Re: [PATCH v2] Fix undefined operation VMXOFF during reboot and crash

From: Sean Christopherson
Date: Thu Jun 25 2020 - 02:06:49 EST


On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 03:48:18PM -0400, David P. Reed wrote:
> -/** Disable VMX on the current CPU
> +/* Disable VMX on the current CPU
> *
> - * vmxoff causes a undefined-opcode exception if vmxon was not run
> - * on the CPU previously. Only call this function if you know VMX
> - * is enabled.
> + * vmxoff causes an undefined-opcode exception if vmxon was not run
> + * on the CPU previously. Only call this function directly if you know VMX
> + * is enabled *and* CPU is in VMX root operation.
> */
> static inline void cpu_vmxoff(void)
> {
> - asm volatile ("vmxoff");
> + asm volatile ("vmxoff" ::: "cc", "memory"); /* clears all flags on success */
> cr4_clear_bits(X86_CR4_VMXE);
> }
>
> @@ -47,17 +47,35 @@ static inline int cpu_vmx_enabled(void)
> return __read_cr4() & X86_CR4_VMXE;
> }
>
> -/** Disable VMX if it is enabled on the current CPU
> - *
> - * You shouldn't call this if cpu_has_vmx() returns 0.
> +/*
> + * Safely disable VMX root operation if active
> + * Note that if CPU is not in VMX root operation this
> + * VMXOFF will fault an undefined operation fault,
> + * so use the exception masking facility to handle that RARE
> + * case.
> + * You shouldn't call this directly if cpu_has_vmx() returns 0
> + */
> +static inline void cpu_vmxoff_safe(void)
> +{
> + asm volatile("1:vmxoff\n\t" /* clears all flags on success */

Eh, I wouldn't bother with the comment, there are a million other caveats
with VMXOFF that are far more interesting.

> + "2:\n\t"
> + _ASM_EXTABLE(1b, 2b)
> + ::: "cc", "memory");

Adding the memory and flags clobber should be a separate patch.

> + cr4_clear_bits(X86_CR4_VMXE);
> +}


I don't see any value in safe/unsafe variants. The only in-kernel user of
VMXOFF outside of the emergency flows is KVM, which has its own VMXOFF
helper, i.e. all users of cpu_vmxoff() want the "safe" variant. Just add
the exception fixup to cpu_vmxoff() and call it good.

> +
> +/*
> + * Force disable VMX if it is enabled on the current CPU,
> + * when it is unknown whether CPU is in VMX operation.
> */
> static inline void __cpu_emergency_vmxoff(void)
> {
> - if (cpu_vmx_enabled())
> - cpu_vmxoff();
> + if (!cpu_vmx_enabled())
> + return;
> + cpu_vmxoff_safe();

Unnecessary churn.

> }
>
> -/** Disable VMX if it is supported and enabled on the current CPU
> +/* Force disable VMX if it is supported on current CPU
> */
> static inline void cpu_emergency_vmxoff(void)
> {
> diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/reboot.c b/arch/x86/kernel/reboot.c
> index e040ba6be27b..b0e6b106a67e 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/kernel/reboot.c
> +++ b/arch/x86/kernel/reboot.c
> @@ -540,21 +540,14 @@ static void emergency_vmx_disable_all(void)
> *
> * For safety, we will avoid running the nmi_shootdown_cpus()
> * stuff unnecessarily, but we don't have a way to check
> - * if other CPUs have VMX enabled. So we will call it only if the
> - * CPU we are running on has VMX enabled.
> - *
> - * We will miss cases where VMX is not enabled on all CPUs. This
> - * shouldn't do much harm because KVM always enable VMX on all
> - * CPUs anyway. But we can miss it on the small window where KVM
> - * is still enabling VMX.
> + * if other CPUs have VMX enabled.
> */
> - if (cpu_has_vmx() && cpu_vmx_enabled()) {
> + if (cpu_has_vmx()) {
> /* Disable VMX on this CPU. */
> - cpu_vmxoff();
> + cpu_emergency_vmxoff();

This also needs to be in a separate patch. And it should use
__cpu_emergency_vmxoff() instead of cpu_emergency_vmxoff().

>
> /* Halt and disable VMX on the other CPUs */
> nmi_shootdown_cpus(vmxoff_nmi);
> -
> }
> }
>
> --
> 2.26.2
>