Currently, when using a true R/O NVDIMM (ROM memory backend) with a label
area, the VM can easily crash QEMU by trying to write to the label area,
because the ROM memory is mmap'ed without PROT_WRITE.
[root@vm-0 ~]# ndctl disable-region region0
disabled 1 region
[root@vm-0 ~]# ndctl zero-labels nmem0
-> QEMU segfaults
Let's remember whether we have a ROM memory backend and properly
reject the write request:
[root@vm-0 ~]# ndctl disable-region region0
disabled 1 region
[root@vm-0 ~]# ndctl zero-labels nmem0
zeroed 0 nmem
In comparison, on a system with a R/W NVDIMM:
[root@vm-0 ~]# ndctl disable-region region0
disabled 1 region
[root@vm-0 ~]# ndctl zero-labels nmem0
zeroed 1 nmem
For ACPI, just return "unsupported", like if no label exists. For spapr,
return "H_P2", similar to when no label area exists.
Could we rely on the "unarmed" property? Maybe, but it looks cleaner to
only disallow what certainly cannot work.
After all "unarmed=on" primarily means: cannot accept persistent writes. In
theory, there might be setups where devices with "unarmed=on" set could
be used to host non-persistent data (temporary files, system RAM, ...); for
example, in Linux, admins can overwrite the "readonly" setting and still
write to the device -- which will work as long as we're not using ROM.
Allowing writing label data in such configurations can make sense.
Message-ID: <20230906120503.359863-2-david@redhat.com>
Fixes: dbd730e859 ("nvdimm: check -object memory-backend-file, readonly=on option")
Reviewed-by: Stefan Hajnoczi <stefanha@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>
3a1258399b