From: Kevin Brodsky <kevin.brodsky@arm.com>
To: linux-hardening@vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Kevin Brodsky <kevin.brodsky@arm.com>,
Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>,
Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>,
Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>,
Ira Weiny <ira.weiny@intel.com>, Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>,
Jeff Xu <jeffxu@chromium.org>, Joey Gouly <joey.gouly@arm.com>,
Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>,
Linus Walleij <linus.walleij@linaro.org>,
Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>,
Marc Zyngier <maz@kernel.org>, Mark Brown <broonie@kernel.org>,
Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org>,
Maxwell Bland <mbland@motorola.com>,
"Mike Rapoport (IBM)" <rppt@kernel.org>,
Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>,
Pierre Langlois <pierre.langlois@arm.com>,
Quentin Perret <qperret@google.com>,
Rick Edgecombe <rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com>,
Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@arm.com>,
Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>,
Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>, Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>,
Yang Shi <yang@os.amperecomputing.com>,
Yeoreum Yun <yeoreum.yun@arm.com>,
linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org, linux-mm@kvack.org,
x86@kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v6 28/30] arm64: kpkeys: Batch KPKEYS_LVL_PGTABLES switches
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:55:16 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260227175518.3728055-29-kevin.brodsky@arm.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260227175518.3728055-1-kevin.brodsky@arm.com>
The kpkeys_hardened_pgtables feature currently switches kpkeys level
in every helper that writes to page tables, such as set_pte(). With
kpkeys implemented using POE, this entails a pair of ISBs whenever
such helper is called.
A simple way to reduce this overhead is to make use of the lazy MMU
mode. We amend the kpkeys_hardened_pgtables guard so that no level
switch (i.e. POR_EL1 update) is issued while the lazy MMU mode is
active. Instead, we switch to KPKEYS_LVL_PGTABLES when entering the
lazy MMU mode, and restore the previous level when exiting it.
Restoring the previous kpkeys level requires storing the original
value of POR_EL1 somewhere. This is a full 64-bit value so we cannot
simply use a TIF flag. There is no straightforward way to reuse
current->thread.por_el1 for that purpose - this is where the current
value of POR_EL1 is stored on a context switch, i.e. the value
corresponding to KPKEYS_LVL_PGTABLES inside a lazy_mmu section.
Instead, we add a new member to thread_struct to hold that value
temporarily. This isn't optimal as that member is unused outside of
lazy MMU sections, but it is the simplest option. Nesting of
sections is not a concern as arch_{enter,leave}_lazy_mmu_mode() are
not called in inner sections (nor do we need to do anything there).
A further optimisation this patch makes is to merge the ISBs when
exiting lazy_mmu mode. That is, if an ISB is going to be issued by
emit_pte_barriers() because kernel pgtables were modified in the
lazy MMU section, we skip the ISB after restoring POR_EL1. This is
done by checking TIF_LAZY_MMU_PENDING and ensuring that POR_EL1 is
restored before emit_pte_barriers() is called.
Signed-off-by: Kevin Brodsky <kevin.brodsky@arm.com>
---
arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h | 50 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
arch/arm64/include/asm/processor.h | 1 +
2 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
index 8c85e23223da..556de0a4537e 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
@@ -43,10 +43,44 @@
#ifdef CONFIG_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES
KPKEYS_GUARD_COND(kpkeys_hardened_pgtables, KPKEYS_LVL_PGTABLES,
- kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_enabled())
-#else
+ kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_enabled() &&
+ !is_lazy_mmu_mode_active())
+
+static void kpkeys_lazy_mmu_enter(void)
+{
+ if (!kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_enabled())
+ return;
+
+ current->thread.por_el1_lazy_mmu = kpkeys_set_level(KPKEYS_LVL_PGTABLES);
+}
+
+static void kpkeys_lazy_mmu_exit(void)
+{
+ u64 saved_por_el1;
+
+ if (!kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_enabled())
+ return;
+
+ saved_por_el1 = current->thread.por_el1_lazy_mmu;
+
+ /*
+ * We skip any barrier if TIF_LAZY_MMU_PENDING is set:
+ * emit_pte_barriers() will issue an ISB just after this function
+ * returns.
