* [PATCH v2 1/2] vfio/pci: pass FAULT_FLAG_WRITE to vmf_insert_pfn_pmd/pud()
2026-11-01 6:20 [PATCH v2 0/2] vfio/pci: fix huge_fault write handling and add selftest Mina Almasry
@ 2026-11-01 6:20 ` Mina Almasry
2026-11-01 6:20 ` [PATCH v2 2/2] vfio: selftests: Test BAR write faults after clear_refs Mina Almasry
1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Mina Almasry @ 2026-11-01 6:20 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Peter Xu, Andrew Morton, Alex Williamson, kvm, linux-kernel,
linux-kselftest
Cc: Mina Almasry, David Matlack, Shuah Khan, Kevin Tian,
Jason Gunthorpe, stable, Ankit Agrawal, Ritesh Harjani (IBM)
vfio_pci_vmf_insert_pfn() is the only caller of vmf_insert_pfn_pmd() and
vmf_insert_pfn_pud() in the kernel that hardcodes write=false instead of
passing vmf->flags & FAULT_FLAG_WRITE (unlike drm, panthor, and mshv).
On x86_64, normal MAP_SHARED | PROT_WRITE VFIO BAR mappings usually mask
this bug because vma->vm_page_prot already has _PAGE_RW set. However,
when vma->vm_page_prot starts read-only, insert_pmd() and insert_pud()
with write=false install a read-only huge entry without calling
pmd_mkdirty()/maybe_pmd_mkwrite() (and similarly for PUD). Subsequent
write-protection faults enter wp_huge_pmd() or wp_huge_pud(), which call
vma->vm_ops->huge_fault() to upgrade the entry in place. Because
vfio_pci_vmf_insert_pfn() passes write=false, insert_pmd() and
insert_pud() see !pmd_none(*pmd) with !write, do nothing, and return
VM_FAULT_NOPAGE, causing an unrecoverable infinite write page-fault loop
and host CPU soft lockup on the next userspace or KVM guest MMIO store.
In practice, vma->vm_page_prot is read-only on a writable MAP_SHARED BAR
mapping in two situations:
1. Userspace soft-dirty tracking (CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY) when a process
such as CRIU (during pre-dump/checkpoint), a VMM live-migration loop,
a memory profiler, or an unprivileged process holding a VFIO device
fd writes "4" (CLEAR_REFS_SOFT_DIRTY) to /proc/<pid>/clear_refs. That
clears VM_SOFTDIRTY on all VMAs (including VM_PFNMAP) and calls
vma_set_page_prot(), stripping _PAGE_RW from vma->vm_page_prot for
subsequent huge faults.
2. Architectures where shared writable mappings start read-only for
software dirty tracking, such as arm64 without hardware DBM
(CONFIG_ARM64_HW_AFDBM off or FEAT_HAFDBS absent), where _PAGE_SHARED
sets PTE_RDONLY | PTE_WRITE and pgprot_noncached() preserves
PTE_RDONLY on MT_DEVICE_nGnRnE mappings until pmd_mkdirty() clears
it on a write fault.
This bug was found by code inspection while auditing huge_fault handlers
and reproduced with a VFIO PCI selftest on a 2 MiB-aligned BAR mapping
after writing "4" to /proc/self/clear_refs.
Pass vmf->flags & FAULT_FLAG_WRITE to vmf_insert_pfn_pmd() and
vmf_insert_pfn_pud() so write faults properly mark huge PFNMAP entries
dirty and writable.
Fixes: f9e54c3a2f5b ("vfio/pci: implement huge_fault support")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Ankit Agrawal <ankita@nvidia.com>
Cc: Ritesh Harjani (IBM) <ritesh.list@gmail.com>
Cc: David Matlack <dmatlack@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Mina Almasry <almasrymina@google.com>
---
drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci_core.c | 6 ++++--
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci_core.c b/drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci_core.c
index fcbb2da860e2..204d959086e9 100644
--- a/drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci_core.c
+++ b/drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci_core.c
@@ -1745,6 +1745,8 @@ vm_fault_t vfio_pci_vmf_insert_pfn(struct vfio_pci_core_device *vdev,
unsigned long pfn,
unsigned int order)
{
+ bool write = vmf->flags & FAULT_FLAG_WRITE;
+
lockdep_assert_held_read(&vdev->memory_lock);
if (vdev->pm_runtime_engaged || !__vfio_pci_memory_enabled(vdev))
@@ -1754,10 +1756,10 @@ vm_fault_t vfio_pci_vmf_insert_pfn(struct vfio_pci_core_device *vdev,
return vmf_insert_pfn(vmf->vma, vmf->address, pfn);
if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_PMD_PFNMAP) && order == PMD_ORDER)
- return vmf_insert_pfn_pmd(vmf, pfn, false);
+ return vmf_insert_pfn_pmd(vmf, pfn, write);
if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_PUD_PFNMAP) && order == PUD_ORDER)
- return vmf_insert_pfn_pud(vmf, pfn, false);
+ return vmf_insert_pfn_pud(vmf, pfn, write);
return VM_FAULT_FALLBACK;
}
--
2.56.0.385.gac671c819a-goog
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread* [PATCH v2 2/2] vfio: selftests: Test BAR write faults after clear_refs
2026-11-01 6:20 [PATCH v2 0/2] vfio/pci: fix huge_fault write handling and add selftest Mina Almasry
2026-11-01 6:20 ` [PATCH v2 1/2] vfio/pci: pass FAULT_FLAG_WRITE to vmf_insert_pfn_pmd/pud() Mina Almasry
@ 2026-11-01 6:20 ` Mina Almasry
1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Mina Almasry @ 2026-11-01 6:20 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Peter Xu, Andrew Morton, Alex Williamson, kvm, linux-kernel,
linux-kselftest
Cc: Mina Almasry, David Matlack, Shuah Khan, Kevin Tian, Jason Gunthorpe
Add a regression test in vfio_pci_device_test to verify that huge_fault
on writable MAP_SHARED VFIO PCI BAR mappings handles write faults after
soft-dirty tracking clears VM_SOFTDIRTY and downgrades vma->vm_page_prot
to read-only via /proc/self/clear_refs ("4").
