Re: [PATCH v9 02/10] x86/bhi: Make clear_bhb_loop() effective on newer CPUs

Pawan Gupta
2026-04-07T19:11:37Z

On Tue, Apr 07, 2026 at 11:40:57AM -0700, Jim Mattson wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 7, 2026 at 10:12 AM Pawan Gupta
> <pawan.kumar.gupta@linux.intel.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 07, 2026 at 09:46:07AM -0700, Jim Mattson wrote:
> > > On Tue, Apr 7, 2026 at 9:40 AM Pawan Gupta
> > > <pawan.kumar.gupta@linux.intel.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, Apr 06, 2026 at 07:23:25AM -0700, Jim Mattson wrote:
> > > > > Yes, but the guest needs a way to determine whether the hypervisor
> > > > > will do what's necessary to make the short sequence effective. And, in
> > > > > particular, no KVM hypervisor today is prepared to do that.
> > > > >
> > > > > When running under a hypervisor, without BHI_CTRL and without any
> > > > > evidence to the contrary, the guest must assume that the longer
> > > > > sequence is necessary. At the very least, we need a CPUID or MSR bit
> > > > > that says, "the short BHB clearing sequence is adequate for this
> > > > > vCPU."
> > > >
> > > > After discussing this internally, the consensus is that the best path
> > > > forward is to add virtual SPEC_CTRL support to KVM, which also aligns with
> > > > Intel's guidance. In the long term, virtual SPEC_CTRL can benefit future
> > > > mitigations as well. As with many other mitigations (e.g. microcode), the
> > > > guest would rely on the host to enforce the appropriate protections.
> > >
> > > I don't think it's reasonable for the guest to rely on a future
> > > implementation to enforce the appropriate protections.
> > >
> > > This is already a problem today. If a guest sees that BHI_CTRL is
> > > unavailable, it will deploy the short BHB clearing sequence and
> > > declare that the vulnerability is mitigated. That isn't true if the
> > > guest is running on Alder Lake or newer.
> >
> > In any case, there is a change required in the kernel either for the guest
> > or the host, they both are future implementations. Why not implement the
> > one that is more future proof.
>
> There will always be old hypervisors. True future-proofing requires
> that the guest be able to distinguish an old hypervisor from a new
> one.
>
> My proposal is as follows:
>
> 1. The (advanced) hypervisor can advertise to the guest (via CPUID bit
> or MSR bit) that the short BHB clearing sequence is adequate. This may
> mean either that the VM will only be hosted on pre-Alder Lake hardware
> or that the hypervisor will set BHI_DIS_S behind the back of the
> guest. Presumably, this bit would not be reported if BHI_CTRL is
> advertised to the guest.
> 2. If the guest sees this bit, then it can use the short sequence. If
> it doesn't see this bit, it must use the long sequence.

Thats a good middle ground. Let me check with folks internally what they
think about defining a new software-only bit.

Third case, for a guest that doesn't want BHI_DIS_S, userspace should be
allowed to override setting BHI_DIS_S. Then this proposed bit can indicate
that long sequence is required.