[PATCH] arm: armv8: mmu: fix DCACHE_OFF incorrectly unmapping region

Akshay Belsare akshay.belsare at amd.com
Wed Jul 8 13:17:10 CEST 2026


DCACHE_OFF is defined as (0 << 2) = 0, and PTE_TYPE_FAULT is defined
as (0 << 0) = 0. In mmu_set_region_dcache_behaviour(), the cache
attribute passed to set_regions() is computed as:
  attrs = PMD_ATTRINDX(option >> 2)
For DCACHE_OFF=0 this evaluates to PMD_ATTRINDX(0) = 0, which equals
PTE_TYPE_FAULT.

Commit 6468ca13ffd6f ("armv8: mmu: fix and optimise explicitly unmapping
regions") added an unmap path to set_one_region() that
triggers when attrs == PTE_TYPE_FAULT. Because DCACHE_OFF and
PTE_TYPE_FAULT share the same numerical value (0), any call to
mmu_set_region_dcache_behaviour() with DCACHE_OFF silently unmaps the
target region instead of changing its cache attributes to non-cached.

The subsequent flush_dcache_range() call at the end of
mmu_set_region_dcache_behaviour() then crashes with a Level 3
translation fault because the region it tries to flush has just been
unmapped.

The existing flag parameter already distinguishes the two callers:
 - mmu_set_region_dcache_behaviour() always passes flag=false
 - mmu_change_region_attr_nobreak() always passes flag=true, and is the
   only legitimate caller that passes PTE_TYPE_FAULT to unmap a region

Guard the unmap path with flag so that DCACHE_OFF attribute changes
take the correct else branch, which ORs in the ATTRINDX bits only,
leaving the PTE valid.

This was observed as a boot crash on Versal, Versal Net, and ZynqMP
platforms during network initialisation. The zynq_gem driver calls
mmu_set_region_dcache_behaviour() with DCACHE_OFF to make its BD
descriptor ring non-cached. With the bug the BD memory is unmapped,
and the subsequent dcache flush inside
mmu_set_region_dcache_behaviour() faults.

Fixes: 6468ca13ffd6f ("armv8: mmu: fix and optimise explicitly unmapping regions")
Signed-off-by: Akshay Belsare <akshay.belsare at amd.com>
---
 arch/arm/cpu/armv8/cache_v8.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm/cpu/armv8/cache_v8.c b/arch/arm/cpu/armv8/cache_v8.c
index e59528e576e..ad232435eb2 100644
--- a/arch/arm/cpu/armv8/cache_v8.c
+++ b/arch/arm/cpu/armv8/cache_v8.c
@@ -1006,7 +1006,7 @@ static u64 set_one_region(u64 start, u64 size, u64 attrs, bool flag, int level)
 
 	/* Can we can just modify the current level block/page? */
 	if (is_aligned(start, size, levelsize)) {
-		if (attrs == PTE_TYPE_FAULT) {
+		if (attrs == PTE_TYPE_FAULT && flag) {
 			if (pte_type(pte) == PTE_TYPE_TABLE && level < 3)
 				*pte = 0;
 			else
-- 
2.25.1



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