Re: [PATCH v6 3/8] mm/memfd: Introduce MFD_INACCESSIBLE flag

From: Gupta, Pankaj
Date: Wed Jun 01 2022 - 08:12:16 EST



Introduce a new memfd_create() flag indicating the content of the
created memfd is inaccessible from userspace through ordinary MMU
access (e.g., read/write/mmap). However, the file content can be
accessed via a different mechanism (e.g. KVM MMU) indirectly.


SEV, TDX, pkvm and software-only VMs seem to have usecases to set up
initial guest boot memory with the needed blobs.
TDX already supports a KVM IOCTL to transfer contents to private
memory using the TDX module but rest of the implementations will need
to invent
a way to do this.

There are some discussions in https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flkml.org%2Flkml%2F2022%2F5%2F9%2F1292&data=05%7C01%7Cpankaj.gupta%40amd.com%7Cb81ef334e2dd44c6143308da43b87d17%7C3dd8961fe4884e608e11a82d994e183d%7C0%7C0%7C637896756895977587%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=oQbM2Hj7GlhJTwnTM%2FPnwsfJlmTL7JR9ULBysAqm6V8%3D&reserved=0
already. I somehow agree with Sean. TDX is using an dedicated ioctl to
copy guest boot memory to private fd so the rest can do that similarly.
The concern is the performance (extra memcpy) but it's trivial since the
initial guest payload is usually optimized in size.


Is there a plan to support a common implementation for either allowing
initial write access from userspace to private fd or adding a KVM
IOCTL to transfer contents to such a file,
as part of this series through future revisions?

Indeed, adding pre-boot private memory populating on current design
isn't impossible, but there are still some opens, e.g. how to expose
private fd to userspace for access, pKVM and CC usages may have
different requirements. Before that's well-studied I would tend to not
add that and instead use an ioctl to copy. Whether we need a generic
ioctl or feature-specific ioctl, I don't have strong opinion here.
Current TDX uses a feature-specific ioctl so it's not covered in this
series.

Common function or ioctl to populate preboot private memory actually makes sense.

Sorry, did not follow much of TDX code yet, Is it possible to filter out
the current TDX specific ioctl to common function so that it can be used by other technologies?

Thanks,
Pankaj