Re: [PATCH v11 7/9] KVM: X86: Add userspace access interface for CET MSRs

From: Paolo Bonzini
Date: Sat Apr 25 2020 - 11:32:16 EST


On 26/03/20 09:18, Yang Weijiang wrote:
> There're two different places storing Guest CET states, states
> managed with XSAVES/XRSTORS, as restored/saved
> in previous patch, can be read/write directly from/to the MSRs.
> For those stored in VMCS fields, they're access via vmcs_read/
> vmcs_write.
>
> To correctly read/write the CET MSRs, it's necessary to check
> whether the kernel FPU context switch happened and reload guest
> FPU context if needed.

I have one question here, it may be just a misunderstanding.

As I understand it, the PLx_SSP MSRs are only used when the current
privilege level changes; the processor has a hidden SSP register for the
current privilege level, and the SSP can be accessed via VMCS only.

These patches do not allow saving/restoring this hidden register.
However, this should be necessary in order to migrate the virtual
machine. The simplest way to plumb this is through a KVM-specific MSR
in arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/kvm_para.h. This MSR should only be
accessible to userspace, i.e. only if msr_info->host_initiated.

Testing CET in the state-test selftest is a bit hard because you have to
set up S_CET and the shadow stack, but it would be great to have a
separate test similar to tools/testing/selftests/x86_64/smm_test. It's
not an absolute requirement for merging, but if you can put it on your
todo list it would be better.

Thanks,

Paolo