The kernel's direct map provides code running in kernel mode with direct access to all physical memory installed in the system — on 64-bit systems, at least. It obviously makes life easier for kernel developers, but the direct map also brings some problems of its own, most of which are security-related. Interest in removing at least some pages from the direct map has been simmering for years; a couple of patch sets under discussion show some use cases for memory that has been removed from the direct map, and how such memory might be efficiently managed.