Re: [PATCH v5 6/9] KVM: Add a helper function to check if a gpa is in writable memselot

[Sean Christopherson <seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Aug 29, 2025, Atish Patra wrote:
> The arch specific code may need to know if a particular gpa is valid and
> writable for the shared memory between the host and the guest. Currently,
> there are few places where it is used in RISC-V implementation. Given the
> nature of the function it may be used for other architectures.
> Hence, a common helper function is added.
> 
> Suggested-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Atish Patra <atishp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  include/linux/kvm_host.h | 8 ++++++++
>  1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/include/linux/kvm_host.h b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
> index 15656b7fba6c..eec5cbbcb4b3 100644
> --- a/include/linux/kvm_host.h
> +++ b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
> @@ -1892,6 +1892,14 @@ static inline bool kvm_is_gpa_in_memslot(struct kvm *kvm, gpa_t gpa)
>  	return !kvm_is_error_hva(hva);
>  }
>  
> +static inline bool kvm_is_gpa_in_writable_memslot(struct kvm *kvm, gpa_t gpa)
> +{
> +	bool writable;
> +	unsigned long hva = gfn_to_hva_prot(kvm, gpa_to_gfn(gpa), &writable);
> +
> +	return !kvm_is_error_hva(hva) && writable;

I don't hate this API, but I don't love it either.  Because knowing that the
_memslot_ is writable doesn't mean all that much.  E.g. in this usage:

	hva = kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_hva_prot(vcpu, shmem >> PAGE_SHIFT, &writable);
	if (kvm_is_error_hva(hva) || !writable)
		return SBI_ERR_INVALID_ADDRESS;

	ret = kvm_vcpu_write_guest(vcpu, shmem, &zero_sta, sizeof(zero_sta));
	if (ret)
		return SBI_ERR_FAILURE;

the error code returned to the guest will be different if the memslot is read-only
versus if the VMA is read-only (or not even mapped!).  Unless every read-only
memslot is explicitly communicated as such to the guest, I don't see how the guest
can *know* that a memslot is read-only, so returning INVALID_ADDRESS in that case
but not when the underlying VMA isn't writable seems odd.

It's also entirely possible the memslot could be replaced with a read-only memslot
after the check, or vice versa, i.e. become writable after being rejected.  Is it
*really* a problem to return FAILURE if the guest attempts to setup steal-time in
a read-only memslot?  I.e. why not do this and call it good?

	if (!kvm_is_gpa_in_memslot(vcpu->kvm, shmem >> PAGE_SHIFT))
		return SBI_ERR_INVALID_ADDRESS;

	ret = kvm_vcpu_write_guest(vcpu, shmem, &zero_sta, sizeof(zero_sta));
	if (ret)
		return SBI_ERR_FAILURE;