linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 2/4] KVM: x86/mmu: Fully re-evaluate MMIO caching when SPTE masks change

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Message-ID: <4fd3cea874b69f1c8bbcaf19538c7fdcb9c22aab.camel@intel.com>
Date:   Tue, 02 Aug 2022 12:05:39 +1200
From:   Kai Huang <kai.huang@...el.com>
To:     Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>
Cc:     Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>, kvm@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Michael Roth <michael.roth@....com>,
        Tom Lendacky <thomas.lendacky@....com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/4] KVM: x86/mmu: Fully re-evaluate MMIO caching when
 SPTE masks change

On Mon, 2022-08-01 at 23:20 +0000, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 02, 2022, Kai Huang wrote:
> > On Mon, 2022-08-01 at 14:15 +0000, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> > > Another thing to note is that only the value needs to be per-VM, the mask can be
> > > KVM-wide, i.e. "mask = SUPPRESS_VE | RWX" will work for TDX and non-TDX VMs when
> > > EPT is enabled.
> > 
> > Yeah, but is more like VMX and TDX both *happen* to have the same mask? 
> > Theoretically,  VMX only need RWX to trigger EPT misconfiguration but doesn't
> > need SUPPRESS_VE.
> 
> Right, SUPPRESS_VE isn't strictly necessary, but KVM already deliberately avoids
> bit 63 because it has meaning, e.g. SUPPRESS_VE for EPT and NX for PAE and 64-bit
> paging.  
> 
> > I don't see making mask/value both per-vm is a big issue?
> 
> Yes and no.
> 
> No, in the sense that it's not a big issue in terms of code.  
> 
> Yes, because of the connotations of having a per-VM mask.  While having SUPPRESS_VE
> in the mask for non-TDX EPT isn't strictly necessary, it's also not strictly necessary
> to _not_ have it in the mask.  
> 

I think the 'mask' itself is ambiguous, i.e. it doesn't say in what circumstance
we should include one bit to the mask.  My understanding is any bit in the
'mask' should at least be related to the 'value' that can enable MMIO caching.

So if SUPPRESS_VE bit is not related to non-TDX EPT (as we want EPT
misconfiguration, but not EPT violation), I don't see why we need to include it
to the  'mask'.

> In other words, having a per-VM mask incorrectly
> implies that TDX _must_ have a different mask.

I interpret as TDX _can_, but not _must_. 

> 
> It's also one more piece of information that developers have to track down and
> account for, i.e. one more thing we can screw up.
> 
> The other aspect of MMIO SPTEs are that the mask bits must not overlap the generation
> bits or shadow-present bit, and changing any of those bits requires careful
> consideration, i.e. defining the set of _allowed_ mask bits on a per-VM basis would
> incur significant complexity without providing meaningful benefit.  
> 

Agreed on this.

But we are not checking any of those in kvm_mmu_set_mmio_spte_mask(), right? :)

Also Isaku's patch extends kvm_mmu_set_mmio_spte_mask() to take 'kvm' or 'vcpu'
as parameter so it's easy to check there -- not 100% sure about other places,
though.

> As a result,
> it's highly unlikely that we'll ever want to opportunsitically "reclaim" bit 63
> for MMIO SPTEs, so there's practically zero cost if it's included in the mask for
> non-TDX EPT.

Sorry I don't understand this.  If we will never "reclaim" bit 63 for MMIO SPTEs
(for non-TDX EPT), then why bother including it to the mask?

-- 
Thanks,
-Kai