrote:
> vfio_platform_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: no in-tree platform driver currently
> publishes a region without the WRITE flag. The guard costs nothing and
> keeps the mmap() interface honest if a read-only region ever appears.
>
> Fixes: fad4d5b1f042 ("vfio/platform: support MMAP of MMIO regions")
> Signed-off-by: Abdifatah Suruur <suruurism@xxxxxxxxx>
> Reviewed-by: Mostafa Saleh <smostafa@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Eric Auger <eric.auger@xxxxxxxxxx>

Thanks

Eric
> ---
> 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, per Mostafa's review.
>
> --- a/drivers/vfio/platform/vfio_platform_common.c
> +++ b/drivers/vfio/platform/vfio_platform_common.c
> @@ -594,7 +594,11 @@
> 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 = vdev;
>
> if (vdev->regions[index].type & VFIO_PLATFORM_REGION_TYPE_MMIO)
> return vfio_platform_mmap_mmio(vdev->regions[index], vma);
>