Re: [PATCH RFC v2 1/3] mm, x86: support copying a folio using non-temporal stores

Hi Yiannis,

Although copy_mc_to_kernel_nt() asserts both "mc" (machine check exception)
and "nt" (non-temporal store), the implementation fails to deliver both:
1. copy_mc_fragile() is MCE-safe, but it does not use movnti.
2. memcpy_flushcache() uses movnti, but it is not MCE-safe.

Additionally, according to the Intel manual, since movnti uses the WC protocol
(a weakly-ordered memory model), a fencing operation is required. Because
memcpy_flushcache() lacks an sfence, it can result in reading stale or corrupted
data after folio_unlock().

Furthermore, copy_mc_highpage() is unoptimized for page migration operations
because it reuses copy_mc_to_kernel(), built to handle
variable-length, unaligned
memory. As copy_mc_highpage_nt() follows copy_mc_highpage(), it inherits this
flaw. In contrast, copy_highpage() is optimized for page migration by leveraging
copy_page(), dedicated to 4KiB-aligned memory.

Therefore, copy_mc_highpage_nt() should call a dedicated page-copy assembly
routine that provides MCE safety, movnti stores, and an sfence, rather than the
generic copy_mc_to_kernel_nt(). We can name it copy_mc_page_nt(), following
the naming convention of copy_page().

What are your thoughts on this direction? Any feedback or suggestions would be
greatly appreciated.

