Re: [PATCH v3 4/4] iommu/amd: Fix host kdump support for SNP

[Vasant Hegde]

On 7/17/2025 3:42 AM, Kalra, Ashish wrote:
> Hello Vasant,
> 
> On 7/16/2025 4:46 AM, Vasant Hegde wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 7/16/2025 12:57 AM, Ashish Kalra wrote:
>>> From: Ashish Kalra <ashish.kalra@xxxxxxx>
>>>
>>> When a crash is triggered the kernel attempts to shut down SEV-SNP
>>> using the SNP_SHUTDOWN_EX command. If active SNP VMs are present,
>>> SNP_SHUTDOWN_EX fails as firmware checks all encryption-capable ASIDs
>>> to ensure none are in use and that a DF_FLUSH is not required. If a
>>> DF_FLUSH is required, the firmware returns DFFLUSH_REQUIRED, causing
>>> SNP_SHUTDOWN_EX to fail.
>>>
>>> This casues the kdump kernel to boot with IOMMU SNP enforcement still
>>> enabled and IOMMU completion wait buffers (CWBs), command buffers,
>>> device tables and event buffer registers remain locked and exclusive
>>> to the previous kernel. Attempts to allocate and use new buffers in
>>> the kdump kernel fail, as the hardware ignores writes to the locked
>>> MMIO registers (per AMD IOMMU spec Section 2.12.2.1).
>>>
>>> As a result, the kdump kernel cannot initialize the IOMMU or enable IRQ
>>> remapping which is required for proper operation.
>>>
>>> This results in repeated "Completion-Wait loop timed out" errors and a
>>> second kernel panic: "Kernel panic - not syncing: timer doesn't work
>>> through Interrupt-remapped IO-APIC"
>>>
>>> The following MMIO registers are locked and ignore writes after failed
>>> SNP shutdown:
>>> Device Table Base Address Register
>>> Command Buffer Base Address Register
>>> Event Buffer Base Address Register
>>> Completion Store Base Register/Exclusion Base Register
>>> Completion Store Limit Register/Exclusion Range Limit Register
>>>
>>
>> May be you can rephrase the description as first patch covered some of these
>> details
> 
> We do need to include the complete description here as this is the final
> patch of the series which fixes the kdump boot.
> 
> Do note, that the description in the first patch only mentions the 
> IOMMU buffers - command, CWB and event buffers for reuse and this commit
> log covers all reusing and remapping required - IOMMU buffers, device table,
> etc.
>  
>>> Instead of allocating new buffers, re-use the previous kernel’s pages
>>> for completion wait buffers, command buffers, event buffers and device
>>> tables and operate with the already enabled SNP configuration and
>>> existing data structures.
>>>
>>> This approach is now used for kdump boot regardless of whether SNP is
>>> enabled during kdump.
>>>
>>> The fix enables successful crashkernel/kdump operation on SNP hosts
>>> even when SNP_SHUTDOWN_EX fails.
>>>
>>> Fixes: c3b86e61b756 ("x86/cpufeatures: Enable/unmask SEV-SNP CPU feature")
>>
>> I am not sure why you have marked only this patch as Fixes? Also it won't fix
>> the kdump if someone just backports only this patch right?
>>
> 
> As mentioned in the cover letter, this is the final patch of the series which 
> actually fixes the SNP kdump boot, so i kept Fixes: tag as part of this patch.
> > I am not sure if i can add Fixes: tag to all the four patches in this series ?

But just adding Fixes to this one patch is adding more confusion and
complicating backport process.

Is this really a fix? Did kdump ever worked on SNP enabled system? If yes then
add Fixes to all patches. If not call it as an enhancement.


-Vasant