Re: [PATCH v3 1/9] Documentation: Introduce EPT based Subpage Protection

From: Jidong Xiao
Date: Fri Jun 07 2019 - 00:00:32 EST


Hi, Weijiang,

Does this require some specific Intel processors or is it supported by
older processors as well?

-Jidong

On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 9:33 AM Yang Weijiang <weijiang.yang@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Signed-off-by: Yang Weijiang <weijiang.yang@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt | 216 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 1 file changed, 216 insertions(+)
> create mode 100644 Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt
> new file mode 100644
> index 000000000000..4b5edcaf48b6
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt
> @@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
> +EPT-Based Sub-Page Protection (SPP) for KVM
> +=============================================
> +
> +1. Overview
> +
> +EPT-based Sub-Page Protection (SPP) capability to allow Virtual Machine
> +Monitors to specify write-protection for guest physical memory at a
> +sub-page (128 byte) granularity. When this capability is utilized, the
> +CPU enforces write-access permissions for sub-page regions inside 4K pages
> +as specified by the VMI tools.
> +
> +2. Operation of SPP
> +
> +Sub-Page Protection Table (SPPT) is introduced to manage sub-page
> +write-access.
> +
> +SPPT is active when:
> +a) moddule parameter spp=on is configured for kvm-intel.ko
> +b) large paging is disabled on host
> +c) "sub-page write protection" VM-execution control bit is set
> +SPPT looks up the guest physical address to seek a 64-bit
> +bitmap indicating sub-page write permission in SPPT leaf entry.
> +
> +When the "sub-page write protection" VM-execution control is 1, the SPPT
> +is used to lookup write permission bits for the 128 byte sub-page regions
> +contained in the 4KB guest physical page. EPT specifies the 4KB page
> +write-protection privilege whereas SPPT defines the write permissions
> +at 128-byte granularity within one 4KB page. Write accesses
> +prevented due to sub-page permissions induces EPT violation VM exits.
> +Similar to EPT, a logical processor uses SPPT to lookup sub-page level
> +write permissions for guest-physical addresses only when those addresses
> +are used to access memory.
> +__________________________________________________________________________
> +
> +How SPP hardware works:
> +__________________________________________________________________________
> +
> +Guest write access --> GPA --> Walk EPT --> EPT leaf entry -----|
> +|---------------------------------------------------------------|
> +|-> if VMexec_control.spp && ept_leaf_entry.spp_bit (bit 61)
> + |
> + |-> <false> --> EPT legacy behavior
> + |
> + |
> + |-> <true> --> if ept_leaf_entry.writable
> + |
> + |-> <true> --> Ignore SPP
> + |
> + |-> <false> --> GPA --> Walk SPP 4-level table--|
> + |
> +|------------<----------get-the-SPPT-point-from-VMCS-filed-----<------|
> +|
> +Walk SPP L4E table
> +|
> +|---> if-entry-misconfiguration ------------>-------|-------<---------|
> + | | |
> +else | |
> + | | |
> + | |------------------SPP VMexit<-----------------| |
> + | | |
> + | |-> exit_qualification & sppt_misconfig --> sppt misconfig |
> + | | |
> + | |-> exit_qualification & sppt_miss --> sppt miss |
> + |---| |
> + | |
> +walk SPPT L3E--|--> if-entry-misconfiguration------------>------------|
> + | |
> + else |
> + | |
> + | |
> + walk SPPT L2E --|--> if-entry-misconfiguration-------->-------|
> + | |
> + else |
> + | |
> + | |
> + walk SPPT L1E --|-> if-entry-misconfiguration--->----|
> + |
> + else
> + |
> + |-> if sub-page writable
> + |-> <true> allow, write access
> + |-> <false> disallow, EPT violation
> +______________________________________________________________________________
> +
> +3. Interfaces
> +
> +* Feature enabling
> +
> +Add "spp=on" to KVM module parameter to enable SPP feature, default is off.
> +
> +* Get/Set sub-page write access permission
> +
> +New KVM ioctl:
> +
> +KVM_SUBPAGES_GET_ACCESS:
> +Get sub-pages write access bitmap corresponding to given rang of continuous gfn.
> +
> +KVM_SUBPAGES_SET_ACCESS
> +Set sub-pages write access bitmap corresponding to given rang of continuous gfn.
> +
> +
