Re: [PATCH v2 3/4] x86/bugs: KVM: Add support for SRSO_MSR_FIX

Borislav Petkov
2024-12-17T09:35:01Z

On Mon, Dec 16, 2024 at 10:51:13AM -0800, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> but I don't see any code that would clear X86_FEATURE_SRSO_MSR_FIX. Am I missing
> something?

Ah, you want the toggles in svm_{enable,disable}_virtualization_cpu() to not
happen when the mitigation is disabled. Yeah, I guess we should clear the flag
when the mitigation is disabled...

> Gah, sorry. I suspect I got thinking about how best to "set it only when really
> needed", and got lost in analysis paralysis.

I know *exactly* what you're talking about :-P

> To some extent. But I strongly suspect that the vast, vast majority of end users
> will end up with systems that automatically load kvm.ko, but don't run VMs the
> majority of the time. Expecting non-KVM to users to detect a 1-2% regression and
> track down enable_virt_at_load doesn't seem like a winning strategy.

Yap, that was my fear too. Frankly, I don't have a really good answer to
that yet.

> The other possibility would be to wait to set the bit until a CPU is actually
> going to do VMRUN. If we use KVM's "user-return MSR" framework, the bit would
> be cleared when the CPU returns to userspace. The only downside to that is KVM
> would toggle the bit on CPUs running vCPUs on every exit to userspace, e.g. to
> emulate MMIO/IO and other things.
>
> But, userspace exits are relatively slow paths, so if the below is a wash for
> performance when running VMs, i.e. the cost of the WRMSRs is either in the noise
> or is offset by the regained 1-2% performance for userspace, then I think it's a
> no-brainer.
>
> Enabling "full" speculation on return to usersepace means non-KVM tasks won't be
> affected, and there's no "sticky" behavior. E.g. another idea would be to defer
> setting the bit until VMRUN is imminent, but then wait to clear the bit until
> virtualization is disabled. But that has the downside of the bit being set on all
> CPUs over time, especially if enable_virt_at_load is true.

Yeah, I think we should keep it simple initially and only do anything more
involved when it turns out that we really need it.

> Compile tested only...

Thanks, looks good, I'll run it after I get back from vacation to make sure
we're good and then we'll talk again. :)

--
Regards/Gruss,
Boris.