1 ======================================
2 Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV)
3 ======================================
8 Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) is a feature found on AMD processors.
10 SEV is an extension to the AMD-V architecture which supports running
11 virtual machines (VMs) under the control of a hypervisor. When enabled,
12 the memory contents of a VM will be transparently encrypted with a key
15 The hypervisor can determine the SEV support through the CPUID
16 instruction. The CPUID function 0x8000001f reports information related
20 Bit[1] indicates support for SEV
23 Bits[31:0] Number of encrypted guests supported simultaneously
25 If support for SEV is present, MSR 0xc001_0010 (MSR_K8_SYSCFG) and MSR 0xc001_0015
26 (MSR_K7_HWCR) can be used to determine if it can be enabled::
29 Bit[23] 1 = memory encryption can be enabled
30 0 = memory encryption can not be enabled
33 Bit[0] 1 = memory encryption can be enabled
34 0 = memory encryption can not be enabled
36 When SEV support is available, it can be enabled in a specific VM by
37 setting the SEV bit before executing VMRUN.::
40 Bit[1] 1 = SEV is enabled
43 SEV hardware uses ASIDs to associate a memory encryption key with a VM.
44 Hence, the ASID for the SEV-enabled guests must be from 1 to a maximum value
45 defined in the CPUID 0x8000001f[ecx] field.
50 The SEV guest key management is handled by a separate processor called the AMD
51 Secure Processor (AMD-SP). Firmware running inside the AMD-SP provides a secure
52 key management interface to perform common hypervisor activities such as
53 encrypting bootstrap code, snapshot, migrating and debugging the guest. For more
54 information, see the SEV Key Management spec [api-spec]_
56 The main ioctl to access SEV is KVM_MEMORY_ENCRYPT_OP. If the argument
57 to KVM_MEMORY_ENCRYPT_OP is NULL, the ioctl returns 0 if SEV is enabled
58 and ``ENOTTY` if it is disabled (on some older versions of Linux,
59 the ioctl runs normally even with a NULL argument, and therefore will
60 likely return ``EFAULT``). If non-NULL, the argument to KVM_MEMORY_ENCRYPT_OP
61 must be a struct kvm_sev_cmd::
71 The ``id`` field contains the subcommand, and the ``data`` field points to
72 another struct containing arguments specific to command. The ``sev_fd``
73 should point to a file descriptor that is opened on the ``/dev/sev``
74 device, if needed (see individual commands).
76 On output, ``error`` is zero on success, or an error code. Error codes
77 are defined in ``<linux/psp-dev.h>``.
79 KVM implements the following commands to support common lifecycle events of SEV
80 guests, such as launching, running, snapshotting, migrating and decommissioning.
85 The KVM_SEV_INIT command is used by the hypervisor to initialize the SEV platform
86 context. In a typical workflow, this command should be the first command issued.
88 Returns: 0 on success, -negative on error
90 2. KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_START
91 -----------------------
93 The KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_START command is used for creating the memory encryption
94 context. To create the encryption context, user must provide a guest policy,
95 the owner's public Diffie-Hellman (PDH) key and session information.
97 Parameters: struct kvm_sev_launch_start (in/out)
99 Returns: 0 on success, -negative on error
103 struct kvm_sev_launch_start {
104 __u32 handle; /* if zero then firmware creates a new handle */
105 __u32 policy; /* guest's policy */
107 __u64 dh_uaddr; /* userspace address pointing to the guest owner's PDH key */
110 __u64 session_addr; /* userspace address which points to the guest session information */
114 On success, the 'handle' field contains a new handle and on error, a negative value.
116 KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_START requires the ``sev_fd`` field to be valid.
118 For more details, see SEV spec Section 6.2.
120 3. KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_UPDATE_DATA
121 -----------------------------
123 The KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_UPDATE_DATA is used for encrypting a memory region. It also
124 calculates a measurement of the memory contents. The measurement is a signature
125 of the memory contents that can be sent to the guest owner as an attestation
126 that the memory was encrypted correctly by the firmware.