+ */
+ if (test_thread_flag(TIF_LAZY_MMU_PENDING))
+ __kpkeys_set_pkey_reg_nosync(saved_por_el1);
+ else
+ arch_kpkeys_restore_pkey_reg(saved_por_el1);
+}
+#else /* CONFIG_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES */
KPKEYS_GUARD_NOOP(kpkeys_hardened_pgtables)
-#endif
+
+static void kpkeys_lazy_mmu_enter(void) {}
+static void kpkeys_lazy_mmu_exit(void) {}
+#endif /* CONFIG_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES */
+
+
static inline void emit_pte_barriers(void)
{
@@ -79,7 +113,10 @@ static inline void queue_pte_barriers(void)
}
}
-static inline void arch_enter_lazy_mmu_mode(void) {}
+static inline void arch_enter_lazy_mmu_mode(void)
+{
+ kpkeys_lazy_mmu_enter();
+}
static inline void arch_flush_lazy_mmu_mode(void)
{
@@ -89,6 +126,11 @@ static inline void arch_flush_lazy_mmu_mode(void)
static inline void arch_leave_lazy_mmu_mode(void)
{
+ /*
+ * The ordering should be preserved to allow kpkeys_lazy_mmu_exit()
+ * to skip any barrier when TIF_LAZY_MMU_PENDING is set.
+ */
+ kpkeys_lazy_mmu_exit();
arch_flush_lazy_mmu_mode();
}
diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/processor.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/processor.h
index 6095322343fc..c3a86ddce637 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/processor.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/processor.h
@@ -193,6 +193,7 @@ struct thread_struct {
u64 tpidr2_el0;
u64 por_el0;
u64 por_el1;
+ u64 por_el1_lazy_mmu;
#ifdef CONFIG_ARM64_GCS
unsigned int gcs_el0_mode;
unsigned int gcs_el0_locked;
--
2.51.2
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-02-27 17:57 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 32+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-02-27 17:54 [PATCH v6 00/30] pkeys-based page table hardening Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 01/30] mm: Introduce kpkeys Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 02/30] set_memory: Introduce set_memory_pkey() stub Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 03/30] arm64: mm: Enable overlays for all EL1 indirect permissions Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 04/30] arm64: Introduce por_elx_set_pkey_perms() helper Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 05/30] arm64: Implement asm/kpkeys.h using POE Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 06/30] arm64: set_memory: Implement set_memory_pkey() Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 07/30] arm64: Reset POR_EL1 on exception entry Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 08/30] arm64: Context-switch POR_EL1 Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 09/30] arm64: Initialize POR_EL1 register on cpu_resume() Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 10/30] arm64: Enable kpkeys Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:54 ` [PATCH v6 11/30] memblock: Move INIT_MEMBLOCK_* macros to header Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 12/30] set_memory: Introduce arch_has_pte_only_direct_map() Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 13/30] mm: kpkeys: Introduce kpkeys_hardened_pgtables feature Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 14/30] mm: kpkeys: Introduce block-based page table allocator Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 15/30] mm: kpkeys: Handle splitting of linear map Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 16/30] mm: kpkeys: Defer early call to set_memory_pkey() Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 17/30] mm: kpkeys: Add shrinker for block pgtable allocator Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 18/30] mm: kpkeys: Introduce early page table allocator Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 19/30] mm: kpkeys: Introduce hook for protecting static page tables Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 20/30] arm64: cpufeature: Add helper to directly probe CPU for POE support Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 21/30] arm64: set_memory: Implement arch_has_pte_only_direct_map() Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 22/30] arm64: kpkeys: Support KPKEYS_LVL_PGTABLES Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 23/30] arm64: kpkeys: Ensure the linear map can be modified Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 20:28 ` kernel test robot
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 24/30] arm64: kpkeys: Handle splitting of linear map Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 25/30] arm64: kpkeys: Protect early page tables Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 26/30] arm64: kpkeys: Protect init_pg_dir Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 27/30] arm64: kpkeys: Guard page table writes Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` Kevin Brodsky [this message]
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 29/30] arm64: kpkeys: Enable kpkeys_hardened_pgtables support Kevin Brodsky
2026-02-27 17:55 ` [PATCH v6 30/30] mm: Add basic tests for kpkeys_hardened_pgtables Kevin Brodsky
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