Re: [PATCH v3 1/9] Documentation: Introduce EPT based Subpage Protection

[Jidong Xiao <jidong.xiao@gmail.com>]

Hi, Weijiang,

Does this require some specific Intel processors or is it supported by
older processors as well?

-Jidong

On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 9:33 AM Yang Weijiang <weijiang.yang@intel.com> wrote:
>
> Signed-off-by: Yang Weijiang <weijiang.yang@intel.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt | 216 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 216 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt
> new file mode 100644
> index 000000000000..4b5edcaf48b6
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/spp_kvm.txt
> @@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
> +EPT-Based Sub-Page Protection (SPP) for KVM
> +=============================================
> +
> +1. Overview
> +
> +EPT-based Sub-Page Protection (SPP) capability to allow Virtual Machine
> +Monitors to specify write-protection for guest physical memory at a
> +sub-page (128 byte) granularity. When this capability is utilized, the
> +CPU enforces write-access permissions for sub-page regions inside 4K pages
> +as specified by the VMI tools.
> +
> +2. Operation of SPP
> +
> +Sub-Page Protection Table (SPPT) is introduced to manage sub-page
> +write-access.
> +
> +SPPT is active when:
> +a) moddule parameter spp=on is configured for kvm-intel.ko
> +b) large paging is disabled on host
> +c) "sub-page write protection" VM-execution control bit is set
> +SPPT looks up the guest physical address to seek a 64-bit
> +bitmap indicating sub-page write permission in SPPT leaf entry.
> +
> +When the "sub-page write protection" VM-execution control is 1, the SPPT
> +is used to lookup write permission bits for the 128 byte sub-page regions
> +contained in the 4KB guest physical page. EPT specifies the 4KB page
> +write-protection privilege whereas SPPT defines the write permissions
> +at 128-byte granularity within one 4KB page. Write accesses
> +prevented due to sub-page permissions induces EPT violation VM exits.
> +Similar to EPT, a logical processor uses SPPT to lookup sub-page level
> +write permissions for guest-physical addresses only when those addresses
> +are used to access memory.
> +__________________________________________________________________________
> +
> +How SPP hardware works:
> +__________________________________________________________________________
> +
> +Guest write access --> GPA --> Walk EPT --> EPT leaf entry -----|
> +|---------------------------------------------------------------|
> +|-> if VMexec_control.spp && ept_leaf_entry.spp_bit (bit 61)
> +     |
> +     |-> <false> --> EPT legacy behavior
> +     |
> +     |
> +     |-> <true>  --> if ept_leaf_entry.writable
> +                      |
> +                      |-> <true>  --> Ignore SPP
> +                      |
> +                      |-> <false> --> GPA --> Walk SPP 4-level table--|
> +                                                                      |
> +|------------<----------get-the-SPPT-point-from-VMCS-filed-----<------|
> +|
> +Walk SPP L4E table
> +|
> +|---> if-entry-misconfiguration ------------>-------|-------<---------|
> + |                                                  |                 |
> +else                                                |                 |
> + |                                                  |                 |
> + |   |------------------SPP VMexit<-----------------|                 |
> + |   |                                                                |
> + |   |-> exit_qualification & sppt_misconfig --> sppt misconfig       |
> + |   |                                                                |
> + |   |-> exit_qualification & sppt_miss --> sppt miss                 |
> + |---|                                                                |
> +     |                                                                |
> +walk SPPT L3E--|--> if-entry-misconfiguration------------>------------|
> +               |                                                      |
> +              else                                                    |
> +               |                                                      |
> +               |                                                      |
> +        walk SPPT L2E --|--> if-entry-misconfiguration-------->-------|
> +                        |                                             |
> +                       else                                           |
> +                        |                                             |
> +                        |                                             |
> +                 walk SPPT L1E --|-> if-entry-misconfiguration--->----|
> +                                 |
> +                               else
> +                                 |
> +                                 |-> if sub-page writable
> +                                 |-> <true>  allow, write access
> +                                 |-> <false> disallow, EPT violation
> +______________________________________________________________________________
> +
> +3. Interfaces
> +
> +* Feature enabling
> +
> +Add "spp=on" to KVM module parameter to enable SPP feature, default is off.
> +
