Re: [PATCH v4 00/28] KVM: combined patchset for MBEC/GMET support

From: Paolo Bonzini

Date: Wed Apr 29 2026 - 09:20:08 EST


On 4/29/26 15:05, David Riley wrote:
Windows Guest:
After the initial installation and verification I enabled
Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) and Hypervisor-Protected Code
Integrity (HVCI).

I set the following in the Group Policy Editor (DeviceGuard):
* Select Platform Security Level: Secure Boot
* Virtualization Based Protection of Code Integrity: Enabled without
   lock
* Require UEFI Memory Attributes Table: Checked

I tried to launch the Windows Guest with these QEMU CPU options:
-cpu 'host,+kvm_pv_eoi,+kvm_pv_unhalt,level=30'

These flags worked with the last patch series (v3) without any issues
[2][3].

I observed the following:
The guest now never actually boots into Windows. It gets stuck before
that and therefore does not even enter Windows Recovery.

Interesting, I'll see if I can reproduce.

I found the following log in the journal:
Apr 29 13:44:55 jura2 kernel: kvm_amd: kvm [29717]: vcpu0, guest rIP:
0xfffff83560f3b225 Unhandled WRMSR(0xc0010115) = 0x0

the same messages also appeared in dmesg:
[ 1910.476609] kvm_amd: kvm [8755]: vcpu0, guest rIP:
0xfffff851f793b225 Unhandled WRMSR(0xc0010115) = 0x0

This is harmless.

I also did a trace using `trace-cmd record -e kvm` and observed that
the cpu seems to be stuck in a infinite loop. Snippet of the output:

       CPU 0/KVM-29834 [020] .....  8801.135700: kvm_page_fault:  vcpu 0 rip 0xfffff83560f8f6a0 address 0x00000001011e9f80 error_code 0x200000007
       CPU 0/KVM-29834 [020] d..1.  8801.135701: kvm_entry:      vcpu 0 rip 0xfffff83560f8f6a0
       CPU 0/KVM-29834 [020] d..1.  8801.135702: kvm_exit:      reason EXIT_NPF rip 0xfffff83560f8f6a0 info 200000007 1011e9f80
       CPU 0/KVM-29834 [020] .....  8801.135702: kvm_nested_vmexit: <CANT FIND FIELD rip>vcpu 0 reason npf rip 0xfffff83560f8f6a0 info1 0x0000000200000007 info2 0x00000001011e9f80 intr_info 0x00000000 error_code 0x00000000 requests 0x0000000000000000
       CPU 0/KVM-29834 [020] .....  8801.135703: kvm_page_fault:  vcpu 0 rip 0xfffff83560f8f6a0 address 0x00000001011e9f80 error_code 0x200000007
       CPU 0/KVM-29834 [020] d..1.  8801.135704: kvm_entry:      vcpu 0 rip 0xfffff83560f8f6a0
       CPU 0/KVM-29834 [020] d..1.  8801.135705: kvm_exit:      reason EXIT_NPF rip 0xfffff83560f8f6a0 info 200000007 1011e9f80
       CPU 0/KVM-29834 [020] .....  8801.135705: kvm_nested_vmexit: <CANT FIND FIELD rip>vcpu 0 reason npf rip 0xfffff83560f8f6a0 info1 0x0000000200000007 info2 0x00000001011e9f80 intr_info 0x00000000 error_code 0x00000000 requests 0x0000000000000000

Could this be related to the new patch 24?

I wouldn't think so, but I might very well be wrong. You could try reverting it.

Paolo

Are there certain flags or enhancements I could try?

Please let me know if you need some additional debug output.

Best regards,
David

[0] https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/ commit/746a823a17f25393cc8c0cd1257f6dcef757bc09
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/hardware- security/enable-virtualization-based-protection-of-code-integrity? tabs=security
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/kvm/20260408154217.458420-1- pbonzini@xxxxxxxxxx/
[3] https://lore.kernel.org/kvm/c91391f4-57b8-4bad- aba8-2c47c285ab27@xxxxxxxxxxx/

On 4/28/26 1:33 PM, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
I will send you to v3 (https://lore.kernel.org/ kvm/20260408154217.458420-1-pbonzini@xxxxxxxxxx/)
for the description of the series, and leave a short list of changes:

- patch 15: clear enable_mbec = 0 if enable_ept == 0
- patches 23-27: adjust for rename of nested_ctl to misc_ctl
- patch 24: new
- patch 27: disable svm_get_cpl for SEV-ES/SEV-SNP
- patch 28: fix commit message reference to __nested_svm_check_controls

(patch 24 is the only major bugfix).

