Re: [PATCH v4 70/75] x86/head/64: Don't call verify_cpu() on starting APs

Kees Cook
2020-07-15T19:49:29Z

On Wed, Jul 15, 2020 at 05:48:56PM +0200, Joerg Roedel wrote:
> It is actually the CPUID instructions that cause #VC exceptions. The
> MSRs that are accessed on AMD processors are not intercepted in the
> hypervisors this code has been tested on, so these will not cause #VC
> exceptions.

Aaah. I see. Thanks for the details there. So ... can you add a bunch
more comments about why/when the new entry path is being used? I really
don't want to accidentally discover some unrelated refactoring down
the road (in months, years, unrelated to SEV, etc) starts to also skip
verify_cpu() on Intel systems. There had been a lot of BIOSes that set
this MSR to disable NX, and I don't want to repeat that pain: Linux must
never start an Intel CPU with that MSR set. :P

--
Kees Cook