[PATCH v3 4/8] arm64/fpsimd: Permit kernel mode NEON with IRQs off

Ard Biesheuvel posted 8 patches 1 week, 6 days ago
There is a newer version of this series
[PATCH v3 4/8] arm64/fpsimd: Permit kernel mode NEON with IRQs off
Posted by Ard Biesheuvel 1 week, 6 days ago
From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>

Currently, may_use_simd() will return false when called from a context
where IRQs are disabled. One notable case where this happens is when
calling the ResetSystem() EFI runtime service from the reboot/poweroff
code path. For this case alone, there is a substantial amount of FP/SIMD
support code to handle the corner case where a EFI runtime service is
invoked with IRQs disabled.

The only reason kernel mode SIMD is not allowed when IRQs are disabled
is that re-enabling softirqs in this case produces a noisy diagnostic
when lockdep is enabled. The warning is valid, in the sense that
delivering pending softirqs over the back of the call to
local_bh_enable() is problematic when IRQs are disabled.

While the API lacks a facility to simply mask and unmask softirqs
without triggering their delivery, disabling softirqs is not needed to
begin with when IRQs are disabled, given that softirqs are only every
taken asynchronously over the back of a hard IRQ.

So dis/enable softirq processing conditionally, based on whether IRQs
are enabled, and relax the check in may_use_simd().

Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
---
 arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h |  2 +-
 arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c    | 16 ++++++++++------
 2 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h
index 8e86c9e70e48..abd642c92f86 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ static __must_check inline bool may_use_simd(void)
 	 */
 	return !WARN_ON(!system_capabilities_finalized()) &&
 	       system_supports_fpsimd() &&
-	       !in_hardirq() && !irqs_disabled() && !in_nmi();
+	       !in_hardirq() && !in_nmi();
 }
 
 #else /* ! CONFIG_KERNEL_MODE_NEON */
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c
index c37f02d7194e..96a226316d1f 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c
@@ -225,10 +225,12 @@ static void fpsimd_bind_task_to_cpu(void);
  */
 static void get_cpu_fpsimd_context(void)
 {
-	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
-		local_bh_disable();
-	else
+	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT)) {
+		if (!irqs_disabled())
+			local_bh_disable();
+	} else {
 		preempt_disable();
+	}
 }
 
 /*
@@ -240,10 +242,12 @@ static void get_cpu_fpsimd_context(void)
  */
 static void put_cpu_fpsimd_context(void)
 {
-	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
-		local_bh_enable();
-	else
+	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT)) {
+		if (!irqs_disabled())
+			local_bh_enable();
+	} else {
 		preempt_enable();
+	}
 }
 
 unsigned int task_get_vl(const struct task_struct *task, enum vec_type type)
-- 
2.51.0.384.g4c02a37b29-goog
Re: [PATCH v3 4/8] arm64/fpsimd: Permit kernel mode NEON with IRQs off
Posted by Will Deacon 1 week, 5 days ago
On Thu, Sep 18, 2025 at 12:30:15PM +0200, Ard Biesheuvel wrote:
> From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
> 
> Currently, may_use_simd() will return false when called from a context
> where IRQs are disabled. One notable case where this happens is when
> calling the ResetSystem() EFI runtime service from the reboot/poweroff
> code path. For this case alone, there is a substantial amount of FP/SIMD
> support code to handle the corner case where a EFI runtime service is
> invoked with IRQs disabled.
> 
> The only reason kernel mode SIMD is not allowed when IRQs are disabled
> is that re-enabling softirqs in this case produces a noisy diagnostic
> when lockdep is enabled. The warning is valid, in the sense that
> delivering pending softirqs over the back of the call to
> local_bh_enable() is problematic when IRQs are disabled.
> 
> While the API lacks a facility to simply mask and unmask softirqs
> without triggering their delivery, disabling softirqs is not needed to
> begin with when IRQs are disabled, given that softirqs are only every
> taken asynchronously over the back of a hard IRQ.
> 
> So dis/enable softirq processing conditionally, based on whether IRQs
> are enabled, and relax the check in may_use_simd().
> 
> Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
> ---
>  arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h |  2 +-
>  arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c    | 16 ++++++++++------
>  2 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h
> index 8e86c9e70e48..abd642c92f86 100644
> --- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h
> +++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/simd.h
> @@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ static __must_check inline bool may_use_simd(void)
>  	 */
>  	return !WARN_ON(!system_capabilities_finalized()) &&
>  	       system_supports_fpsimd() &&
> -	       !in_hardirq() && !irqs_disabled() && !in_nmi();
> +	       !in_hardirq() && !in_nmi();
>  }
>  
>  #else /* ! CONFIG_KERNEL_MODE_NEON */
> diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c
> index c37f02d7194e..96a226316d1f 100644
> --- a/arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c
> +++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/fpsimd.c
> @@ -225,10 +225,12 @@ static void fpsimd_bind_task_to_cpu(void);
>   */
>  static void get_cpu_fpsimd_context(void)
>  {
> -	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
> -		local_bh_disable();
> -	else
> +	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT)) {
> +		if (!irqs_disabled())
> +			local_bh_disable();
> +	} else {
>  		preempt_disable();
> +	}
>  }
>  
>  /*
> @@ -240,10 +242,12 @@ static void get_cpu_fpsimd_context(void)
>   */
>  static void put_cpu_fpsimd_context(void)
>  {
> -	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
> -		local_bh_enable();
> -	else
> +	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT)) {
> +		if (!irqs_disabled())
> +			local_bh_enable();

This is a little ugly, so I think a small comment summarising the
penultimate paragraph of your commit message would help to explain the dance
you're doing.

With that:

Acked-by: Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>

Will