linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] x86/cpu: Update cached HLE state on write to TSX_CTRL_CPUID

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]

Date:   Wed, 15 Jan 2020 15:15:13 -0600
From:   Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@...hat.com>
To:     Pawan Gupta <pawan.kumar.gupta@...ux.intel.com>
Cc:     Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
        "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>, x86@...nel.org,
        Tony Luck <tony.luck@...el.com>,
        Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Neelima Krishnan <neelima.krishnan@...el.com>,
        Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>,
        Andi Kleen <ak@...ux.intel.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] x86/cpu: Update cached HLE state on write to
 TSX_CTRL_CPUID_CLEAR

On Fri, Jan 10, 2020 at 02:50:54PM -0800, Pawan Gupta wrote:
> /proc/cpuinfo currently reports Hardware Lock Elision (HLE) feature to
> be present on boot cpu even if it was disabled during the bootup. This
> is because cpuinfo_x86->x86_capability HLE bit is not updated after TSX
> state is changed via a new MSR IA32_TSX_CTRL.
> 
> Update the cached HLE bit also since it is expected to change after an
> update to CPUID_CLEAR bit in MSR IA32_TSX_CTRL.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Pawan Gupta <pawan.kumar.gupta@...ux.intel.com>
> Tested-by: Neelima Krishnan <neelima.krishnan@...el.com>
> Reviewed-by: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>

>From the Intel TAA deep dive page [1], it says:

  "On processors that enumerate IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES[TSX_CTRL] (bit
   7)=1, HLE prefix hints are always ignored."

So if the CPU has IA32_TSX_CTRL, HLE is implicitly disabled, so why
would the HLE bit have been set in CPUID in the first place?

[1] https://software.intel.com/security-software-guidance/insights/deep-dive-intel-transactional-synchronization-extensions-intel-tsx-asynchronous-abort

-- 
Josh