[PATCH v1 0/4] KVM: arm64: Fix unguarded GICv5 CPU interface accesses
Fuad Tabba <[email protected]> Thu, 6 Aug 2026 11:02:52 +0100
| Newsgroups | dev.linux.lists.kvmarm,org.infradead.lists.linux-arm-kernel,org.kernel.vger.linux-kernel |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Hi folks, This series stops KVM reaching GICv5 CPU interface registers on hardware that does not implement them, in three places with no guard. Under pKVM the first two are reachable from an untrusted host. EL2 copies vgic_model out of the host's struct kvm without validating it, and the nVHE world switch dispatches on that field with no cpucap guard, so a host writing KVM_DEV_TYPE_ARM_VGIC_V5 steers EL2 into ICC_ICSR_EL1 and the ICH_PPI_* registers. Separately, __vgic_v5_save_apr and __vgic_v5_restore_vmcr_apr sit in the hypercall band the de-privileged host may still call, and pKVM never registers a GICv5 vgic, so neither has a valid caller in protected mode. Without FEAT_GCIE those registers are UNDEFINED at EL2, so either path panics the hypervisor. Both need a compromised host kernel rather than host userspace, so this is hardening and not a guest-reachable hole. I had said these paths were unreachable under pKVM because vgic_v5_probe() skips GICv5 registration in protected mode [1]. That was wrong. The skip is host-side only, and does not constrain what a malicious host can call. The third one is not pKVM. can_access_vgic_from_kernel() excludes only the GICv3 system register interface, so on a native GICv5 system without FEAT_GCIE_LEGACY the kernel reaches EL2-only registers from EL1 under nVHE, and the world switch does the same work at EL2 anyway. The last patch drops the VGICv3 reference from two nVHE world switch comments that cover GICv5 too. No functional change. Tested on QEMU. I also checked the first one with a local host patch that hands EL2 a GICv5 model: it panics at __vgic_v5_restore_state before the series and boots cleanly after. Based on Linux 7.2-rc6 (075b74841bd00). It also applies cleanly to kvmarm/next and kvmarm/fixes. I really should stop looking at the GIC, but I won't be able to anytime soon I'm afraid... Cheers, /fuad [1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/CA%2BEHjTyGULmVCgyoya3bXG4gRj0OYFE1gnJLhNE6kvCrZFtXyQ@mail.gmail.com/ Fuad Tabba (4): KVM: arm64: Validate the host-provided vgic model in pKVM KVM: arm64: Reject the GICv5 CPU interface hypercalls under pKVM KVM: arm64: vgic: Do not access the GICv5 CPU interface from EL1 KVM: arm64: Fix stale VGICv3 comments in the nVHE world switch arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c | 6 ++++++ arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/pkvm.c | 16 ++++++++++++++-- arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/switch.c | 4 ++-- arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic.c | 12 ++++++++---- 4 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-) base-commit: 075b74841bd0065a3bda3440873c747938e69b68 -- 2.39.5