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From: Jim Mattson <jmattson@google.com>
To: seanjc@google.com, pbonzini@redhat.com
Cc: chao.gao@intel.com, kvm@vger.kernel.org,
	Jim Mattson <jmattson@google.com>
Subject: [PATCH v5 2/2] KVM: VMX: Cap VMX preemption timer to work around Intel erratum
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2026 16:49:14 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260724234914.987987-3-jmattson@google.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260724234914.987987-1-jmattson@google.com>

Due to a widespread Intel erratum (e.g. EMR158), programming the
VMX-preemption timer with certain large values may cause the timer to
expire earlier than expected.  The recommended workaround is to cap the
VMX-preemption timer value to strictly less than 2^25 * CPUID.15H:EBX[31:0]
/ CPUID.15H:EAX[31:0].

Calculate preemption_timer_limit during hardware setup based on CPUID 15H
when available, and return -ERANGE in vmx_set_hv_timer() if the shifted
delta_tsc reaches or exceeds preemption_timer_limit.

Use preemption_timer_limit - 1 instead of 0xffffffff when soft-disabling
the timer and when checking the timer frequency limit in hardware setup.

Reported-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/Zn9X0yFxZi_Mrlnt@google.com/
Suggested-by: Chao Gao <chao.gao@intel.com>
Assisted-by: Gemini:Gemini-Next
Reviewed-by: Chao Gao <chao.gao@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Jim Mattson <jmattson@google.com>
---
 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c | 34 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
index a07faa066ef0..ebe83a641473 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ module_param(dump_invalid_vmcs, bool, 0644);
 #ifdef CONFIG_X86_64
 static int __read_mostly cpu_preemption_timer_multi;
 static bool __read_mostly enable_preemption_timer = 1;
+static u64 __ro_after_init preemption_timer_limit;
 module_param_named(preemption_timer, enable_preemption_timer, bool, S_IRUGO);
 #else
 #define enable_preemption_timer false
@@ -8306,6 +8307,26 @@ static inline int u64_shl_div_u64(u64 a, unsigned int shift,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Workaround for a widespread Intel erratum (e.g. EMR158) where the
+ * VMX-preemption timer may expire earlier than expected when programmed
+ * with large values. The workaround is to cap the timer value to strictly
+ * less than 2^25 * CPUID.15H:EBX / CPUID.15H:EAX.
+ */
+static __init u64 calc_preemption_timer_limit(void)
+{
+	u32 eax, ebx, ecx, edx;
+
+	if (cpuid_eax(0) < 0x15)
+		return 1ULL << 32;
+
+	cpuid(0x15, &eax, &ebx, &ecx, &edx);
+	if (!eax || !ebx)
+		return 1ULL << 32;
+
+	return min_t(u64, 1ULL << 32, ((u64)ebx << 25) / eax);
+}
+
 static __init void vmx_setup_preemption_timer(void)
 {
 	if (!cpu_has_vmx_preemption_timer())
@@ -8317,6 +8338,8 @@ static __init void vmx_setup_preemption_timer(void)
 		cpu_preemption_timer_multi =
 			vmx_misc_preemption_timer_rate(vmcs_config.misc);
 
+		preemption_timer_limit = calc_preemption_timer_limit();
+
 		if (tsc_khz)
 			use_timer_freq = (u64)tsc_khz * 1000;
 		use_timer_freq >>= cpu_preemption_timer_multi;
@@ -8326,7 +8349,8 @@ static __init void vmx_setup_preemption_timer(void)
 		 * value.  Don't use the timer if it might cause spurious exits
 		 * at a rate faster than 0.1 Hz (of uninterrupted guest time).
 		 */
-		if (use_timer_freq > 0xffffffffu / 10)
+		if (!preemption_timer_limit ||
+		    use_timer_freq > (preemption_timer_limit - 1) / 10)
 			enable_preemption_timer = false;
 	}
 
@@ -8363,12 +8387,12 @@ int vmx_set_hv_timer(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u64 guest_deadline_tsc,
 		return -ERANGE;
 
 	/*
-	 * If the delta tsc can't fit in the 32 bit after the multi shift,
-	 * we can't use the preemption timer.
+	 * If the delta tsc exceeds the preemption timer limit after the
+	 * multi shift, we can't use the preemption timer.
 	 * It's possible that it fits on later vmentries, but checking
 	 * on every vmentry is costly so we just use an hrtimer.
 	 */
-	if (delta_tsc >> (cpu_preemption_timer_multi + 32))
+	if ((delta_tsc >> cpu_preemption_timer_multi) >= preemption_timer_limit)
 		return -ERANGE;
 
 	vmx->hv_deadline_tsc = tscl + delta_tsc;
@@ -8402,7 +8426,7 @@ static void vmx_update_hv_timer(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, bool force_immediate_exit
 		vmcs_write32(VMX_PREEMPTION_TIMER_VALUE, delta_tsc);
 		vmx->loaded_vmcs->hv_timer_soft_disabled = false;
 	} else if (!vmx->loaded_vmcs->hv_timer_soft_disabled) {
-		vmcs_write32(VMX_PREEMPTION_TIMER_VALUE, -1);
+		vmcs_write32(VMX_PREEMPTION_TIMER_VALUE, preemption_timer_limit - 1);
 		vmx->loaded_vmcs->hv_timer_soft_disabled = true;
 	}
 }
-- 
2.55.0.229.g6434b31f56-goog


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-07-24 23:49 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 9+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-24 23:49 [PATCH v5 0/2] Compute safe bound for VMX preemption timer Jim Mattson
2026-07-24 23:49 ` [PATCH v5 1/2] KVM: VMX: Bury all of the VMX preemption timer code under CONFIG_X86_64=y Jim Mattson
2026-07-28  5:16   ` Chao Gao
2026-07-28  7:13   ` Binbin Wu
2026-07-24 23:49 ` Jim Mattson [this message]
2026-07-28  7:22   ` [PATCH v5 2/2] KVM: VMX: Cap VMX preemption timer to work around Intel erratum Binbin Wu
2026-07-28 15:03   ` Sean Christopherson
2026-07-28 15:28     ` Jim Mattson
2026-07-28 15:40       ` Sean Christopherson

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