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+===================================
+Hypervisor calls and the Ultravisor
+===================================
+
+On PPC64 systems supporting Protected Execution Facility (PEF), system memory
+can be placed in a secured region where only an ultravisor running in firmware
+can provide access to. pSeries guests on such systems can communicate with
+the ultravisor (via ultracalls) to switch to a secure virtual machine (SVM) mode
+where the guest's memory is relocated to this secured region, making its memory
+inaccessible to normal processes/guests running on the host.
+
+The various ultracalls/hypercalls relating to SVM mode are currently only
+documented internally, but are planned for direct inclusion into the Linux on
+Power Architecture Reference document ([LoPAR]_). An internal ACR has been filed
+to reserve a hypercall number range specific to this use case to avoid any
+future conflicts with the IBM internally maintained Power Architecture Platform
+Reference (PAPR+) documentation specification. This document summarizes some of
+these details as they relate to QEMU.
+
+Hypercalls needed by the ultravisor
+===================================
+
+Switching to SVM mode involves a number of hcalls issued by the ultravisor to
+the hypervisor to orchestrate the movement of guest memory to secure memory and
+various other aspects of the SVM mode. Numbers are assigned for these hcalls
+within the reserved range ``0xEF00-0xEF80``. The below documents the hcalls
+relevant to QEMU.
+
+``H_TPM_COMM`` (``0xef10``)
+---------------------------
+
+SVM file systems are encrypted using a symmetric key. This key is then
+wrapped/encrypted using the public key of a trusted system which has the private
+key stored in the system's TPM. An Ultravisor will use this hcall to
+unwrap/unseal the symmetric key using the system's TPM device or a TPM Resource
+Manager associated with the device.
+
+The Ultravisor sets up a separate session key with the TPM in advance during
+host system boot. All sensitive in and out values will be encrypted using the
+session key. Though the hypervisor will see the in and out buffers in raw form,
+any sensitive contents will generally be encrypted using this session key.
+
+Arguments:
+
+ ``r3``: ``H_TPM_COMM`` (``0xef10``)
+
+ ``r4``: ``TPM`` operation, one of:
+
+ ``TPM_COMM_OP_EXECUTE`` (``0x1``): send a request to a TPM and receive a
+ response, opening a new TPM session if one has not already been opened.
+
+ ``TPM_COMM_OP_CLOSE_SESSION`` (``0x2``): close the existing TPM session, if
+ any.
+
+ ``r5``: ``in_buffer``, guest physical address of buffer containing the
+ request. Caller may use the same address for both request and response.
+
+ ``r6``: ``in_size``, size of the in buffer. Must be less than or equal to
+ 4 KB.
+
+ ``r7``: ``out_buffer``, guest physical address of buffer to store the
+ response. Caller may use the same address for both request and response.
+
+ ``r8``: ``out_size``, size of the out buffer. Must be at least 4 KB, as this
+ is the maximum request/response size supported by most TPM implementations,
+ including the TPM Resource Manager in the linux kernel.
+
+Return values:
+
+ ``r3``: one of the following values:
+
+ ``H_Success``: request processed successfully.
+
+ ``H_PARAMETER``: invalid TPM operation.
+
+ ``H_P2``: ``in_buffer`` is invalid.
+
+ ``H_P3``: ``in_size`` is invalid.
+
+ ``H_P4``: ``out_buffer`` is invalid.
+
+ ``H_P5``: ``out_size`` is invalid.
+
+ ``H_RESOURCE``: problem communicating with TPM.
+
+ ``H_FUNCTION``: TPM access is not currently allowed/configured.
+
+ ``r4``: For ``TPM_COMM_OP_EXECUTE``, the size of the response will be stored
+ here upon success.