[PATCH v2 1/2] KVM: VMX: Inject #UD if guest tries to execute SEAMCALL or TDCALL

Sean Christopherson
2025-10-16T18:21:53Z

Add VMX exit handlers for SEAMCALL and TDCALL to inject a #UD if a non-TD
guest attempts to execute SEAMCALL or TDCALL. Neither SEAMCALL nor TDCALL
is gated by any software enablement other than VMXON, and so will generate
a VM-Exit instead of e.g. a native #UD when executed from the guest kernel.

Note! No unprivileged DoS of the L1 kernel is possible as TDCALL and
SEAMCALL #GP at CPL > 0, and the CPL check is performed prior to the VMX
non-root (VM-Exit) check, i.e. userspace can't crash the VM. And for a
nested guest, KVM forwards unknown exits to L1, i.e. an L2 kernel can
crash itself, but not L1.

Note #2! The Intel® Trust Domain CPU Architectural Extensions spec's
pseudocode shows the CPL > 0 check for SEAMCALL coming _after_ the VM-Exit,
but that appears to be a documentation bug (likely because the CPL > 0
check was incorrectly bundled with other lower-priority #GP checks).
Testing on SPR and EMR shows that the CPL > 0 check is performed before
the VMX non-root check, i.e. SEAMCALL #GPs when executed in usermode.

Note #3! The aforementioned Trust Domain spec uses confusing pseudocode
that says that SEAMCALL will #UD if executed "inSEAM", but "inSEAM"
specifically means in SEAM Root Mode, i.e. in the TDX-Module. The long-
form description explicitly states that SEAMCALL generates an exit when
executed in "SEAM VMX non-root operation". But that's a moot point as the
TDX-Module injects #UD if the guest attempts to execute SEAMCALL, as
documented in the "Unconditionally Blocked Instructions" section of the
TDX-Module base specification.

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Kai Huang <kai.huang@intel.com>
Cc: Xiaoyao Li <xiaoyao.li@intel.com>
Cc: Rick Edgecombe <rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com>
Cc: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com>
Cc: Binbin Wu <binbin.wu@linux.intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
---
arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/vmx.h | 1 +
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c | 8 ++++++++
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c | 8 ++++++++
3 files changed, 17 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/vmx.h b/arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/vmx.h
index 9792e329343e..1baa86dfe029 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/vmx.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/vmx.h
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@
#define EXIT_REASON_TPAUSE 68
#define EXIT_REASON_BUS_LOCK 74
#define EXIT_REASON_NOTIFY 75
+#define EXIT_REASON_SEAMCALL 76
#define EXIT_REASON_TDCALL 77
#define EXIT_REASON_MSR_READ_IMM 84
#define EXIT_REASON_MSR_WRITE_IMM 85
diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c
index 76271962cb70..bcea087b642f 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c
@@ -6728,6 +6728,14 @@ static bool nested_vmx_l1_wants_exit(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu,
case EXIT_REASON_NOTIFY:
/* Notify VM exit is not exposed to L1 */
return false;
+ case EXIT_REASON_SEAMCALL:
+ case EXIT_REASON_TDCALL:
+ /*
+ * SEAMCALL and TDCALL unconditionally VM-Exit, but aren't
+ * virtualized by KVM for L1 hypervisors, i.e. L1 should
+ * never want or expect such an exit.
+ */
+ return false;
default:
return true;
}
diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
index 546272a5d34d..d1b34b7ca4a3 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
@@ -6033,6 +6033,12 @@ static int handle_vmx_instruction(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
return 1;
}

+static int handle_tdx_instruction(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
+{
+ kvm_queue_exception(vcpu, UD_VECTOR);
+ return 1;
+}
+
#ifndef CONFIG_X86_SGX_KVM
static int handle_encls(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
{
@@ -6158,6 +6164,8 @@ static int (*kvm_vmx_exit_handlers[])(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) = {
[EXIT_REASON_ENCLS] = handle_encls,
[EXIT_REASON_BUS_LOCK] = handle_bus_lock_vmexit,
[EXIT_REASON_NOTIFY] = handle_notify,
+ [EXIT_REASON_SEAMCALL] = handle_tdx_instruction,
+ [EXIT_REASON_TDCALL] = handle_tdx_instruction,
[EXIT_REASON_MSR_READ_IMM] = handle_rdmsr_imm,
[EXIT_REASON_MSR_WRITE_IMM] = handle_wrmsr_imm,
};
--
2.51.0.858.gf9c4a03a3a-goog