linux-kernel - Re: [tip:x86/pti] x86/speculation: Use IBRS if available before calling into firmware

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Date:   Mon, 12 Feb 2018 13:28:52 +0100
From:   Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
To:     Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>
Cc:     hpa@...or.com, tglx@...utronix.de, torvalds@...ux-foundation.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, dwmw@...zon.co.uk,
        linux-tip-commits@...r.kernel.org, Dave Hansen <dave@...1.net>,
        Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>,
        Arjan van de Ven <arjan@...radead.org>
Subject: Re: [tip:x86/pti] x86/speculation: Use IBRS if available before
 calling into firmware

On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 12:50:02PM +0100, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 11:22:11AM +0100, Ingo Molnar wrote:
> > > +static inline void firmware_restrict_branch_speculation_start(void)
> > > +{
> > > +	alternative_msr_write(MSR_IA32_SPEC_CTRL, SPEC_CTRL_IBRS,
> > > +			      X86_FEATURE_USE_IBRS_FW);
> > > +}
> > > +
> > > +static inline void firmware_restrict_branch_speculation_end(void)
> > > +{
> > > +	alternative_msr_write(MSR_IA32_SPEC_CTRL, 0,
> > > +			      X86_FEATURE_USE_IBRS_FW);
> > 
> > BTW., there's a detail that only occurred to me today, this enabling/disabling 
> > sequence is not NMI safe, and it might be called from NMI context:
> 
> Wait, we're doing firmware from NMI? That sounds like a _REALLY_ bad
> idea.

Argh, its that stupid watchdog driver again.. Not only does it call
firmware, it also uses (!raw) spinlock.