Thanks,

Paolo

Jon Kohler (5):
   KVM: TDX/VMX: rework EPT_VIOLATION_EXEC_FOR_RING3_LIN into PROT_MASK
   KVM: x86/mmu: remove SPTE_PERM_MASK
   KVM: x86/mmu: free up bit 10 of PTEs in preparation for MBEC
   KVM: nVMX: advertise MBEC to nested guests
   KVM: nVMX: allow MBEC with EVMCS

Paolo Bonzini (23):
   KVM: x86/mmu: shuffle high bits of SPTEs in preparation for MBEC
   KVM: x86/mmu: remove SPTE_EPT_*
   KVM: x86/mmu: merge make_spte_{non,}executable
   KVM: x86/mmu: rename and clarify BYTE_MASK
   KVM: x86/mmu: introduce ACC_READ_MASK
   KVM: x86/mmu: separate more EPT/non-EPT permission_fault()
   KVM: x86/mmu: pass PFERR_GUEST_PAGE/FINAL_MASK to kvm_translate_gpa
   KVM: x86/mmu: pass pte_access for final nGPA->GPA walk
   KVM: x86: make translate_nested_gpa vendor-specific
   KVM: x86/mmu: split XS/XU bits for EPT
   KVM: x86/mmu: move cr4_smep to base role
   KVM: VMX: enable use of MBEC
   KVM: nVMX: pass advanced EPT violation vmexit info to guest
   KVM: nVMX: pass PFERR_USER_MASK to MMU on EPT violations
   KVM: x86/mmu: add support for MBEC to EPT page table walks
   KVM: x86/mmu: propagate access mask from root pages down
   KVM: x86/mmu: introduce cpu_role bit for availability of PFEC.I/D
   KVM: SVM: add GMET bit definitions
   KVM: x86/mmu: set CR0.WP=1 for shadow NPT MMU
   KVM: x86/mmu: add support for GMET to NPT page table walks
   KVM: SVM: enable GMET and set it in MMU role
   KVM: SVM: work around errata 1218
   KVM: nSVM: enable GMET for guests

  Documentation/virt/kvm/x86/mmu.rst |  10 +-
  arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h |   1 +
  arch/x86/include/asm/kvm-x86-ops.h |   1 +
  arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h    |  48 ++++++---
  arch/x86/include/asm/svm.h         |   1 +
  arch/x86/include/asm/vmx.h         |  14 ++-
  arch/x86/kvm/hyperv.c              |   4 +-
  arch/x86/kvm/mmu.h                 |  30 ++++--
  arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c             | 168 ++++++++++++++++++++---------
  arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmutrace.h        |  19 ++--
  arch/x86/kvm/mmu/paging_tmpl.h     |  73 ++++++++-----
  arch/x86/kvm/mmu/spte.c            |  74 +++++++------
  arch/x86/kvm/mmu/spte.h            |  70 ++++++------
  arch/x86/kvm/mmu/tdp_mmu.c         |   6 +-
  arch/x86/kvm/svm/nested.c          |  37 ++++++-
  arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c             |  31 ++++++
  arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.h             |   1 +
  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/capabilities.h    |  12 ++-
  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/common.h          |  20 ++--
  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/hyperv_evmcs.h    |   1 +
  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/main.c            |   9 ++
  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c          |  46 +++++++-
  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/tdx.c             |   2 +-
  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c             |  27 ++++-
  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.h             |   1 +
  arch/x86/kvm/vmx/x86_ops.h         |   1 +
  arch/x86/kvm/x86.c                 |  18 +---
  27 files changed, 505 insertions(+), 220 deletions(-)