Subject: Re: [PATCH] KVM: arm64: vgic-its: Drop the translation cache reference only for the erased entry

From: Oliver Upton <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2026 12:08:55 -0700

Hi Hyunwoo,

Nice find.

On Mon, Jun 01, 2026 at 11:53:26PM +0900, Hyunwoo Kim wrote:
> vgic_its_invalidate_cache() walks the per-ITS translation cache with
> xa_for_each() and drops the cache's reference on each entry with
> vgic_put_irq(). It puts the iterated pointer, though, rather than the
> value returned by xa_erase().
> 
> The function is called from contexts that do not exclude one another: the
> ITS command handlers hold its_lock, the GITS_CTLR write path holds
> cmd_lock, and the path that clears EnableLPIs in a redistributor's
> GICR_CTLR holds neither. Two or more of them can drain the same cache
> concurrently, and if each one observes the same entry, erases it and then
> puts it, the single reference the cache holds on that entry is dropped
> more than once. The entry can then be freed while an ITE still maps it.
> 
> xa_erase() is atomic and returns the previous entry, so put only the entry
> that this context actually removed. The cache reference is then dropped
> exactly once per entry even when the invalidations run concurrently, and
> the behavior is unchanged when only one context runs.

Next time:

Cc: [email-masked]

> Fixes: 8201d1028caa ("KVM: arm64: vgic-its: Maintain a translation cache per ITS")
> Signed-off-by: Hyunwoo Kim <[email-masked]>
> ---
>  arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-its.c | 6 ++++--
>  1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-its.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-its.c
> index 1d7e5d560af4..1e3706ac3b8e 100644
> --- a/arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-its.c
> +++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-its.c
> @@ -597,8 +597,10 @@ static void vgic_its_invalidate_cache(struct vgic_its *its)
>  	unsigned long idx;
>  
>  	xa_for_each(&its->translation_cache, idx, irq) {
> -		xa_erase(&its->translation_cache, idx);
> -		vgic_put_irq(kvm, irq);
> +		/* Only the context that erases the entry drops its cache ref. */
> +		irq = xa_erase(&its->translation_cache, idx);
> +		if (irq)
> +			vgic_put_irq(kvm, irq);
>  	}
>  }

This definitely works but TBH I'd rather just plug the subtle race and
do invalidations behind the its_lock since it already nests with the
cmd_lock.

Could you give this a spin?

diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-its.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-its.c
index 2ea9f1c7ebcd..b2225da212ec 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-its.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/vgic/vgic-its.c
@@ -596,6 +596,8 @@ static void vgic_its_invalidate_cache(struct vgic_its *its)
 	struct vgic_irq *irq;
 	unsigned long idx;
 
+	lockdep_assert_held(&its->its_lock);
+
 	xa_for_each(&its->translation_cache, idx, irq) {
 		xa_erase(&its->translation_cache, idx);
 		vgic_put_irq(kvm, irq);
@@ -607,17 +609,16 @@ void vgic_its_invalidate_all_caches(struct kvm *kvm)
 	struct kvm_device *dev;
 	struct vgic_its *its;
 
-	rcu_read_lock();
+	guard(mutex)(&kvm->lock);
 
-	list_for_each_entry_rcu(dev, &kvm->devices, vm_node) {
+	list_for_each_entry(dev, &kvm->devices, vm_node) {
 		if (dev->ops != &kvm_arm_vgic_its_ops)
 			continue;
 
 		its = dev->private;
+		guard(mutex)(&its->its_lock);
 		vgic_its_invalidate_cache(its);
 	}
-
-	rcu_read_unlock();
 }
 
 int vgic_its_resolve_lpi(struct kvm *kvm, struct vgic_its *its,
@@ -1725,8 +1726,10 @@ static void vgic_mmio_write_its_ctlr(struct kvm *kvm, struct vgic_its *its,
 		goto out;
 
 	its->enabled = !!(val & GITS_CTLR_ENABLE);
-	if (!its->enabled)
+	if (!its->enabled) {
+		guard(mutex)(&its->its_lock);
 		vgic_its_invalidate_cache(its);
+	}
 
 	/*
 	 * Try to process any pending commands. This function bails out early

--
Thanks,
Oliver