linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 2/2] perf/x86/intel/pt: Fail event creation if VMX operation is on

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <20170214140220.GO6500@twins.programming.kicks-ass.net>
Date:   Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:02:20 +0100
From:   Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
To:     Alexander Shishkin <alexander.shishkin@...ux.intel.com>
Cc:     Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        vince@...ter.net, eranian@...gle.com,
        Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@...radead.org>,
        Borislav Petkov <bp@...e.de>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2] perf/x86/intel/pt: Fail event creation if VMX
 operation is on

On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 03:24:16PM +0200, Alexander Shishkin wrote:
> On systems where PT does not coexist with VMX, users get confused when
> PT turns up with no data because they forgot they're running a kvm
> session at the same time.
> 
> This patch adds a preemptive check for any active VMX operations that
> will fail event creation. This does not provide any guarantees or
> protection against racing with a kvm starting in parallel, but is
> intended to serve as a hint for the user. If VMXON happens after an
> event had been created, the event will still produce an empty trace.
> 

Would it not be more sensible to write fake PT packets in
intel_pt_handle_vmx() to demarcate VMX regions in the trace?