Re: [PATCH v8 24/46] KVM: guest_memfd: Make in-place conversion the default

[Yan Zhao]

On Thu, Jun 18, 2026 at 05:32:01PM -0700, Ackerley Tng via B4 Relay wrote:
> From: Ackerley Tng <ackerleytng@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Make in-place conversion the default if the arch has private mem.
> 
> The default can be overridden at compile type by enabling
> CONFIG_KVM_VM_MEMORY_ATTRIBUTES, or at KVM load time through a module
> parameter.
> 
> In-place conversion also implies tracking a guest's private/shared state in
> guest_memfd. To avoid inconsistencies in the way memory attributes are
> tracked between the per-VM or by guest_memfd, make the module_param
> read-only (0444).
> 
> Document that using per-VM attributes for tracking private/shared state of
> guest memory is deprecated in favor of tracking in guest_memfd.
> 
> Warn if the admin sets gmem_in_place_conversion as false when
> CONFIG_KVM_VM_MEMORY_ATTRIBUTES is not enabled. Add warning in the code
> path where guest memory is populated for a CoCo VM, since that's the
> earliest point in a CoCo VM's lifecycle where memory attributes are
> queried. Unlike other query sites, this site is exclusively used by CoCo
> VMs.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  arch/x86/kvm/Kconfig   | 7 ++++++-
>  virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c | 5 +++++
>  virt/kvm/kvm_main.c    | 3 ++-
>  3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/Kconfig b/arch/x86/kvm/Kconfig
> index c28393dc664eb..a3c189d765150 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/kvm/Kconfig
> +++ b/arch/x86/kvm/Kconfig
> @@ -85,7 +85,12 @@ config KVM_VM_MEMORY_ATTRIBUTES
>  	bool "Enable per-VM PRIVATE vs. SHARED attributes (for CoCo VMs)"
>  	help
>  	  Enable support for tracking PRIVATE vs. SHARED memory using per-VM
> -	  memory attributes.
> +	  memory attributes.  Using per-VM attributes are deprecated in favor
> +	  of tracking PRIVATE state in guest_memfd.  Select this if you need
> +	  to run CoCo VMs using a VMM that doesn't support guest_memfd memory
> +	  attributes.
> +
> +	  If unsure, say N.
>  
>  config KVM_SW_PROTECTED_VM
>  	bool "Enable support for KVM software-protected VMs"
> diff --git a/virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c b/virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c
> index 86c9f5b0863cb..5cb73543c03c8 100644
> --- a/virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c
> +++ b/virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c
> @@ -1193,10 +1193,15 @@ static bool kvm_gmem_range_is_private(struct file *file, pgoff_t index,
>  {
>  	struct maple_tree *mt = &GMEM_I(file_inode(file))->attributes;
>  
> +#ifdef CONFIG_KVM_VM_MEMORY_ATTRIBUTES
>  	if (!gmem_in_place_conversion)
>  		return kvm_range_has_vm_memory_attributes(kvm, gfn, gfn + nr_pages,
>  							  KVM_MEMORY_ATTRIBUTE_PRIVATE,
>  							  KVM_MEMORY_ATTRIBUTE_PRIVATE);
> +#else
> +	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!gmem_in_place_conversion))
> +		return false;
> +#endif
>  
>  	return kvm_gmem_range_has_attributes(mt, index, nr_pages,
>  					     KVM_MEMORY_ATTRIBUTE_PRIVATE);
> diff --git a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
> index dd1d18a1d2f68..46e92b5dc3804 100644
> --- a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
> +++ b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
> @@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ static bool __ro_after_init allow_unsafe_mappings;
>  module_param(allow_unsafe_mappings, bool, 0444);
>  
>  #ifdef kvm_arch_has_private_mem
> -bool __ro_after_init gmem_in_place_conversion = false;
> +bool __ro_after_init gmem_in_place_conversion = !IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_KVM_VM_MEMORY_ATTRIBUTES);
> +module_param(gmem_in_place_conversion, bool, 0444);

With gmem_in_place_conversion=true, userspace can create guest_memfd without the
MMAP flag. In such cases, shared memory is allocated from different backends.
This means this module parameter only enables per-gmem memory attribute and does
not guarantee that gmem in-place conversion will actually occur.

To avoid confusion, could we rename this module parameter to something more
accurate, such as gmem_memory_attribute?


>  EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_KVM_INTERNAL(gmem_in_place_conversion);
>  #endif
>  
> 
> -- 
> 2.55.0.rc0.738.g0c8ab3ebcc-goog
> 
>