[PATCH v10 00/12] VMSCAPE optimization for BHI variant

Pawan Gupta
2026-04-14T07:05:19Z

v10:
- Add patches to define EXPORT_STATIC_CALL_FOR_MODULES() and
EXPORT_STATIC_CALL_FOR_KVM(), so that vmscape_predictor_flush static key
is only accessible to KVM and not to other kernel modules. (PeterZ)
(Borisov earlier objected to exporting the static key to all modules, but
now the static key is only exported to KVM. I guess that resolves the
concern.)
- Avoid an explicit call to vmscape_mitigation_enabled() and instead use
static_call_query() in VMexit hot path. (Sean)
- Drop vmscape_mitigation_enabled(), as it is no longer needed.
- Rebased to v7.0

v9: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260402-vmscape-bhb-v9-0-94d16bc29774@linux.intel.com
- Use global variables for BHB loop counters instead of ALTERNATIVE-based
approach. (Dave & others)
- Use 32-bit registers (%eax/%ecx) for loop counters, loaded via movzbl
from 8-bit globals. 8-bit registers (e.g. %ah in the inner loop) caused
performance regression on certain CPUs due to partial-register stalls. (David Laight)
- Let BPF save/restore %rax/%rcx as in the original implementation, since
it is the only caller that needs these registers preserved across the
BHB clearing sequence.
- Drop Reviewed-by from patch 2/10 as the implementation changed significantly.
- Apply Tested-by from Jon Kohler to the series (except patch 2/10).
- Fix commit message grammar. (Borislav)
- Rebased to v7.0-rc6.

v8: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260324-vmscape-bhb-v8-0-68bb524b3ab9@linux.intel.com
- Use helper in KVM to convey the mitigation status. (PeterZ/Borisov)
- Fix the documentation for default vmscape mitigation. (BPF bot)
- Remove the stray lines in bug.c (BPF bot).
- Updated commit messages and comments.
- Rebased to v7.0-rc5.

v7: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260319-vmscape-bhb-v7-0-b76a777a98af@linux.intel.com
- s/This allows/Allow/ and s/This does adds/This adds/ in patch 1/10 commit
message (Borislav).
- Minimize register usage in BHB clearing seq. (David Laight)
- Instead of separate ecx/eax counters, use al/ah.
- Adjust the alignment of RET due to register size change.
- save/restore rax in the seq itself.
- Remove the save/restore of rax/rcx for BPF callers.
- Rename clear_bhb_loop() to clear_bhb_loop_nofence() to make it
obvious that the LFENCE is not part of the sequence (Borislav).
- Fix Kconfig: s/select/depends on/ HAVE_STATIC_CALL (PeterZ).
- Rebased to v7.0-rc4.

v6: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251201-vmscape-bhb-v6-0-d610dd515714@linux.intel.com
- Remove semicolon at the end of asm in ALTERNATIVE (Uros).
- Fix build warning in vmscape_select_mitigation() (LKP).
- Rebased to v6.18.

v5: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251126-vmscape-bhb-v5-2-02d66e423b00@linux.intel.com
- For BHI seq, limit runtime-patching to loop counts only (Dave).
Dropped 2 patches that moved the BHB seq to a macro.
- Remove redundant switch cases in vmscape_select_mitigation() (Nikolay).
- Improve commit message (Nikolay).
- Collected tags.

v4: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251119-vmscape-bhb-v4-0-1adad4e69ddc@linux.intel.com
- Move LFENCE to the callsite, out of clear_bhb_loop(). (Dave)
- Make clear_bhb_loop() work for larger BHB. (Dave)
This now uses hardware enumeration to determine the BHB size to clear.
- Use write_ibpb() instead of indirect_branch_prediction_barrier() when
IBPB is known to be available. (Dave)
- Use static_call() to simplify mitigation at exit-to-userspace. (Dave)
- Refactor vmscape_select_mitigation(). (Dave)
- Fix vmscape=on which was wrongly behaving as AUTO. (Dave)
- Split the patches. (Dave)
- Patch 1-4 prepares for making the sequence flexible for VMSCAPE use.
- Patch 5 trivial rename of variable.
- Patch 6-8 prepares for deploying BHB mitigation for VMSCAPE.
- Patch 9 deploys the mitigation.
- Patch 10-11 fixes ON Vs AUTO mode.

v3: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251027-vmscape-bhb-v3-0-5793c2534e93@linux.intel.com
- s/x86_pred_flush_pending/x86_predictor_flush_exit_to_user/ (Sean).
- Removed IBPB & BHB-clear mutual exclusion at exit-to-userspace.
- Collected tags.

v2: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251015-vmscape-bhb-v2-0-91cbdd9c3a96@linux.intel.com
- Added check for IBPB feature in vmscape_select_mitigation(). (David)
- s/vmscape=auto/vmscape=on/ (David)
- Added patch to remove LFENCE from VMSCAPE BHB-clear sequence.
- Rebased to v6.18-rc1.

v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250924-vmscape-bhb-v1-0-da51f0e1934d@linux.intel.com

Hi All,

These patches aim to improve the performance of a recent mitigation for
VMSCAPE[1] vulnerability. This improvement is relevant for BHI variant of
VMSCAPE that affect Alder Lake and newer processors.

