linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] KVM: VMX: Micro-optimize SPEC_CTRL handling in __vmx_vcpu

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Message-ID: <CAFULd4Y6W0hJbA8Ki2yB60537mC8+ohXyUgxD+HuKDQhq7zGmA@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2025 13:50:52 +0200
From: Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@...il.com>
To: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>
Cc: kvm@...r.kernel.org, x86@...nel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, 
	Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>, Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>, 
	Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>, Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>, 
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] KVM: VMX: Micro-optimize SPEC_CTRL handling in __vmx_vcpu_run()

On Wed, Aug 20, 2025 at 8:10 AM Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@...il.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Aug 19, 2025 at 8:56 PM Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, Aug 19, 2025, Uros Bizjak wrote:
> > > > >   2d: 48 8b 7c 24 10          mov    0x10(%rsp),%rdi
> > > > >   32: 8b 87 48 18 00 00       mov    0x1848(%rdi),%eax
> > > > >   38: 65 3b 05 00 00 00 00    cmp    %gs:0x0(%rip),%eax
> > > > >   3f: 74 09                   je     4a <...>
> > > > >   41: b9 48 00 00 00          mov    $0x48,%ecx
> > > > >   46: 31 d2                   xor    %edx,%edx
> > > > >   48: 0f 30                   wrmsr
> > > > >
> > > > > No functional change intended.
> > > > >
> > > > > Signed-off-by: Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@...il.com>
> > > > > Cc: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>
> > > > > Cc: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>
> > > > > Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
> > > > > Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>
> > > > > Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>
> > > > > Cc: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>
> > > > > Cc: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>
> > > > > ---
> > > > >  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S | 6 ++----
> > > > >  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
> > > > >
> > > > > diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S
> > > > > index 0a6cf5bff2aa..c65de5de92ab 100644
> > > > > --- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S
> > > > > +++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S
> > > > > @@ -118,13 +118,11 @@ SYM_FUNC_START(__vmx_vcpu_run)
> > > > >        * and vmentry.
> > > > >        */
> > > > >       mov 2*WORD_SIZE(%_ASM_SP), %_ASM_DI
> > > > > -     movl VMX_spec_ctrl(%_ASM_DI), %edi
> > > > > -     movl PER_CPU_VAR(x86_spec_ctrl_current), %esi
> > > > > -     cmp %edi, %esi
> > > > > +     movl VMX_spec_ctrl(%_ASM_DI), %eax
> > > > > +     cmp PER_CPU_VAR(x86_spec_ctrl_current), %eax
> > > >
> > > > Huh.  There's a pre-existing bug lurking here, and in the SVM code.  SPEC_CTRL
> > > > is an MSR, i.e. a 64-bit value, but the assembly code assumes bits 63:32 are always
> > > > zero.
> > >
> > > But MSBs are zero, MSR is defined in arch/x86/include/msr-index.h as:
> > >
> > > #define MSR_IA32_SPEC_CTRL 0x00000048 /* Speculation Control */
> > >
> > > and "movl $..., %eax" zero-extends the value to full 64-bit width.
> > >
> > > FWIW, MSR_IA32_SPEC_CTR is handled in the same way in arch/x86/entry/entry.S:
> > >
> > > movl $MSR_IA32_PRED_CMD, %ecx
> >
> > That's the MSR index, not the value.  I'm pointing out that:
> >
> >         movl VMX_spec_ctrl(%_ASM_DI), %edi              <== drops vmx->spec_ctrl[63:32]
> >         movl PER_CPU_VAR(x86_spec_ctrl_current), %esi   <== drop x86_spec_ctrl_current[63:32]
> >         cmp %edi, %esi                                  <== can get false negatives
> >         je .Lspec_ctrl_done
> >         mov $MSR_IA32_SPEC_CTRL, %ecx
> >         xor %edx, %edx                                  <== can clobber guest value
> >         mov %edi, %eax
> >         wrmsr
> >
> > The bug is _currently_ benign because neither KVM nor the kernel support setting
> > any of bits 63:32, but it's still a bug that needs to be fixed.
>
> Oh, I see it. Let me try to fix it in a new patch.

VMX patch is at [1]. SVM patch is a bit more involved, because new
32-bit code needs to clobber one additional register. The SVM patch is
attached to this message, but while I compile tested it, I have no
means of testing it with runtime tests. Can you please put it through
your torture tests?

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250820100007.356761-1-ubizjak@gmail.com/

Uros.

View attachment "svm-vmenter.diff.txt" of type "text/plain" (1763 bytes)