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authorSean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>2021-06-22 10:56:52 -0700
committerPaolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>2021-06-24 18:00:36 -0400
commit63f5a1909f9e465eb446274969f65471794deafb (patch)
tree02cf47afbb99d83f9c73de40c8fa99e040d21e53 /Documentation
parent49c6f8756cdffeb9af1fbcb86bacacced26465d7 (diff)
KVM: x86: Alert userspace that KVM_SET_CPUID{,2} after KVM_RUN is broken
Warn userspace that KVM_SET_CPUID{,2} after KVM_RUN "may" cause guest instability. Initialize last_vmentry_cpu to -1 and use it to detect if the vCPU has been run at least once when its CPUID model is changed. KVM does not correctly handle changes to paging related settings in the guest's vCPU model after KVM_RUN, e.g. MAXPHYADDR, GBPAGES, etc... KVM could theoretically zap all shadow pages, but actually making that happen is a mess due to lock inversion (vcpu->mutex is held). And even then, updating paging settings on the fly would only work if all vCPUs are stopped, updated in concert with identical settings, then restarted. To support running vCPUs with different vCPU models (that affect paging), KVM would need to track all relevant information in kvm_mmu_page_role. Note, that's the _page_ role, not the full mmu_role. Updating mmu_role isn't sufficient as a vCPU can reuse a shadow page translation that was created by a vCPU with different settings and thus completely skip the reserved bit checks (that are tied to CPUID). Tracking CPUID state in kvm_mmu_page_role is _extremely_ undesirable as it would require doubling gfn_track from a u16 to a u32, i.e. would increase KVM's memory footprint by 2 bytes for every 4kb of guest memory. E.g. MAXPHYADDR (6 bits), GBPAGES, AMD vs. INTEL = 1 bit, and SEV C-BIT would all need to be tracked. In practice, there is no remotely sane use case for changing any paging related CPUID entries on the fly, so just sweep it under the rug (after yelling at userspace). Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com> Message-Id: <20210622175739.3610207-8-seanjc@google.com> Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst11
1 files changed, 8 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst b/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
index b87fa32835f2..5d8db4922df6 100644
--- a/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
+++ b/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
@@ -688,9 +688,14 @@ MSRs that have been set successfully.
Defines the vcpu responses to the cpuid instruction. Applications
should use the KVM_SET_CPUID2 ioctl if available.
-Note, when this IOCTL fails, KVM gives no guarantees that previous valid CPUID
-configuration (if there is) is not corrupted. Userspace can get a copy of the
-resulting CPUID configuration through KVM_GET_CPUID2 in case.
+Caveat emptor:
+ - If this IOCTL fails, KVM gives no guarantees that previous valid CPUID
+ configuration (if there is) is not corrupted. Userspace can get a copy
+ of the resulting CPUID configuration through KVM_GET_CPUID2 in case.
+ - Using KVM_SET_CPUID{,2} after KVM_RUN, i.e. changing the guest vCPU model
+ after running the guest, may cause guest instability.
+ - Using heterogeneous CPUID configurations, modulo APIC IDs, topology, etc...
+ may cause guest instability.
::