> +* Get/Set sub-page write access permission
> +
> +New KVM ioctl:
> +
> +KVM_SUBPAGES_GET_ACCESS:
> +Get sub-pages write access bitmap corresponding to given rang of continuous gfn.
> +
> +KVM_SUBPAGES_SET_ACCESS
> +Set sub-pages write access bitmap corresponding to given rang of continuous gfn.
> +
> +
> +/* for KVM_SUBPAGES_GET_ACCESS and KVM_SUBPAGES_SET_ACCESS */
> +struct kvm_subpage_info {
> +    __u64 gfn;
> +    __u64 npages; /* number of 4K pages */
> +    __u64 *access_map; /* sub-page write-access bitmap array */
> +};
> +
> +#define KVM_SUBPAGES_GET_ACCESS   _IOR(KVMIO,  0x49, struct kvm_subpage_info)
> +#define KVM_SUBPAGES_SET_ACCESS   _IOW(KVMIO,  0x4a, struct kvm_subpage_info)
> +
> +
> +4. SPPT initialization
> +
> +* SPPT root page allocation
> +
> +  SPPT is referenced via a 64-bit control field called "sub-page
> +  protection table pointer" (SPPTP, encoding 0x2030) which contains a
> +  4K-align physical address.
> +
> +  SPPT is a 4-level paging structure similar as EPT. When KVM
> +  loads mmu, it allocates a root page for SPPT L4 table as well.
> +
> +* EPT leaf entry SPP bit (bit 61)
> +
> +  Set 0 to SPP bit to close SPP.
> +
> +5. Set/Get Sub-Page access bitmap for a bunch of guest physical pages
> +
> +* To utilize SPP feature, system admin should set sub-page access via
> +  SPP KVM ioctl `KVM_SUBPAGES_SET_ACCESS`, configuring EPT and SPPT in below flow:
> +
> +  (1) If the target 4KB pages to be protected are there, it locates EPT leaf entries
> +      via the guest physical addresses, flags the bit 61 of the corresponding entries to
> +      enable sub-page protection for the pages, then setup SPPT paging structure.
> +  (2) otherwise, stores the [gfn,permission] mappings in KVM data structure. When
> +      EPT page-fault is generated due to target protected page accessing, it settles
> +      EPT entry configureation together with SPPT build-up.
> +
> +   The SPPT paging structure format is as below:
> +
> +   Format of the SPPT L4E, L3E, L2E:
> +   | Bit    | Contents                                                                 |
> +   | :----- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------|
> +   | 0      | Valid entry when set; indicates whether the entry is present             |
> +   | 11:1   | Reserved (0)                                                             |
> +   | N-1:12 | Physical address of 4KB aligned SPPT LX-1 Table referenced by this entry |
> +   | 51:N   | Reserved (0)                                                             |
> +   | 63:52  | Reserved (0)                                                             |
> +   Note: N is the physical address width supported by the processor. X is the page level
> +
> +   Format of the SPPT L1E:
> +   | Bit   | Contents                                                          |
> +   | :---- | :---------------------------------------------------------------- |
> +   | 0+2i  | Write permission for i-th 128 byte sub-page region.               |
> +   | 1+2i  | Reserved (0).                                                     |
> +   Note: 0<=i<=31
> +
> +6. SPPT-induced vmexits
> +
> +* SPP VM exits
> +
> +Accesses using guest physical addresses may cause VM exits due to a SPPT
> +misconfiguration or a SPPT missing.
> +
> +A SPPT misconfiguration vmexit occurs when, in the course of translating
> +a guest physical address, the logical processor encounters a leaf EPT
> +paging-structure entry mapping a 4KB page, with SPP enabled, during the
> +SPPT lookup, a SPPT paging-structure entry contains an unsupported
> +value.
> +
> +A SPPT missing vmexit occurs during the SPPT lookup there is no SPPT
> +misconfiguration but any level of SPPT paging-structure entries are not
> +present.
> +
> +NOTE. SPPT misconfigurations and SPPT miss can occur only due to an
> +attempt to write memory with a guest physical address.
> +
> +* EPT violation vmexits due to SPPT
> +
> +EPT violations generated due to SPP sub-page
> +permission are reported as EPT violation vmexits.
> +
> +7. SPPT-induced vmexits handling
> +
> +
> +#define EXIT_REASON_SPP                 66
> +
> +static int (*const kvm_vmx_exit_handlers[])(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) = {
> +    ...
> +    [EXIT_REASON_SPP]                     = handle_spp,
> +    ...
> +};
> +
> +
> +New exit qualification for SPPT-induced vmexits.
> +
> +| Bit   | Contents                                                          |
> +| :---- | :---------------------------------------------------------------- |
> +| 10:0  | Reserved (0).                                                     |
> +| 11    | SPPT VM exit type. Set for SPPT Miss, cleared for SPPT Misconfig. |
> +| 12    | NMI unblocking due to IRET                                        |
> +| 63:13 | Reserved (0)                                                      |
> +
> +In addition to the exit qualification, Guest Linear Address and Guest
> +Physical Address fields will be reported.
> +
> +* SPPT miss and misconfiguration
> +
> +Allocate a page for the SPPT entry and set the entry correctly.
> +
> +* EPT violation vmexits due to SPPT
> +
> +While hardware traverses SPPT, If the sub-page region write
> +permission bit is set, the write is allowed, otherwise it's prevented
> +and an EPT violation is generated.
> --
> 2.17.2
>