[PATCH v16 19/51] KVM: x86: Don't emulate task switches when IBT or SHSTK is enabled

Sean Christopherson
2025-09-19T22:33:40Z

Exit to userspace with KVM_INTERNAL_ERROR_EMULATION if the guest triggers
task switch emulation with Indirect Branch Tracking or Shadow Stacks
enabled, as attempting to do the right thing would require non-trivial
effort and complexity, KVM doesn't support emulating CET generally, and
it's extremely unlikely that any guest will do task switches while also
utilizing CET. Defer taking on the complexity until someone cares enough
to put in the time and effort to add support.

Per the SDM:

If shadow stack is enabled, then the SSP of the task is located at the
4 bytes at offset 104 in the 32-bit TSS and is used by the processor to
establish the SSP when a task switch occurs from a task associated with
this TSS. Note that the processor does not write the SSP of the task
initiating the task switch to the TSS of that task, and instead the SSP
of the previous task is pushed onto the shadow stack of the new task.

Note, per the SDM's pseudocode on TASK SWITCHING, IBT state for the new
privilege level is updated. To keep things simple, check both S_CET and
U_CET (again, anyone that wants more precise checking can have the honor
of implementing support).

Reported-by: Binbin Wu <binbin.wu@linux.intel.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/819bd98b-2a60-4107-8e13-41f1e4c706b1@linux.intel.com
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
---
arch/x86/kvm/x86.c | 35 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
1 file changed, 28 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
index d2cccc7594d4..0c060e506f9d 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
@@ -12178,6 +12178,25 @@ int kvm_task_switch(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u16 tss_selector, int idt_index,
struct x86_emulate_ctxt *ctxt = vcpu->arch.emulate_ctxt;
int ret;

+ if (kvm_is_cr4_bit_set(vcpu, X86_CR4_CET)) {
+ u64 u_cet, s_cet;
+
+ /*
+ * Check both User and Supervisor on task switches as inter-
+ * privilege level task switches are impacted by CET at both
+ * the current privilege level and the new privilege level, and
+ * that information is not known at this time. The expectation
+ * is that the guest won't require emulation of task switches
+ * while using IBT or Shadow Stacks.
+ */
+ if (__kvm_emulate_msr_read(vcpu, MSR_IA32_U_CET, &u_cet) ||
+ __kvm_emulate_msr_read(vcpu, MSR_IA32_S_CET, &s_cet))
+ return EMULATION_FAILED;
+
+ if ((u_cet | s_cet) & CET_SHSTK_EN)
+ goto unhandled_task_switch;
+ }
+
init_emulate_ctxt(vcpu);

ret = emulator_task_switch(ctxt, tss_selector, idt_index, reason,
@@ -12187,17 +12206,19 @@ int kvm_task_switch(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u16 tss_selector, int idt_index,
* Report an error userspace if MMIO is needed, as KVM doesn't support
* MMIO during a task switch (or any other complex operation).
*/
- if (ret || vcpu->mmio_needed) {
- vcpu->mmio_needed = false;
- vcpu->run->exit_reason = KVM_EXIT_INTERNAL_ERROR;
- vcpu->run->internal.suberror = KVM_INTERNAL_ERROR_EMULATION;
- vcpu->run->internal.ndata = 0;
- return 0;
- }
+ if (ret || vcpu->mmio_needed)
+ goto unhandled_task_switch;

kvm_rip_write(vcpu, ctxt->eip);
kvm_set_rflags(vcpu, ctxt->eflags);
return 1;
+
+unhandled_task_switch:
+ vcpu->mmio_needed = false;
+ vcpu->run->exit_reason = KVM_EXIT_INTERNAL_ERROR;
+ vcpu->run->internal.suberror = KVM_INTERNAL_ERROR_EMULATION;
+ vcpu->run->internal.ndata = 0;
+ return 0;
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(kvm_task_switch);

--
2.51.0.470.ga7dc726c21-goog