Add a comment to FNAME(sync_page) to explain why the TLB flushing logic conspiculously doesn't handle the scenario of guest protections being reduced. Specifically, if synchronizing a SPTE drops execute protections, KVM will not emit a TLB flush, whereas dropping writable or clearing A/D bits does trigger a flush via mmu_spte_update(). Architecturally, until the GPTE is implicitly or explicitly flushed from the guest's perspective, KVM is not required to flush any old, stale translations. Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx> --- arch/x86/kvm/mmu/paging_tmpl.h | 9 +++++++++ 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+) diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/mmu/paging_tmpl.h b/arch/x86/kvm/mmu/paging_tmpl.h index d9f98f9ed4a0..d39706e46ad9 100644 --- a/arch/x86/kvm/mmu/paging_tmpl.h +++ b/arch/x86/kvm/mmu/paging_tmpl.h @@ -1076,6 +1076,15 @@ static int FNAME(sync_page)(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, struct kvm_mmu_page *sp) flush |= mmu_spte_update(sptep, spte); } + /* + * Note, any flush is purely for KVM's correctness, e.g. when dropping + * an existing SPTE or clearing W/A/D bits to ensure an mmu_notifier + * unmap or dirty logging event doesn't fail to flush. The guest is + * responsible for flushing the TLB to ensure any changes in protection + * bits are recognized, i.e. until the guest flushes or page faults on + * a relevant address, KVM is architecturally allowed to let vCPUs use + * cached translations with the old protection bits. + */ return flush; } -- 2.36.0.550.gb090851708-goog
