[PATCH v2 1/2] KVM: arm64: Fix sign-extension of MMIO loads

From: Fuad Tabba

Date: Thu Jun 25 2026 - 10:48:53 EST


A sign-extending load (LDRSB, LDRSH, LDRSW) from MMIO returns a
zero-extended value to the guest. The architecture performs such a load
as a memory read of the access size, then a sign-extension to the
register width. For LDRSH (DDI 0487 M.b C6.2.225, with the Mem accessor
at J1.2.3.111):

data = Mem{16}(address, accdesc);
X{regsize}(t) = SignExtend{regsize}(data);

The byte order is handled inside the Mem accessor, keyed on the access
size; the register width is separate, applied afterwards by SignExtend().

kvm_handle_mmio_return() runs these in the wrong order: it sign-extends
the access-width data, then calls vcpu_data_host_to_guest(), which masks
the value back to the access width (the size-keyed byte-order step). The
mask drops the sign bits that sign-extension produced.

Reorder so vcpu_data_host_to_guest() runs first, with the sign-extension
to register width after it. trace_kvm_mmio() moves with it and now logs
the access-width data before sign-extension.

Fixes: b30070862edbd ("ARM64: KVM: MMIO support BE host running LE code")
Reviewed-by: Oliver Upton <oupton@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Fuad Tabba <fuad.tabba@xxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/arm64/kvm/mmio.c | 7 ++++---
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/mmio.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/mmio.c
index e2285ed8c91de..d1c3a352d5a22 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/mmio.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/mmio.c
@@ -126,6 +126,10 @@ int kvm_handle_mmio_return(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
len = kvm_vcpu_dabt_get_as(vcpu);
data = kvm_mmio_read_buf(run->mmio.data, len);

+ trace_kvm_mmio(KVM_TRACE_MMIO_READ, len, run->mmio.phys_addr,
+ &data);
+ data = vcpu_data_host_to_guest(vcpu, data, len);
+
if (kvm_vcpu_dabt_issext(vcpu) &&
len < sizeof(unsigned long)) {
mask = 1U << ((len * 8) - 1);
@@ -135,9 +139,6 @@ int kvm_handle_mmio_return(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
if (!kvm_vcpu_dabt_issf(vcpu))
data = data & 0xffffffff;

- trace_kvm_mmio(KVM_TRACE_MMIO_READ, len, run->mmio.phys_addr,
- &data);
- data = vcpu_data_host_to_guest(vcpu, data, len);
vcpu_set_reg(vcpu, kvm_vcpu_dabt_get_rd(vcpu), data);
}

--
2.39.5