linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v4 10/11] x86/vmscape: Override conflicting attack-vector controls with =force

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Message-ID: <17aef174-3165-41e6-a3f2-d652a56bba63@suse.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2025 20:04:04 +0200
From: Nikolay Borisov <nik.borisov@...e.com>
To: Pawan Gupta <pawan.kumar.gupta@...ux.intel.com>, x86@...nel.org,
 David Kaplan <david.kaplan@....com>, "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>,
 Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@...nel.org>, Sean Christopherson
 <seanjc@...gle.com>, Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>,
 Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>, Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, kvm@...r.kernel.org,
 Asit Mallick <asit.k.mallick@...el.com>, Tao Zhang <tao1.zhang@...el.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v4 10/11] x86/vmscape: Override conflicting attack-vector
 controls with =force

On 11/20/25 08:20, Pawan Gupta wrote:
> vmscape=force option currently defaults to AUTO mitigation. This is not
> correct because attack-vector controls override a mitigation when in AUTO
> mode. This prevents a user from being able to force VMSCAPE mitigation when
> it conflicts with attack-vector controls.
> 
> Kernel should deploy a forced mitigation irrespective of attack vectors.
> Instead of AUTO, use VMSCAPE_MITIGATION_ON that wins over attack-vector
> controls.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Pawan Gupta <pawan.kumar.gupta@...ux.intel.com>

Reviewed-by: Nikolay Borisov <nik.borisov@...e.com>