Re: [PATCH v9 09/17] x86/split_lock: Handle #AC exception for split lock

Sean Christopherson
2019-10-16T15:41:22Z

On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 04:08:14PM +0200, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
> SIGBUS (actually a new KVM_EXIT_INTERNAL_ERROR result from KVM_RUN is
> better, but that's the idea) is for when you're debugging guests.
> Global disable (or alternatively, disable SMT) is for production use.

Alternatively, for guests without split-lock #AC enabled, what if KVM were
to emulate the faulting instruction with split-lock detection temporarily
disabled?

The emulator can presumably handle all such lock instructions, and an
unhandled instruction would naturally exit to userspace.

The latency of VM-Enter+VM-Exit should be enough to guard against DoS from
a malicious guest. KVM could also artificially rate-limit a guest that is
generating copious amounts of split-lock #ACs.