[PATCH 6.12 227/567] KVM: nVMX: Immediately refresh APICv controls as needed on nested VM-Exit

Greg Kroah-Hartman
2026-01-06T17:26:46Z

From: Dongli Zhang <dongli.zhang@oracle.com>

commit 29763138830916f46daaa50e83e7f4f907a3236b upstream.

If an APICv status updated was pended while L2 was active, immediately
refresh vmcs01's controls instead of pending KVM_REQ_APICV_UPDATE as
kvm_vcpu_update_apicv() only calls into vendor code if a change is
necessary.

E.g. if APICv is inhibited, and then activated while L2 is running:

kvm_vcpu_update_apicv()
|
-> __kvm_vcpu_update_apicv()
|
-> apic->apicv_active = true
|
-> vmx_refresh_apicv_exec_ctrl()
|
-> vmx->nested.update_vmcs01_apicv_status = true
|
-> return

Then L2 exits to L1:

__nested_vmx_vmexit()
|
-> kvm_make_request(KVM_REQ_APICV_UPDATE)

vcpu_enter_guest(): KVM_REQ_APICV_UPDATE
-> kvm_vcpu_update_apicv()
|
-> __kvm_vcpu_update_apicv()
|
-> return // because if (apic->apicv_active == activate)

Reported-by: Chao Gao <chao.gao@intel.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aQ2jmnN8wUYVEawF@intel.com
Fixes: 7c69661e225c ("KVM: nVMX: Defer APICv updates while L2 is active until L1 is active")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Dongli Zhang <dongli.zhang@oracle.com>
[sean: write changelog]
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251205231913.441872-3-seanjc@google.com
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
---
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c | 3 ++-
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
#include "trace.h"
#include "vmx.h"
#include "smm.h"
+#include "x86_ops.h"

static bool __read_mostly enable_shadow_vmcs = 1;
module_param_named(enable_shadow_vmcs, enable_shadow_vmcs, bool, S_IRUGO);
@@ -5051,7 +5052,7 @@ void nested_vmx_vmexit(struct kvm_vcpu *

if (vmx->nested.update_vmcs01_apicv_status) {
vmx->nested.update_vmcs01_apicv_status = false;
- kvm_make_request(KVM_REQ_APICV_UPDATE, vcpu);
+ vmx_refresh_apicv_exec_ctrl(vcpu);
}

if (vmx->nested.update_vmcs01_hwapic_isr) {