[PATCH v5 20/27] vfio/cxl: Expose the HDM decoder registers read-only to the guest

From: mhonap

Date: Wed Sep 16 2026 - 15:59:55 EST


From: Manish Honap <mhonap@xxxxxxxxxx>

A CXL Type-2 guest reads the HDM decoder registers to learn the HDM
region it was handed. Those registers live in the component BAR that
vfio-pci owns.

Map the decoder block at bind: its location comes from the pdev->hdm
enumeration cache, and vfio-pci owns the BAR, so map it without
claiming the block and expose it as a second, read-only region under
VFIO_REGION_TYPE_PCI_VENDOR_TYPE with the CXL vendor id, registered per
open like the HDM memory region.

Serve reads live from the mapped block and absorb writes without
forwarding them to hardware.

Registering a second region is the first point at which an open-time
failure must unwind an already-registered region, so add
vfio_pci_core_unregister_dev_region() to drop the most recently
registered region, and use it to unwind the HDM memory region if the
decoder region fails to register.

Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Manish Honap <mhonap@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/vfio/pci/cxl/vfio_cxl_core.c | 81 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
include/uapi/linux/vfio.h | 2 +
2 files changed, 82 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/vfio/pci/cxl/vfio_cxl_core.c b/drivers/vfio/pci/cxl/vfio_cxl_core.c
index e099e9a70a5a..da04776356e4 100644
--- a/drivers/vfio/pci/cxl/vfio_cxl_core.c
+++ b/drivers/vfio/pci/cxl/vfio_cxl_core.c
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
* @cxlmd: memory device joined to the CXL topology at bind
* @hpa_range: host physical range of the HDM region
* @hdm_pfn_space: HDM-region pfn range registered with memory_failure()
+ * @hdm_regs: mapped HDM decoder registers, read live by the decoder region
+ * @hdm_len: length of the HDM decoder register block
* @hdm_valid: true when host CPU access to the HDM range is safe; under memory_lock
*/
struct vfio_cxl_state {
@@ -31,6 +33,8 @@ struct vfio_cxl_state {
struct cxl_memdev *cxlmd;
struct range hpa_range;
struct pfn_address_space hdm_pfn_space;
+ void __iomem *hdm_regs;
+ u32 hdm_len;
bool hdm_valid;
};

@@ -212,6 +216,56 @@ static int vfio_cxl_register_pfn_space(struct vfio_pci_core_device *vdev)
return register_pfn_address_space(&cxl->hdm_pfn_space);
}

+static ssize_t vfio_cxl_comp_rw(struct vfio_pci_core_device *vdev,
+ char __user *buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos,
+ bool iswrite)
+{
+ struct vfio_cxl_state *cxl = vdev->cxl;
+ loff_t pos = *ppos & VFIO_PCI_OFFSET_MASK;
+ void *tmp;
+
+ if (pos >= cxl->hdm_len)
+ return -EINVAL;
+
+ /* The decoder registers take only aligned dword accesses. */
+ if (pos % sizeof(u32) || count % sizeof(u32))
+ return -EINVAL;
+
+ count = min_t(size_t, count, cxl->hdm_len - pos);
+
+ /*
+ * The host committed and locked the physical decoder before the guest
+ * saw the device, so the guest never drives it: absorb writes without
+ * forwarding them to hardware. The guest programs a GPA that the VMM
+ * virtualizes; reads return the live registers, which already report the
+ * decoder committed. BASE_LOW and BASE_HIGH carry the host HPA, visible
+ * only to the trusted VMM that virtualizes it away from the guest.
+ */
+ if (iswrite) {
+ *ppos += count;
+ return count;
+ }
+
+ tmp = kmalloc(count, GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!tmp)
+ return -ENOMEM;
+
+ memcpy_fromio(tmp, cxl->hdm_regs + pos, count);
+ if (copy_to_user(buf, tmp, count)) {
+ kfree(tmp);
+ return -EFAULT;
+ }
+ kfree(tmp);
+
+ *ppos += count;
+ return count;
+}
+
+static const struct vfio_pci_regops vfio_cxl_comp_regops = {
+ .rw = vfio_cxl_comp_rw,
+ .release = vfio_cxl_region_release,
+};
+
static void vfio_cxl_release_hpa(void *data)
{
struct vfio_cxl_state *cxl = data;
@@ -299,6 +353,21 @@ static int vfio_cxl_init_device(struct vfio_pci_core_device *vdev)
goto err;
}

+ /*
+ * Map the HDM decoder registers so the decoder region can read them
+ * live. The block location comes from the enumeration cache in
+ * pdev->hdm; vfio-pci owns the BAR, so map without claiming the block.
+ */
+ cxl->hdm_regs = devm_ioremap(&pdev->dev,
+ pci_resource_start(pdev, pdev->hdm->hdm_bar) +
+ pdev->hdm->hdm_offset, pdev->hdm->hdm_size);
+ if (!cxl->hdm_regs) {
+ ret = -ENOMEM;
+ goto err;
+ }
+
+ cxl->hdm_len = pdev->hdm->hdm_size;
+
/*
* A Type-2 accelerator has no mailbox and no media-ready register, so
* set media ready directly.
@@ -381,6 +450,13 @@ static int vfio_cxl_open_device(struct vfio_pci_core_device *vdev)
if (ret)
return ret;

+ ret = vfio_cxl_add_region(vdev, VFIO_REGION_SUBTYPE_CXL_COMP_REGS,
+ &vfio_cxl_comp_regops, cxl->hdm_len,
+ VFIO_REGION_INFO_FLAG_READ |
+ VFIO_REGION_INFO_FLAG_WRITE);
+ if (ret)
+ goto err_unregister_mem;
+
/*
* The HDM region is advertised mmap-able, so a fd holder can fault its
* struct-page-less device memory in from the host CPU. Register it with
@@ -389,7 +465,7 @@ static int vfio_cxl_open_device(struct vfio_pci_core_device *vdev)
*/
ret = vfio_cxl_register_pfn_space(vdev);
if (ret && ret != -EOPNOTSUPP)
- goto err_unregister_mem;
+ goto err_unregister_comp;

/*
* The decoder is firmware-committed, so host access to the HDM range is
@@ -400,6 +476,9 @@ static int vfio_cxl_open_device(struct vfio_pci_core_device *vdev)

return 0;

+err_unregister_comp:
+ vfio_pci_core_unregister_dev_region(vdev);
+
err_unregister_mem:
vfio_pci_core_unregister_dev_region(vdev);

diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/vfio.h b/include/uapi/linux/vfio.h
index 1bf86763c0f7..8927a7a4e8e4 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/vfio.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/vfio.h
@@ -373,6 +373,8 @@ struct vfio_region_info_cap_type {
/* CXL Type-2 device (0x1e98) sub-types for VFIO_REGION_TYPE_PCI_VENDOR_TYPE */
/* CXL.mem HDM region of a Type-2 device, mmap-able */
#define VFIO_REGION_SUBTYPE_CXL_MEM (1)
+/* CXL HDM decoder registers: read live, guest writes are absorbed */
+#define VFIO_REGION_SUBTYPE_CXL_COMP_REGS (2)

/* sub-types for VFIO_REGION_TYPE_GFX */
#define VFIO_REGION_SUBTYPE_GFX_EDID (1)
--
2.25.1