[PATCH v4] vfio/platform: prevent read-only region mappings from becoming writable

From: Abdifatah Suruur

Date: Sun Sep 06 2026 - 08:34:05 EST


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>
Reviewed-by: Pranjal Shrivastava <praan@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
v4:
- consolidate the duplicated !WRITE condition into one block, per
Pranjal's review; no semantic change
v3:
- use 'commit <sha> ("<title>")' style for the vmclock reference and
point Fixes at the MMAP support commit, per Mostafa's review
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
---
drivers/vfio/platform/vfio_platform_common.c | 10 +++++++---
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/vfio/platform/vfio_platform_common.c b/drivers/vfio/platform/vfio_platform_common.c
index c72db5a99ebda..ab531318f170a 100644
--- a/drivers/vfio/platform/vfio_platform_common.c
+++ b/drivers/vfio/platform/vfio_platform_common.c
@@ -591,9 +591,13 @@ int vfio_platform_mmap(struct vfio_device *core_vdev, struct vm_area_struct *vma
&& (vma->vm_flags & VM_READ))
return -EINVAL;

- 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)) {
+ if (vma->vm_flags & VM_WRITE)
+ return -EINVAL;
+
+ vm_flags_clear(vma, VM_MAYWRITE);
+ }

vma->vm_private_data = vdev;

--
2.53.0