[PATCH v3] KVM: arm64: Prevent the host from using an smc with imm16 != 0
From: Sebastian Ene
Date: Mon Mar 30 2026 - 06:56:11 EST
The ARM Service Calling Convention (SMCCC) specifies that the function
identifier and parameters should be passed in registers, leaving the
16-bit immediate field un-handled in pKVM when an SMC instruction is
trapped.
Since the HVC is a private interface between EL2 and the host,
enforce the host kernel running under pKVM to use an immediate value
of 0 only when using SMCs to make it clear for non-compliant software
talking to Trustzone that we only use SMCCC.
Signed-off-by: Sebastian Ene <sebastianene@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
v2 -> current:
- move the ESR decoding of the imm16 in the handle_host_smc where it
was supposed to be
- updated the commit message to include the reason behind while we are
not doing for HVCs as well
- updated the commit message to clarify that pKVM is not handling the
imm16
v1 -> v2:
- Dropped injecting an UNDEF and return an error instead
(SMCCC_RET_NOT_SUPPORTED)
- Used the mask ESR_ELx_xVC_IMM_MASK instead of masking with U16_MAX
- Updated the title of the commit message from:
"[PATCH] KVM: arm64: Inject UNDEF when host is executing an
smc with imm16 != 0"
Link to v2:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260325113138.4171430-1-sebastianene@xxxxxxxxxx/
Link to v1:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260324135728.3532400-1-sebastianene@xxxxxxxxxx/
---
arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c | 7 +++++++
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c
index e7790097db93..461cf5cb5ac7 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/nvhe/hyp-main.c
@@ -676,8 +676,14 @@ static void default_host_smc_handler(struct kvm_cpu_context *host_ctxt)
static void handle_host_smc(struct kvm_cpu_context *host_ctxt)
{
DECLARE_REG(u64, func_id, host_ctxt, 0);
+ u64 esr = read_sysreg_el2(SYS_ESR);
bool handled;
+ if (esr & ESR_ELx_xVC_IMM_MASK) {
+ cpu_reg(host_ctxt, 0) = SMCCC_RET_NOT_SUPPORTED;
+ goto exit_skip_instr;
+ }
+
func_id &= ~ARM_SMCCC_CALL_HINTS;
handled = kvm_host_psci_handler(host_ctxt, func_id);
@@ -686,6 +692,7 @@ static void handle_host_smc(struct kvm_cpu_context *host_ctxt)
if (!handled)
default_host_smc_handler(host_ctxt);
+exit_skip_instr:
/* SMC was trapped, move ELR past the current PC. */
kvm_skip_host_instr();
}
--
2.53.0.1018.g2bb0e51243-goog