128 Parameters (in): struct kvm_sev_launch_update_data
130 Returns: 0 on success, -negative on error
134 struct kvm_sev_launch_update {
135 __u64 uaddr; /* userspace address to be encrypted (must be 16-byte aligned) */
136 __u32 len; /* length of the data to be encrypted (must be 16-byte aligned) */
139 For more details, see SEV spec Section 6.3.
141 4. KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_MEASURE
142 -------------------------
144 The KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_MEASURE command is used to retrieve the measurement of the
145 data encrypted by the KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_UPDATE_DATA command. The guest owner may
146 wait to provide the guest with confidential information until it can verify the
147 measurement. Since the guest owner knows the initial contents of the guest at
148 boot, the measurement can be verified by comparing it to what the guest owner
151 Parameters (in): struct kvm_sev_launch_measure
153 Returns: 0 on success, -negative on error
157 struct kvm_sev_launch_measure {
158 __u64 uaddr; /* where to copy the measurement */
159 __u32 len; /* length of measurement blob */
162 For more details on the measurement verification flow, see SEV spec Section 6.4.
164 5. KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_FINISH
165 ------------------------
167 After completion of the launch flow, the KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_FINISH command can be
168 issued to make the guest ready for the execution.
170 Returns: 0 on success, -negative on error
172 6. KVM_SEV_GUEST_STATUS
173 -----------------------
175 The KVM_SEV_GUEST_STATUS command is used to retrieve status information about a
178 Parameters (out): struct kvm_sev_guest_status
180 Returns: 0 on success, -negative on error
184 struct kvm_sev_guest_status {
185 __u32 handle; /* guest handle */
186 __u32 policy; /* guest policy */
187 __u8 state; /* guest state (see enum below) */
195 SEV_STATE_INVALID = 0;
196 SEV_STATE_LAUNCHING, /* guest is currently being launched */
197 SEV_STATE_SECRET, /* guest is being launched and ready to accept the ciphertext data */
198 SEV_STATE_RUNNING, /* guest is fully launched and running */
199 SEV_STATE_RECEIVING, /* guest is being migrated in from another SEV machine */
200 SEV_STATE_SENDING /* guest is getting migrated out to another SEV machine */
203 7. KVM_SEV_DBG_DECRYPT
204 ----------------------
206 The KVM_SEV_DEBUG_DECRYPT command can be used by the hypervisor to request the
207 firmware to decrypt the data at the given memory region.
209 Parameters (in): struct kvm_sev_dbg
211 Returns: 0 on success, -negative on error
216 __u64 src_uaddr; /* userspace address of data to decrypt */
217 __u64 dst_uaddr; /* userspace address of destination */
218 __u32 len; /* length of memory region to decrypt */
221 The command returns an error if the guest policy does not allow debugging.
223 8. KVM_SEV_DBG_ENCRYPT
224 ----------------------
226 The KVM_SEV_DEBUG_ENCRYPT command can be used by the hypervisor to request the
227 firmware to encrypt the data at the given memory region.
229 Parameters (in): struct kvm_sev_dbg
231 Returns: 0 on success, -negative on error
236 __u64 src_uaddr; /* userspace address of data to encrypt */
237 __u64 dst_uaddr; /* userspace address of destination */
238 __u32 len; /* length of memory region to encrypt */
241 The command returns an error if the guest policy does not allow debugging.
243 9. KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_SECRET
244 ------------------------
246 The KVM_SEV_LAUNCH_SECRET command can be used by the hypervisor to inject secret
247 data after the measurement has been validated by the guest owner.
249 Parameters (in): struct kvm_sev_launch_secret
251 Returns: 0 on success, -negative on error
255 struct kvm_sev_launch_secret {
256 __u64 hdr_uaddr; /* userspace address containing the packet header */
259 __u64 guest_uaddr; /* the guest memory region where the secret should be injected */
262 __u64 trans_uaddr; /* the hypervisor memory region which contains the secret */
270 See [white-paper]_, [api-spec]_, [amd-apm]_ and [kvm-forum]_ for more info.
272 .. [white-paper] http://amd-dev.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wordpress/media/2013/12/AMD_Memory_Encryption_Whitepaper_v7-Public.pdf
273 .. [api-spec] https://support.amd.com/TechDocs/55766_SEV-KM_API_Specification.pdf
274 .. [amd-apm] https://support.amd.com/TechDocs/24593.pdf (section 15.34)
275 .. [kvm-forum] https://www.linux-kvm.org/images/7/74/02x08A-Thomas_Lendacky-AMDs_Virtualizatoin_Memory_Encryption_Technology.pdf