Re: [PATCH v4 3/9] KVM: SVM: Properly check RAX on #GP intercept of SVM instructions

[Sean Christopherson]

On Mon, Mar 16, 2026, Yosry Ahmed wrote:
> Replace the PAGE_MASK check with page_address_valid(), which checks both
> page-alignment as well as the legality of the GPA based on the vCPU's
> MAXPHYADDR. Use kvm_register_read() to read RAX to avoid
> page_address_valid() failing on 32-bit due to garbage in the higher
> bits.

Nit, not "on" 32-bit, correct?  I think you actually mean "to avoid false positives
when the vCPU is in 32-bit mode, in the unlikely case the vCPU transitioned from
64-bit back to 32-bit, without writing EAX".  Because regs[] is an unsigned long,
so the upper bits of save.rax will be cleared by svm_vcpu_run() on every VM-Entry,
and it should be impossible for a purely 32-bit guest to get a non-zero value in
RAX[63:32].

And even for a 64-bit host with a 32-bit guest, the only way to get a non-zero
value in RAX[63:32] while in 32-bit mode would be to transition from 64-bit mode,
back to 32-bit mode, without writing EAX.

> Note that this is currently only a problem if KVM is running an L2 guest
> and ends up synthesizing a #VMEXIT to L1, as the RAX check takes
> precedence over the intercept. Otherwise, if KVM emulates the
> instruction, kvm_vcpu_map() should fail on illegal GPAs and inject a #GP
> anyway. However, following patches will change the failure behavior of
> kvm_vcpu_map(), so make sure the #GP interception handler does this
> appropriately.
> 
> Opportunistically drop a teaser FIXME about the SVM instructions
> handling on #GP belonging in the emulator.
> 
> Fixes: 82a11e9c6fa2 ("KVM: SVM: Add emulation support for #GP triggered by SVM instructions")
> Fixes: d1cba6c92237 ("KVM: x86: nSVM: test eax for 4K alignment for GP errata workaround")
> Suggested-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Yosry Ahmed <yosry@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c | 6 ++++--
>  1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c b/arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c
> index 392a5088f20bf..3122a98745ab7 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c
> +++ b/arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c
> @@ -2277,10 +2277,12 @@ static int gp_interception(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
>  	if (x86_decode_emulated_instruction(vcpu, 0, NULL, 0) != EMULATION_OK)
>  		goto reinject;
>  
> +	/* FIXME: Handle SVM instructions through the emulator */
>  	svm_exit_code = svm_instr_exit_code(vcpu);
>  	if (svm_exit_code) {
> -		/* All SVM instructions expect page aligned RAX */
> -		if (svm->vmcb->save.rax & ~PAGE_MASK)
> +		unsigned long rax = kvm_register_read(vcpu, VCPU_REGS_RAX);
> +
> +		if (!page_address_valid(vcpu, rax))

Eh, let it poke out, i.e.

		if (!page_address_valid(vcpu, kvm_register_read(vcpu, VCPU_REGS_RAX)))
			goto reinject;

>  			goto reinject;
>  
>  		if (is_guest_mode(vcpu)) {
> -- 
> 2.53.0.851.ga537e3e6e9-goog
>