> +/* for KVM_SUBPAGES_GET_ACCESS and KVM_SUBPAGES_SET_ACCESS */
> +struct kvm_subpage_info {
> + __u64 gfn;
> + __u64 npages; /* number of 4K pages */
> + __u64 *access_map; /* sub-page write-access bitmap array */
> +};
> +
> +#define KVM_SUBPAGES_GET_ACCESS _IOR(KVMIO, 0x49, struct kvm_subpage_info)
> +#define KVM_SUBPAGES_SET_ACCESS _IOW(KVMIO, 0x4a, struct kvm_subpage_info)
> +
> +
> +4. SPPT initialization
> +
> +* SPPT root page allocation
> +
> + SPPT is referenced via a 64-bit control field called "sub-page
> + protection table pointer" (SPPTP, encoding 0x2030) which contains a
> + 4K-align physical address.
> +
> + SPPT is a 4-level paging structure similar as EPT. When KVM
> + loads mmu, it allocates a root page for SPPT L4 table as well.
> +
> +* EPT leaf entry SPP bit (bit 61)
> +
> + Set 0 to SPP bit to close SPP.
> +
> +5. Set/Get Sub-Page access bitmap for a bunch of guest physical pages
> +
> +* To utilize SPP feature, system admin should set sub-page access via
> + SPP KVM ioctl `KVM_SUBPAGES_SET_ACCESS`, configuring EPT and SPPT in below flow:
> +
> + (1) If the target 4KB pages to be protected are there, it locates EPT leaf entries
> + via the guest physical addresses, flags the bit 61 of the corresponding entries to
> + enable sub-page protection for the pages, then setup SPPT paging structure.
> + (2) otherwise, stores the [gfn,permission] mappings in KVM data structure. When
> + EPT page-fault is generated due to target protected page accessing, it settles
> + EPT entry configureation together with SPPT build-up.
> +
> + The SPPT paging structure format is as below:
> +
> + Format of the SPPT L4E, L3E, L2E:
> + | Bit | Contents |
> + | :----- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------|
> + | 0 | Valid entry when set; indicates whether the entry is present |
> + | 11:1 | Reserved (0) |
> + | N-1:12 | Physical address of 4KB aligned SPPT LX-1 Table referenced by this entry |
> + | 51:N | Reserved (0) |
> + | 63:52 | Reserved (0) |
> + Note: N is the physical address width supported by the processor. X is the page level
> +
> + Format of the SPPT L1E:
> + | Bit | Contents |
> + | :---- | :---------------------------------------------------------------- |
> + | 0+2i | Write permission for i-th 128 byte sub-page region. |
> + | 1+2i | Reserved (0). |
> + Note: 0<=i<=31
> +
> +6. SPPT-induced vmexits
> +
> +* SPP VM exits
> +
> +Accesses using guest physical addresses may cause VM exits due to a SPPT
> +misconfiguration or a SPPT missing.
> +
> +A SPPT misconfiguration vmexit occurs when, in the course of translating
> +a guest physical address, the logical processor encounters a leaf EPT
> +paging-structure entry mapping a 4KB page, with SPP enabled, during the
> +SPPT lookup, a SPPT paging-structure entry contains an unsupported
> +value.
> +
> +A SPPT missing vmexit occurs during the SPPT lookup there is no SPPT
> +misconfiguration but any level of SPPT paging-structure entries are not
> +present.
> +
> +NOTE. SPPT misconfigurations and SPPT miss can occur only due to an
> +attempt to write memory with a guest physical address.
> +
> +* EPT violation vmexits due to SPPT
> +
> +EPT violations generated due to SPP sub-page
> +permission are reported as EPT violation vmexits.
> +
> +7. SPPT-induced vmexits handling
> +
> +
> +#define EXIT_REASON_SPP 66
> +
> +static int (*const kvm_vmx_exit_handlers[])(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) = {
> + ...
> + [EXIT_REASON_SPP] = handle_spp,
> + ...
> +};
> +
> +
> +New exit qualification for SPPT-induced vmexits.
> +
> +| Bit | Contents |
> +| :---- | :---------------------------------------------------------------- |
> +| 10:0 | Reserved (0). |
> +| 11 | SPPT VM exit type. Set for SPPT Miss, cleared for SPPT Misconfig. |
> +| 12 | NMI unblocking due to IRET |
> +| 63:13 | Reserved (0) |
> +
> +In addition to the exit qualification, Guest Linear Address and Guest
> +Physical Address fields will be reported.
> +
> +* SPPT miss and misconfiguration
> +
> +Allocate a page for the SPPT entry and set the entry correctly.
> +
> +* EPT violation vmexits due to SPPT
> +
> +While hardware traverses SPPT, If the sub-page region write
> +permission bit is set, the write is allowed, otherwise it's prevented
> +and an EPT violation is generated.
> --
> 2.17.2
>