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From: Pawan Gupta <pawan.kumar.gupta@linux.intel.com>
To: x86@kernel.org, Jon Kohler <jon@nutanix.com>,
	Nikolay Borisov <nik.borisov@suse.com>,
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>,
	Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>,
	David Kaplan <david.kaplan@amd.com>,
	Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>,
	Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>,
	Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
	Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>,
	Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>,
	Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>,
	Andrii Nakryiko <andrii@kernel.org>,
	KP Singh <kpsingh@kernel.org>, Jiri Olsa <jolsa@kernel.org>,
	"David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
	David Laight <david.laight.linux@gmail.com>,
	Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@kernel.org>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>,
	David Ahern <dsahern@kernel.org>,
	Martin KaFai Lau <martin.lau@linux.dev>,
	Eduard Zingerman <eddyz87@gmail.com>, Song Liu <song@kernel.org>,
	Yonghong Song <yonghong.song@linux.dev>,
	John Fastabend <john.fastabend@gmail.com>,
	Stanislav Fomichev <sdf@fomichev.me>, Hao Luo <haoluo@google.com>,
	Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>,
	Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, kvm@vger.kernel.org,
	Asit Mallick <asit.k.mallick@intel.com>,
	Tao Zhang <tao1.zhang@intel.com>,
	bpf@vger.kernel.org, netdev@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-doc@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v8 01/10] x86/bhi: x86/vmscape: Move LFENCE out of clear_bhb_loop()
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2026 11:16:36 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260324-vmscape-bhb-v8-1-68bb524b3ab9@linux.intel.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260324-vmscape-bhb-v8-0-68bb524b3ab9@linux.intel.com>

Currently, BHB clearing sequence is followed by an LFENCE to prevent
transient execution of subsequent indirect branches prematurely. However,
LFENCE barrier could be unnecessary in certain cases. For example, when
kernel is using BHI_DIS_S mitigation, and BHB clearing is only needed for
userspace. In such cases, LFENCE is redundant because ring transitions
would provide the necessary serialization.

Below is a quick recap of BHI mitigation options:

  On Alder Lake and newer

  - BHI_DIS_S: Hardware control to mitigate BHI in ring0. This has low
	       performance overhead.
  - Long loop: Alternatively, longer version of BHB clearing sequence
	       can be used to mitigate BHI. It can also be used to mitigate
	       BHI variant of VMSCAPE. This is not yet implemented in
	       Linux.

  On older CPUs

  - Short loop: Clears BHB at kernel entry and VMexit. The "Long loop" is
		effective on older CPUs as well, but should be avoided
		because of unnecessary overhead.

On Alder Lake and newer CPUs, eIBRS isolates the indirect targets between
guest and host. But when affected by the BHI variant of VMSCAPE, a guest's
branch history may still influence indirect branches in userspace. This
also means the big hammer IBPB could be replaced with a cheaper option that
clears the BHB at exit-to-userspace after a VMexit.

In preparation for adding the support for BHB sequence (without LFENCE) on
newer CPUs, move the LFENCE to the caller side after clear_bhb_loop() is
executed. Allow callers to decide whether they need the LFENCE or
not. This adds a few extra bytes to the call sites, but it obviates
the need for multiple variants of clear_bhb_loop().

Suggested-by: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
Reviewed-by: Nikolay Borisov <nik.borisov@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Pawan Gupta <pawan.kumar.gupta@linux.intel.com>
---
 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S            | 5 ++++-
 arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h | 4 ++--
 arch/x86/net/bpf_jit_comp.c          | 2 ++
 3 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S b/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S
index 42447b1e1dff..3a180a36ca0e 100644
--- a/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S
+++ b/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S
@@ -1528,6 +1528,9 @@ SYM_CODE_END(rewind_stack_and_make_dead)
  * refactored in the future if needed. The .skips are for safety, to ensure
  * that all RETs are in the second half of a cacheline to mitigate Indirect
  * Target Selection, rather than taking the slowpath via its_return_thunk.
+ *
+ * Note, callers should use a speculation barrier like LFENCE immediately after
+ * a call to this function to ensure BHB is cleared before indirect branches.
  */
 SYM_FUNC_START(clear_bhb_loop)
 	ANNOTATE_NOENDBR
@@ -1562,7 +1565,7 @@ SYM_FUNC_START(clear_bhb_loop)
 	sub	$1, %ecx
 	jnz	1b
 .Lret2:	RET
-5:	lfence
+5:
 	pop	%rbp
 	RET
 SYM_FUNC_END(clear_bhb_loop)
diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h
index 4f4b5e8a1574..70b377fcbc1c 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h
@@ -331,11 +331,11 @@
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_X86_64
 .macro CLEAR_BRANCH_HISTORY
-	ALTERNATIVE "", "call clear_bhb_loop", X86_FEATURE_CLEAR_BHB_LOOP
+	ALTERNATIVE "", "call clear_bhb_loop; lfence", X86_FEATURE_CLEAR_BHB_LOOP
 .endm
 
