Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2] powerpc/kexec: Disable KASAN for VMX helpers used in MMU-off path

From: Ritesh Harjani (IBM) <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2026 06:48:45 +0530

Sourabh Jain <[email-masked]> writes:

> The kexec sequence invokes enter_vmx_ops() and exit_vmx_ops() with the
> MMU disabled. In this context, code must not rely on normal virtual
> address translations or trigger page faults.
> With KASAN enabled, these functions get instrumented and may access
> shadow memory using regular address translation. When executed with
> the MMU off, this can lead to page faults (bad_page_fault) from which
> the kernel cannot recover in the kexec path, resulting in a hang.

Right, so with mmu off, kernel can't access KASAN shadow memory.

So, let me trace down the path a bit... you skipped an important detail
i.e. preempt_count() is always inline, and we play a few tricks in kexec
path to tell enter_vmx_ops() that we are in HARDIRQ mode.

default_machine_kexec(image)
    current_thread_info()->preempt_count = HARDIRQ_OFFSET

    kexec_sequence(..., copy_with_mmu_off = 1)
        if (copy_with_mmu_off) bl real_mode

        bl kexec_copy_flush(image)
            memcpy(ranges, image->segment, ...)

            copy_segments()
                copy_page(dest, addr)

                    bl enter_vmx_ops()
                        if (in_interrupt() == true) return 0 // preempt_count == HARDIRQ_OFFSET
                    beq .Lnonvmx_copy

>
> Mark enter_vmx_ops() and exit_vmx_ops() with __no_sanitize_address to
> avoid KASAN instrumentation and ensure kexec boots fine with KASAN
> enabled.
>

IIUC, preempt_count() is always inline, and since you are disabling kasan
instrumentation on enter_vmx_ops(), hence it just works for this reason.  
But you missed adding that detail here.

enter_vmx_ops()
    if (in_interrupt()) // return 0
           preempt_count() & ... | HARDIRQ_OFFSET   // preempt_count() is this is __always_inline 

static __always_inline int preempt_count(void)
{
	return READ_ONCE(current_thread_info()->preempt_count);
}

> Cc: Aditya Gupta <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Daniel Axtens <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Hari Bathini <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Madhavan Srinivasan <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Mahesh Salgaonkar <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Michael Ellerman <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Ritesh Harjani (IBM) <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Shivang Upadhyay <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Venkat Rao Bagalkote <[email-masked]>
> Reported-by: Aboorva Devarajan <[email-masked]>
> Signed-off-by: Sourabh Jain <[email-masked]>
> ---
>  arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c | 4 ++--
>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c b/arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c
> index 554b248002b4..c01b2d856650 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c
> @@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ int exit_vmx_usercopy(void)
>  }
>  EXPORT_SYMBOL(exit_vmx_usercopy);
>  
> -int enter_vmx_ops(void)

In that case, should we should add a comment here saying:

/*
 * Can be called from kexec copy_page() path with MMU off. The kexec
 * code sets preempt_count to HARDIRQ_OFFSET so we return early here.
 * Since in_interrupt() is always inline, __no_sanitize_address on this
 * function is sufficient to avoid KASAN shadow memory accesses in real
 * mode.
 */
> +int __no_sanitize_address enter_vmx_ops(void)
>  {
>  	if (in_interrupt())
>  		return 0;
> @@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ int enter_vmx_ops(void)
>   * passed a pointer to the destination which we return as required by a
>   * memcpy implementation.
>   */
> -void *exit_vmx_ops(void *dest)
> +void __no_sanitize_address *exit_vmx_ops(void *dest)

I am assuming since we never enter into VMX in kexec path, so kexec path
must not be calling exit_vmx_ops anyways? So do we need __no_sanitize_address here?

-ritesh

>  {
>  	disable_kernel_altivec();
>  	preempt_enable();
> -- 
> 2.52.0