From: Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter@intel.com>
To: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>,
Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@kernel.org>,
Namhyung Kim <namhyung@kernel.org>,
Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@arm.com>,
Alexander Shishkin <alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com>,
Jiri Olsa <jolsa@kernel.org>, Ian Rogers <irogers@google.com>,
James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>,
Thomas Gleixner <tglx@kernel.org>, Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>,
Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
x86@kernel.org, "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>,
"Rafael J. Wysocki" <rafael@kernel.org>,
Pavel Machek <pavel@kernel.org>,
Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
Danilo Krummrich <dakr@kernel.org>,
Johan Hovold <johan@kernel.org>,
Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@linutronix.de>,
Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>,
Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>,
"Steven Rostedt (Google)" <rostedt@goodmis.org>,
"Vineeth Pillai (Google)" <vineeth@bitbyteword.org>,
Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@kernel.org>,
Andi Kleen <ak@linux.intel.com>,
linux-perf-users@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
linux-pm@vger.kernel.org, driver-core@lists.linux.dev
Subject: [PATCH 2/6] perf/x86/intel/pt: Stop tracing if VMXON has not yet happened
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2026 09:40:35 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261102074039.26983-3-adrian.hunter@intel.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20261102074039.26983-1-adrian.hunter@intel.com>
On Broadwell, which does not support Intel PT in VMX operation
(IA32_VMX_MISC[14] = 0), VMXON clears IA32_RTIT_CTL.TraceEn and any
subsequent write to IA32_RTIT_CTL causes #GP.
To avoid that, intel_pt_handle_vmx() sets pt->vmx_on so that
pt_config_start() and pt_config_stop() skip writes to
IA32_RTIT_CTL while VMX is active.
However, pt->vmx_on is set before VMXON executes. An NMI in the window
between setting pt->vmx_on and executing VMXON can then observe
vmx_on == true while tracing is still enabled.
In that case pt_config_stop() skips the write that would clear TraceEn,
leaving tracing active. This can subsequently cause:
- intel_pt_interrupt() to reprogram PT output registers while
TraceEn is set, resulting in #GP, or
- cpu_emergency_stop_pt() to leave tracing active during kdump,
allowing tracing to continue into the capture kernel.
If pt->vmx_on is set, read IA32_RTIT_CTL and still clear TraceEn when
it remains enabled. Writing IA32_RTIT_CTL is valid until VMXON
executes, while after VMXON TraceEn is guaranteed clear and cannot be
re-enabled. Consequently no write is attempted while VMX is active.
Example (on a Broadwell):
Instrument x86_vmx_enable_virtualization_cpu() to enlarge the
window e.g.
intel_pt_handle_vmx(1);
+ for (int j = 0; j < 6; j ++) {
+ int cpu = smp_processor_id();
+
+ pr_info("VMX: cpu %d: spinning %d\n", cpu, j);
+ for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++)
+ cpu_relax();
+ }
r = x86_virt_cpu_vmxon();
Start Intel PT tracing on a CPU:
perf record -e intel_pt//k -C 1 &
Load KVM:
modprobe kvm_intel
Observe kernel messages. Without the fix, there is an unchecked
MSR access:
VMX: cpu 1: spinning 0
VMX: cpu 1: spinning 1
VMX: cpu 1: spinning 2
VMX: cpu 1: spinning 3
unchecked MSR access error: WRMSR to 0x571 ...