Specifically, for each mappable read/write BAR (already aligned up to
SZ_1G by vfio_pci_bar_map() with MADV_HUGEPAGE), verify both:
1. Read-then-write fault sequence after clear_refs, exercising in-place
huge PMD/PUD write-protection upgrade via wp_huge_pmd()/wp_huge_pud().
2. Direct initial write fault on a freshly mapped unpopulated BAR VMA
after clear_refs, exercising vmf_insert_pfn_pmd()/vmf_insert_pfn_pud()
with FAULT_FLAG_WRITE set.
Skip gracefully when /proc/self/clear_refs is absent or soft-dirty
tracking (CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY) is disabled, or when the device exposes
no mappable read/write BARs.
Cc: David Matlack <dmatlack@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Mina Almasry <almasrymina@google.com>
---
.../selftests/vfio/vfio_pci_device_test.c | 83 +++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 83 insertions(+)
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/vfio/vfio_pci_device_test.c b/tools/testing/selftests/vfio/vfio_pci_device_test.c
index 93c11fd5e081..75ccc557efb9 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/vfio/vfio_pci_device_test.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/vfio/vfio_pci_device_test.c
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#include <errno.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
+#include <linux/compiler.h>
#include <linux/limits.h>
#include <linux/pci_regs.h>
#include <linux/sizes.h>
@@ -102,6 +105,86 @@ TEST_F(vfio_pci_device_test, validate_bars)
}
}
+static int clear_soft_dirty_refs(void)
+{
+ ssize_t ret;
+ int fd;
+
+ fd = open("/proc/self/clear_refs", O_WRONLY);
+ if (fd < 0)
+ return -errno;
+
+ ret = write(fd, "4\n", 2);
+ if (ret < 0)
+ ret = -errno;
+ else
+ VFIO_ASSERT_EQ(ret, 2);
+
+ VFIO_ASSERT_EQ(close(fd), 0);
+ return ret < 0 ? ret : 0;
+}
+
+TEST_F(vfio_pci_device_test, bar_write_fault_after_clear_refs)
+{
+ const u32 rw_mmap_flags = VFIO_REGION_INFO_FLAG_MMAP |
+ VFIO_REGION_INFO_FLAG_READ |
+ VFIO_REGION_INFO_FLAG_WRITE;
+ struct vfio_pci_bar *bar;
+ bool tested = false;
+ int ret, i;
+ u32 val;
+
+ ret = clear_soft_dirty_refs();
+ if (ret == -ENOENT || ret == -EINVAL)
+ SKIP(return, "soft-dirty clear_refs unsupported (%d)\n", ret);
+ ASSERT_EQ(0, ret);
+
+ vfio_pci_cmd_set(self->device, PCI_COMMAND_MEMORY);
+
+ for (i = 0; i < PCI_STD_NUM_BARS; i++) {
+ void *vaddr;
+
+ bar = &self->device->bars[i];
+ if ((bar->info.flags & rw_mmap_flags) != rw_mmap_flags)
+ continue;
+
+ ASSERT_NE(NULL, bar->vaddr);
+
+ /*
+ * clear_soft_dirty_refs() stripped write permissions from
+ * vma->vm_page_prot on the unpopulated BAR mapping created by
+ * vfio_pci_device_init(). Fault it read-only first, then write
+ * to exercise in-place write-upgrade (wp_huge_pmd/wp_huge_pud).
+ */
+ val = READ_ONCE(*(u32 *)bar->vaddr);
+ WRITE_ONCE(*(u32 *)bar->vaddr, val);
+
+ /*
+ * Replace the VMA with a fresh unpopulated mapping at the same
+ * hugepage-aligned address, clear soft-dirty again, and fault
+ * with an immediate store to exercise initial write insertion
+ * (vmf_insert_pfn_pmd/pud with write=true).
+ */
+ vaddr = mmap(bar->vaddr, bar->info.size, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
+ MAP_SHARED | MAP_FIXED, self->device->fd,
+ bar->info.offset);
+ ASSERT_EQ(bar->vaddr, vaddr);
+ madvise(bar->vaddr, bar->info.size, MADV_HUGEPAGE);
+
+ ASSERT_EQ(0, clear_soft_dirty_refs());
+
+ WRITE_ONCE(*(u32 *)bar->vaddr, val);
+ (void)READ_ONCE(*(u32 *)bar->vaddr);
+
+ tested = true;
+ }
+
+ vfio_pci_cmd_clear(self->device, PCI_COMMAND_MEMORY);
+
+ if (!tested)
+ SKIP(return, "No mappable read/write BAR on %s\n", device_bdf);
+}
+
FIXTURE(vfio_pci_irq_test) {
struct iommu *iommu;
struct vfio_pci_device *device;
--
2.56.0.385.gac671c819a-goog
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread