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From: Yosry Ahmed <yosry.ahmed@linux.dev>
To: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Cc: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>,
	kvm@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	Yosry Ahmed <yosry.ahmed@linux.dev>
Subject: [PATCH v2 1/2] KVM: SVM: Triple fault L1 on unintercepted EFER.SVME clear by L2
Date: Mon,  9 Feb 2026 19:51:41 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260209195142.2554532-2-yosry.ahmed@linux.dev> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260209195142.2554532-1-yosry.ahmed@linux.dev>

KVM tracks when EFER.SVME is set and cleared to initialize and tear down
nested state. However, it doesn't differentiate if EFER.SVME is getting
toggled in L1 or L2+. If L2 clears EFER.SVME, and L1 does not intercept
the EFER write, KVM exits guest mode and tears down nested state while
L2 is running, executing L1 without injecting a proper #VMEXIT.

According to the APM:

    The effect of turning off EFER.SVME while a guest is running is
    undefined; therefore, the VMM should always prevent guests from
    writing EFER.

Since the behavior is architecturally undefined, KVM gets to choose what
to do. Inject a triple fault into L1 as a more graceful option that
running L1 with corrupted state.

Co-developed-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Yosry Ahmed <yosry.ahmed@linux.dev>
---
 arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c | 11 +++++++++++
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c b/arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c
index 5f0136dbdde6..ccd73a3be3f9 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c
@@ -216,6 +216,17 @@ int svm_set_efer(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u64 efer)
 
 	if ((old_efer & EFER_SVME) != (efer & EFER_SVME)) {
 		if (!(efer & EFER_SVME)) {
+			/*
+			 * Architecturally, clearing EFER.SVME while a guest is
+			 * running yields undefined behavior, i.e. KVM can do
+			 * literally anything.  Force the vCPU back into L1 as
+			 * that is the safest option for KVM, but synthesize a
+			 * triple fault (for L1!) so that KVM at least doesn't
+			 * run random L2 code in the context of L1.
+			 */
+			if (is_guest_mode(vcpu))
+				kvm_make_request(KVM_REQ_TRIPLE_FAULT, vcpu);
+
 			svm_leave_nested(vcpu);
 			/* #GP intercept is still needed for vmware backdoor */
 			if (!enable_vmware_backdoor)
-- 
2.53.0.rc2.204.g2597b5adb4-goog


  reply	other threads:[~2026-02-09 19:53 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 10+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-02-09 19:51 [PATCH v2 0/2] KVM: nSVM: Handle L2 clearing EFER.SVME properly Yosry Ahmed
2026-02-09 19:51 ` Yosry Ahmed [this message]
2026-02-26 16:36   ` [PATCH v2 1/2] KVM: SVM: Triple fault L1 on unintercepted EFER.SVME clear by L2 Yosry Ahmed
2026-02-26 18:20     ` Sean Christopherson
2026-02-27 20:03       ` Yosry Ahmed
2026-02-28  0:41         ` Sean Christopherson
2026-02-28  0:46           ` Yosry Ahmed
2026-03-02 22:48             ` Sean Christopherson
2026-02-09 19:51 ` [PATCH v2 2/2] KVM: selftests: Add a test for L2 clearing EFER.SVME without intercept Yosry Ahmed
2026-03-05 17:08 ` [PATCH v2 0/2] KVM: nSVM: Handle L2 clearing EFER.SVME properly Sean Christopherson

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