Call Trace:
<NMI>
intel_pt_interrupt+0x190/0x490
handle_pmi_common+0x6fc/0xc10
intel_pmu_handle_irq+0x1c9/0x5e0
perf_event_nmi_handler+0x62/0x90
nmi_handle.part.0+0xbd/0x270
default_do_nmi+0x3c/0x120
exc_nmi+0xe3/0x110
<TASK>
x86_vmx_enable_virtualization_cpu+0x88/0xd0
x86_virt_get_ref+0x3f/0x80
kvm_arch_enable_virtualization_cpu+0x1c4/0x820 [kvm]
kvm_online_cpu+0x31/0x50 [kvm]
cpuhp_invoke_callback+0x25c/0xf90
cpuhp_thread_fun+0x298/0x7e0
smpboot_thread_fn+0x28c/0x6d0
kthread+0x2cb/0x3a0
ret_from_fork+0x5ff/0x7f0
Fixes: 1c5ac21a0e9b ("perf/x86/intel/pt: Don't die on VMXON")
Signed-off-by: Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter@intel.com>
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
---
arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c | 16 +++++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c b/arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c
index 49349afee611..36bf039668d7 100644
--- a/arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c
+++ b/arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c
@@ -567,6 +567,15 @@ static void pt_config(struct perf_event *event)
pt_config_enable(event);
}
+static bool pt_trace_enabled(void)
+{
+ u64 ctl;
+
+ rdmsrq(MSR_IA32_RTIT_CTL, ctl);
+
+ return ctl & RTIT_CTL_TRACEEN;
+}
+
static void pt_config_stop(struct perf_event *event)
{
struct pt *pt = this_cpu_ptr(&pt_ctx);
@@ -577,7 +586,12 @@ static void pt_config_stop(struct perf_event *event)
return;
ctl &= ~RTIT_CTL_TRACEEN;
- if (!READ_ONCE(pt->vmx_on))
+ /*
+ * vmx_on is set before VMXON, so tracing may not have stopped yet.
+ * RTIT_CTL can be written until VMXON, and after VMXON TraceEn is
+ * clear, so still write RTIT_CTL if TraceEn is set.
+ */
+ if (!READ_ONCE(pt->vmx_on) || pt_trace_enabled())
wrmsrq(MSR_IA32_RTIT_CTL, ctl);
WRITE_ONCE(event->hw.aux_config, ctl);
--
2.53.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-11-02 7:41 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 30+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-11-02 7:40 [PATCH 0/6] perf/x86/intel/pt: Fix tracing across kexec, kdump and suspend Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 7:40 ` [PATCH 1/6] irq_work: Re-raise pending irq_work after system resume Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 7:51 ` sashiko-bot
2026-11-02 9:06 ` Peter Zijlstra
2026-11-02 10:54 ` Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 16:39 ` Sebastian Andrzej Siewior
2026-11-02 7:40 ` Adrian Hunter [this message]
2026-11-02 7:59 ` [PATCH 2/6] perf/x86/intel/pt: Stop tracing if VMXON has not yet happened sashiko-bot
2026-11-02 9:57 ` Peter Zijlstra
2026-11-02 11:04 ` Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 11:07 ` Peter Zijlstra
2026-11-02 7:40 ` [PATCH 3/6] perf/x86/intel/pt: Stop tracing at syscore shutdown Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 8:05 ` sashiko-bot
2026-11-02 10:04 ` Peter Zijlstra
2026-11-02 10:23 ` Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 11:01 ` Peter Zijlstra
2026-11-02 16:15 ` Andi Kleen
2026-11-02 16:27 ` Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 17:45 ` Andi Kleen
2026-11-02 18:13 ` Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 7:40 ` [PATCH 4/6] perf/x86/intel/pt: Clear TraceEn in hardware in cpu_emergency_stop_pt() Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 8:21 ` sashiko-bot
2026-11-02 10:07 ` Peter Zijlstra
2026-11-02 18:41 ` Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 7:40 ` [PATCH 5/6] perf/x86/intel/pt: Reset stale MSR state on CPU start and resume Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 8:31 ` sashiko-bot
2026-11-02 7:40 ` [PATCH 6/6] perf/x86/intel/pt: Stop tracing across system suspend Adrian Hunter
2026-11-02 8:59 ` sashiko-bot
2026-11-02 10:10 ` [PATCH 0/6] perf/x86/intel/pt: Fix tracing across kexec, kdump and suspend Peter Zijlstra
2026-11-02 12:22 ` Adrian Hunter
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