 .macro CLEAR_BRANCH_HISTORY_VMEXIT
-	ALTERNATIVE "", "call clear_bhb_loop", X86_FEATURE_CLEAR_BHB_VMEXIT
+	ALTERNATIVE "", "call clear_bhb_loop; lfence", X86_FEATURE_CLEAR_BHB_VMEXIT
 .endm
 #else
 #define CLEAR_BRANCH_HISTORY
diff --git a/arch/x86/net/bpf_jit_comp.c b/arch/x86/net/bpf_jit_comp.c
index e9b78040d703..63d6c9fa5e80 100644
--- a/arch/x86/net/bpf_jit_comp.c
+++ b/arch/x86/net/bpf_jit_comp.c
@@ -1624,6 +1624,8 @@ static int emit_spectre_bhb_barrier(u8 **pprog, u8 *ip,
 
 		if (emit_call(&prog, func, ip))
 			return -EINVAL;
+		/* Don't speculate past this until BHB is cleared */
+		EMIT_LFENCE();
 		EMIT1(0x59); /* pop rcx */
 		EMIT1(0x58); /* pop rax */
 	}

-- 
2.34.1



  reply	other threads:[~2026-03-24 18:16 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 30+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-03-24 18:16 [PATCH v8 00/10] VMSCAPE optimization for BHI variant Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:16 ` Pawan Gupta [this message]
2026-03-24 20:22   ` [PATCH v8 01/10] x86/bhi: x86/vmscape: Move LFENCE out of clear_bhb_loop() Borislav Petkov
2026-03-24 21:30     ` Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:16 ` [PATCH v8 02/10] x86/bhi: Make clear_bhb_loop() effective on newer CPUs Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 20:59   ` Borislav Petkov
2026-03-24 22:13     ` Pawan Gupta
2026-03-25 20:37       ` Borislav Petkov
2026-03-25 22:40         ` David Laight
2026-03-26  8:39         ` Pawan Gupta
2026-03-26  9:15           ` David Laight
2026-03-26 10:01           ` Borislav Petkov
2026-03-26 10:45             ` David Laight
2026-03-25 17:50   ` Jim Mattson
2026-03-25 18:44     ` Pawan Gupta
2026-03-25 19:41     ` David Laight
2026-03-25 22:29       ` Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:17 ` [PATCH v8 03/10] x86/bhi: Rename clear_bhb_loop() to clear_bhb_loop_nofence() Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:17 ` [PATCH v8 04/10] x86/vmscape: Rename x86_ibpb_exit_to_user to x86_predictor_flush_exit_to_user Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:17 ` [PATCH v8 05/10] x86/vmscape: Move mitigation selection to a switch() Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:17 ` [PATCH v8 06/10] x86/vmscape: Use write_ibpb() instead of indirect_branch_prediction_barrier() Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:18 ` [PATCH v8 07/10] x86/vmscape: Use static_call() for predictor flush Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 19:09   ` bot+bpf-ci
2026-03-24 19:51     ` Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:18 ` [PATCH v8 08/10] x86/vmscape: Deploy BHB clearing mitigation Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 19:09   ` bot+bpf-ci
2026-03-24 19:46     ` Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:18 ` [PATCH v8 09/10] x86/vmscape: Resolve conflict between attack-vectors and vmscape=force Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 18:19 ` [PATCH v8 10/10] x86/vmscape: Add cmdline vmscape=on to override attack vector controls Pawan Gupta
2026-03-24 19:09   ` bot+bpf-ci

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