Re: [PATCH] KVM: x86: Allow guests to see MSR_IA32_TSX_CTRL even if tsx=off

From: Sean Christopherson
Date: Thu Jan 28 2021 - 13:22:50 EST


On Thu, Jan 28, 2021, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
> On 28/01/21 18:56, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> > On Thu, Jan 28, 2021, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
> > > - vmx->guest_uret_msrs[j].mask = ~(u64)TSX_CTRL_CPUID_CLEAR;
> > > + if (boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_RTM))
> > > + vmx->guest_uret_msrs[j].mask = ~(u64)TSX_CTRL_CPUID_CLEAR;
> > > + else
> > > + vmx->guest_uret_msrs[j].mask = 0;
> >
> > IMO, this is an unnecessarily confusing way to "remove" the user return MSR.
> > Changing the ordering to do a 'continue' would also provide a separate chunk of
> > code for the new comment. And maybe replace the switch with an if-statement to
> > avoid a 'continue' buried in a switch?
>
> You still need the slot in vmx->guest_uret_msrs to store the guest value,
> even though the two available bits are both no-ops. It's ugly but it makes
> sense: you don't want to ever re-enable TSX, so you use the ignore the guest
> value and run unconditionally with the host value.

Ugh, didn't think about the guest wanting to read back the value it wrote.

> I'll rephrase everything and resend.

Thanks!