Re: [patch 00/38] x86/retbleed: Call depth tracking mitigation

Tim Chen
2022-07-22T20:11:31Z

On Mon, 2022-07-18 at 22:44 +0200, Thomas Gleixner wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 18 2022 at 12:51, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> > On Mon, Jul 18, 2022 at 12:30 PM Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> wrote:
> > > Let the compiler add a 16 byte padding in front of each function entry
> > > point and put the call depth accounting there. That avoids calling out
> > > into the module area and reduces ITLB pressure.
> >
> > Ooh.
> >
> > I actually like this a lot better.
> >
> > Could we just say "use this instead if you have SKL and care about the issue?"
> >
> > I don't hate your module thunk trick, but this does seem *so* much
> > simpler, and if it performs better anyway, it really does seem like
> > the better approach.
>
> Yes, Peter and I came from avoiding a new compiler and the overhead for
> everyone when putting the padding into the code. We realized only when
> staring at the perf data that this padding in front of the function
> might be an acceptable solution. I did some more tests today on different
> machines with mitigations=off with kernels compiled with and without
> that padding. I couldn't find a single test case where the result was
> outside of the usual noise. But then my tests are definitely incomplete.
>

Here are some performance numbers for FIO running on a SKX server with
Intel Cold Stream SSD. Padding improves performance significantly.

Tested latest depth tracking code from Thomas:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tglx/devel.git/log/?h=depthtracking
(SHA1 714d29e3e7e3faac27142424ae2533163ddd3a46)
latest gcc patch from Thomas is included at the end.

Baseline Baseline
read (kIOPs) Mean stdev mitigations=off retbleed=off CPU util
================================================================================
mitigations=off 356.33 6.35 0.00% 7.11% 98.93%
retbleed=off 332.67 5.51 -6.64% 0.00% 99.16%
retbleed=ibrs 242.00 5.57 -32.09% -27.25% 99.41%
retbleed=stuff (nopad) 281.67 4.62 -20.95% -15.33% 99.35%
retbleed=stuff (pad) 310.67 0.58 -12.82% -6.61% 99.29%

read/write Baseline Baseline
70/30 (kIOPs) Mean stdev mitigations=off retbleed=off CPU util
================================================================================
mitigations=off 340.60 8.12 0.00% 4.01% 96.80%
retbleed=off 327.47 8.03 -3.86% 0.00% 97.06%
retbleed=ibrs 239.47 0.75 -29.69% -26.87% 98.23%
retbleed=stuff (nopad) 275.20 0.69 -19.20% -15.96% 97.86%
retbleed=stuff (pad) 296.60 2.03 -12.92% -9.43% 97.14%

Baseline Baseline
write (kIOPs) Mean stdev mitigations=off retbleed=off CPU util
================================================================================
mitigations=off 299.33 4.04 0.00% 7.16% 93.51%
retbleed=off 279.33 7.51 -6.68% 0.00% 94.30%
retbleed=ibrs 231.33 0.58 -22.72% -17.18% 95.84%
retbleed=stuff (nopad) 257.67 0.58 -13.92% -7.76% 94.96%
retbleed=stuff (pad) 274.67 1.53 -8.24% -1.67% 94.31%

Tim

gcc patch from Thomas:

---
gcc/config/i386/i386.cc | 13 +++++++++++++
gcc/config/i386/i386.h | 7 +++++++
gcc/config/i386/i386.opt | 4 ++++
gcc/doc/invoke.texi | 6 ++++++
4 files changed, 30 insertions(+)

--- a/gcc/config/i386/i386.cc
+++ b/gcc/config/i386/i386.cc
@@ -6182,6 +6182,19 @@ ix86_code_end (void)
file_end_indicate_split_stack ();
}

+void
+x86_asm_output_function_prefix (FILE *asm_out_file,
+ const char *fnname ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
+{
+ if (force_function_padding)
+ {
+ fprintf (asm_out_file, "\t.align %d\n",
+ 1 << force_function_padding);
+ fprintf (asm_out_file, "\t.skip %d,0xcc\n",
+ 1 << force_function_padding);
+ }
+}
+
/* Emit code for the SET_GOT patterns. */

const char *
--- a/gcc/config/i386/i386.h
+++ b/gcc/config/i386/i386.h
@@ -2860,6 +2860,13 @@ extern enum attr_cpu ix86_schedule;
#define LIBGCC2_UNWIND_ATTRIBUTE __attribute__((target ("no-mmx,no-sse")))
#endif

+#include <stdio.h>
+extern void
+x86_asm_output_function_prefix (FILE *asm_out_file,
+ const char *fnname ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED);
+#undef ASM_OUTPUT_FUNCTION_PREFIX
+#define ASM_OUTPUT_FUNCTION_PREFIX x86_asm_output_function_prefix
+
/*
Local variables:
version-control: t
--- a/gcc/config/i386/i386.opt
+++ b/gcc/config/i386/i386.opt
@@ -1064,6 +1064,10 @@ mindirect-branch=
Target RejectNegative Joined Enum(indirect_branch) Var(ix86_indirect_branch) Init(indirect_branch_keep)
Convert indirect call and jump to call and return thunks.

+mforce-function-padding=
+Target Joined UInteger Var(force_function_padding) Init(0) IntegerRange(0, 6)
+Put a 2^$N byte padding area before each function
+
mfunction-return=
Target RejectNegative Joined Enum(indirect_branch) Var(ix86_function_return) Init(indirect_branch_keep)
Convert function return to call and return thunk.
--- a/gcc/doc/invoke.texi
+++ b/gcc/doc/invoke.texi
@@ -1451,6 +1451,7 @@ See RS/6000 and PowerPC Options.
-mindirect-branch=@var{choice} -mfunction-return=@var{choice} @gol
-mindirect-branch-register -mharden-sls=@var{choice} @gol
-mindirect-branch-cs-prefix -mneeded -mno-direct-extern-access}
+-mforce-function-padding @gol

@emph{x86 Windows Options}
@gccoptlist{-mconsole -mcygwin -mno-cygwin -mdll @gol
@@ -32849,6 +32850,11 @@ Force all calls to functions to be indir
when using Intel Processor Trace where it generates more precise timing
information for function calls.

+@item -mforce-function-padding
+@opindex -mforce-function-padding
+Force a 16 byte padding are before each function which allows run-time
+code patching to put a special prologue before the function entry.
+
@item -mmanual-endbr
@opindex mmanual-endbr
Insert ENDBR instruction at function entry only via the @code{cf_check}