Huan Nguyen

On Thu, Jul 30, 2026 at 8:03 AM Yiannis Nikolakopoulos
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> From: Alirad Malek <[email protected]>
>
> In x86, use memcpy_flushcache (that uses non-temporal store
> instructions) to copy a folio. To achieve that, starting from folio_mc_copy
> down to copy_mc_to_kernel, create a series of helpers (named with an _nt
> suffix) that have similar behavior to the original counterparts.
>
> Signed-off-by: Alirad Malek <[email protected]>
> Co-developed-by: Yiannis Nikolakopoulos <[email protected]>
> Signed-off-by: Yiannis Nikolakopoulos <[email protected]>
> ---
>  arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess.h |  4 ++++
>  arch/x86/lib/copy_mc.c         | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  include/linux/highmem.h        | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  include/linux/mm.h             |  1 +
>  mm/util.c                      | 17 +++++++++++++++++
>  5 files changed, 80 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess.h
> index 367297b188c3..2d0938d3e372 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess.h
> +++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess.h
> @@ -494,6 +494,10 @@ unsigned long __must_check
>  copy_mc_to_kernel(void *to, const void *from, unsigned len);
>  #define copy_mc_to_kernel copy_mc_to_kernel
>
> +unsigned long __must_check
> +copy_mc_to_kernel_nt(void *to, const void *from, unsigned len);
> +#define copy_mc_to_kernel_nt copy_mc_to_kernel_nt
> +
>  unsigned long __must_check
>  copy_mc_to_user(void __user *to, const void *from, unsigned len);
>  #endif
> diff --git a/arch/x86/lib/copy_mc.c b/arch/x86/lib/copy_mc.c
> index 97e88e58567b..5a2ee5c2211e 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/lib/copy_mc.c
> +++ b/arch/x86/lib/copy_mc.c
> @@ -81,6 +81,32 @@ unsigned long __must_check copy_mc_to_kernel(void *dst, const void *src, unsigne
>  }
>  EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(copy_mc_to_kernel);
>
> +/**
> + * copy_mc_to_kernel_nt - memory copy that handles source exceptions
> + * if enabled, otherwise uses non-temporal stores
> + * @dst: destination address
> + * @src: source address
> + * @len: number of bytes to copy
> + *
> + * Return 0 for success, or number of bytes not copied if there was an
> + * exception.
> + */
> +unsigned long __must_check copy_mc_to_kernel_nt(void *dst, const void *src, unsigned len)
> +{
> +       unsigned long ret;
> +
> +       if (copy_mc_fragile_enabled) {
> +               instrument_memcpy_before(dst, src, len);
> +               ret = copy_mc_fragile(dst, src, len);
> +               instrument_memcpy_after(dst, src, len, ret);
> +               return ret;
> +       }
> +
> +       memcpy_flushcache(dst, src, len);
> +       return 0;
> +}
> +EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(copy_mc_to_kernel_nt);
> +
>  unsigned long __must_check copy_mc_to_user(void __user *dst, const void *src, unsigned len)
>  {
>         unsigned long ret;
> diff --git a/include/linux/highmem.h b/include/linux/highmem.h
> index af03db851a1d..a5cb435b9ffe 100644
> --- a/include/linux/highmem.h
> +++ b/include/linux/highmem.h
> @@ -468,6 +468,32 @@ static inline int copy_mc_highpage(struct page *to, struct page *from)
>
>         return ret;
>  }
> +
> +#ifdef copy_mc_to_kernel_nt
> +static inline int copy_mc_highpage_nt(struct page *to, struct page *from)
> +{
> +       unsigned long ret;
> +       char *vfrom, *vto;
> +
> +       vfrom = kmap_local_page(from);
> +       vto = kmap_local_page(to);
> +       ret = copy_mc_to_kernel_nt(vto, vfrom, PAGE_SIZE);
> +       if (!ret)
> +               kmsan_copy_page_meta(to, from);
> +       kunmap_local(vto);
> +       kunmap_local(vfrom);
> +
> +       if (ret)
> +               memory_failure_queue(page_to_pfn(from), 0);
> +
> +       return ret;
> +}
> +#else
> +static inline int copy_mc_highpage_nt(struct page *to, struct page *from)
> +{
> +       return copy_mc_highpage(to, from);
> +}
> +#endif
>  #else
>  static inline int copy_mc_user_highpage(struct page *to, struct page *from,
>                                         unsigned long vaddr, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> @@ -481,6 +507,12 @@ static inline int copy_mc_highpage(struct page *to, struct page *from)
>         copy_highpage(to, from);
>         return 0;
>  }
> +
> +static inline int copy_mc_highpage_nt(struct page *to, struct page *from)
> +{
> +       copy_highpage(to, from);
> +       return 0;
> +}
>  #endif
>
>  static inline void memcpy_page(struct page *dst_page, size_t dst_off,
> diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
> index 5be3d8a8f806..d07ce478582d 100644
> --- a/include/linux/mm.h
> +++ b/include/linux/mm.h
> @@ -1644,6 +1644,7 @@ void __folio_put(struct folio *folio);
>  void split_page(struct page *page, unsigned int order);
>  void folio_copy(struct folio *dst, struct folio *src);
>  int folio_mc_copy(struct folio *dst, struct folio *src);
> +int folio_mc_copy_nt(struct folio *dst, struct folio *src);
>
>  unsigned long nr_free_buffer_pages(void);
>
> diff --git a/mm/util.c b/mm/util.c
> index b05ab6f97e11..e09e9b5f8eee 100644
> --- a/mm/util.c
> +++ b/mm/util.c
> @@ -749,6 +749,23 @@ int folio_mc_copy(struct folio *dst, struct folio *src)
>  }
>  EXPORT_SYMBOL(folio_mc_copy);
>
> +int folio_mc_copy_nt(struct folio *dst, struct folio *src)
> +{
> +       long nr = folio_nr_pages(src);
> +       long i = 0;
> +
> +       for (;;) {
> +               if (copy_mc_highpage_nt(folio_page(dst, i), folio_page(src, i)))
> +                       return -EHWPOISON;
> +               if (++i == nr)
> +                       break;
> +               cond_resched();
> +       }
> +
> +       return 0;
> +}
> +EXPORT_SYMBOL(folio_mc_copy_nt);
> +
>  int sysctl_overcommit_memory __read_mostly = OVERCOMMIT_GUESS;
>  static int sysctl_overcommit_ratio __read_mostly = 50;
>  static unsigned long sysctl_overcommit_kbytes __read_mostly;
>
> --
> 2.43.0
>