The current mitigation approach uses IBPB on kvm-exit-to-userspace for all
affected range of CPUs. This is an overkill for CPUs that are only affected
by the BHI variant. On such CPUs clearing the branch history is sufficient
for VMSCAPE, and also more apt as the underlying issue is due to poisoned
branch history.

Below is the iPerf data for transfer between guest and host, comparing IBPB
and BHB-clear mitigation. BHB-clear shows performance improvement over IBPB
in most cases.

Platform: Emerald Rapids
Baseline: vmscape=off
Target: IBPB at VMexit-to-userspace Vs the new BHB-clear at
VMexit-to-userspace mitigation (both compared against baseline).

(pN = N parallel connections)

| iPerf user-net | IBPB | BHB Clear |
|----------------|---------|-----------|
| UDP 1-vCPU_p1 | -12.5% | 1.3% |
| TCP 1-vCPU_p1 | -10.4% | -1.5% |
| TCP 1-vCPU_p1 | -7.5% | -3.0% |
| UDP 4-vCPU_p16 | -3.7% | -3.7% |
| TCP 4-vCPU_p4 | -2.9% | -1.4% |
| UDP 4-vCPU_p4 | -0.6% | 0.0% |
| TCP 4-vCPU_p4 | 3.5% | 0.0% |

| iPerf bridge-net | IBPB | BHB Clear |
|------------------|---------|-----------|
| UDP 1-vCPU_p1 | -9.4% | -0.4% |
| TCP 1-vCPU_p1 | -3.9% | -0.5% |
| UDP 4-vCPU_p16 | -2.2% | -3.8% |
| TCP 4-vCPU_p4 | -1.0% | -1.0% |
| TCP 4-vCPU_p4 | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| UDP 4-vCPU_p4 | 0.0% | 0.9% |
| TCP 1-vCPU_p1 | 0.0% | 0.9% |

| iPerf vhost-net | IBPB | BHB Clear |
|-----------------|---------|-----------|
| UDP 1-vCPU_p1 | -4.3% | 1.0% |
| TCP 1-vCPU_p1 | -3.8% | -0.5% |
| TCP 1-vCPU_p1 | -2.7% | -0.7% |
| UDP 4-vCPU_p16 | -0.7% | -2.2% |
| TCP 4-vCPU_p4 | -0.4% | 0.8% |
| UDP 4-vCPU_p4 | 0.4% | -0.7% |
| TCP 4-vCPU_p4 | 0.0% | 0.6% |

[1] https://comsec.ethz.ch/research/microarch/vmscape-exposing-and-exploiting-incomplete-branch-predictor-isolation-in-cloud-environments/

---
Pawan Gupta (12):
x86/bhi: x86/vmscape: Move LFENCE out of clear_bhb_loop()
x86/bhi: Make clear_bhb_loop() effective on newer CPUs
x86/bhi: Rename clear_bhb_loop() to clear_bhb_loop_nofence()
x86/vmscape: Rename x86_ibpb_exit_to_user to x86_predictor_flush_exit_to_user
x86/vmscape: Move mitigation selection to a switch()
x86/vmscape: Use write_ibpb() instead of indirect_branch_prediction_barrier()
static_call: Add EXPORT_STATIC_CALL_FOR_MODULES()
kvm: Define EXPORT_STATIC_CALL_FOR_KVM()
x86/vmscape: Use static_call() for predictor flush
x86/vmscape: Deploy BHB clearing mitigation
x86/vmscape: Resolve conflict between attack-vectors and vmscape=force
x86/vmscape: Add cmdline vmscape=on to override attack vector controls

Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/vmscape.rst | 15 ++++-
Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt | 6 +-
arch/x86/Kconfig | 1 +
arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S | 21 ++++---
arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h | 2 +-
arch/x86/include/asm/entry-common.h | 13 ++--
arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_types.h | 1 +
arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h | 15 +++--
arch/x86/kernel/cpu/bugs.c | 84 +++++++++++++++++++++----
arch/x86/kvm/x86.c | 4 +-
arch/x86/net/bpf_jit_comp.c | 4 +-
include/linux/kvm_types.h | 13 +++-
include/linux/static_call.h | 8 +++
13 files changed, 150 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: 028ef9c96e96197026887c0f092424679298aae8
change-id: 20250916-vmscape-bhb-d7d469977f2f

Best regards,
--
Thanks,
Pawan