[PATCH v4] KVM: selftests: Add a test for gPAT handling in L2

From: Sean Christopherson

Date: Thu May 28 2026 - 19:11:42 EST


From: Yosry Ahmed <yosry@xxxxxxxxxx>

When KVM_X86_QUIRK_NESTED_SVM_SHARED_PAT is disabled, verify that KVM
correctly virtualizes the host PAT MSR and the guest PAT register for
nested SVM guests.

With nested NPT disabled:
* L1 and L2 share the same PAT
* The vmcb12.g_pat is ignored

With nested NPT enabled:
* An invalid g_pat in vmcb12 causes VMEXIT_INVALID
* RDMSR(IA32_PAT) from L2 returns the value of the guest PAT register
* WRMSR(IA32_PAT) from L2 is reflected in vmcb12's g_pat on VMEXIT
* RDMSR(IA32_PAT) from L1 returns the value of the host PAT MSR

Verify that save/restore with the vCPU in guest mode behaves as expected in
both cases, e.g. preserves both hPAT and gPAT when NPT is enabled.

Originally-by: Jim Mattson <jmattson@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Yosry Ahmed <yosry@xxxxxxxxxx>
[sean: use even fancier macro shenanigans]
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx>
---

v4:
- Stop trying to use macros, and use macros.
- Identity map TDP after allocating SVM to play nice with upcoming automatic
stack allocation/configuration.
- Run the npt=false testcase if NPT is unsupported, instead of skipping the
entire test.
- Run multiple iterations and save/restore for npt=false as well.
- Run the variants via the main run macro.
- Name the run macro so it looks like a function.
- Drop printfs leftover from initial development.

v3:
- Fixed multiple VM-Entries test case.
- Fixed typos.

v2:
- Rewrote most of the test to dedup L1 and L2 code, move assertions to
L2 where possible to simplify the test, and drop the shared test
struct.

v1: https://lore.kernel.org/kvm/20260327234023.2659476-10-jmattson@xxxxxxxxxx

tools/testing/selftests/kvm/Makefile.kvm | 1 +
.../selftests/kvm/x86/svm_nested_pat_test.c | 195 ++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 196 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/kvm/x86/svm_nested_pat_test.c

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/Makefile.kvm b/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/Makefile.kvm
index 2908eca1647a..e0ddd3ff9472 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/Makefile.kvm
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/Makefile.kvm
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ TEST_GEN_PROGS_x86 += x86/svm_nested_clear_efer_svme
TEST_GEN_PROGS_x86 += x86/svm_nested_shutdown_test
TEST_GEN_PROGS_x86 += x86/svm_nested_soft_inject_test
TEST_GEN_PROGS_x86 += x86/svm_nested_vmcb12_gpa
+TEST_GEN_PROGS_x86 += x86/svm_nested_pat_test
TEST_GEN_PROGS_x86 += x86/svm_lbr_nested_state
TEST_GEN_PROGS_x86 += x86/tsc_scaling_sync
TEST_GEN_PROGS_x86 += x86/sync_regs_test
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/x86/svm_nested_pat_test.c b/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/x86/svm_nested_pat_test.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a319966c9ef0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/x86/svm_nested_pat_test.c
@@ -0,0 +1,195 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2026, Google LLC.
+ *
+ * Test that KVM correctly virtualizes the PAT MSR and VMCB g_pat field
+ * for nested SVM guests:
+ *
+ * o With nested NPT disabled:
+ * - L1 and L2 share the same PAT
+ * - The vmcb12.g_pat is ignored
+ * o With nested NPT enabled:
+ * - Invalid g_pat in vmcb12 should cause VMEXIT_INVALID
+ * - L2 should see vmcb12.g_pat via RDMSR, not L1's PAT
+ * - L2's writes to PAT should be saved to vmcb12 on exit
+ * - L1's PAT should be restored after #VMEXIT from L2
+ * - State save/restore should preserve both L1's and L2's PAT values
+ */
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include "test_util.h"
+#include "kvm_util.h"
+#include "processor.h"
+#include "svm_util.h"
+
+#define L2_GUEST_STACK_SIZE 256
+
+#define PAT_DEFAULT 0x0007040600070406ULL
+#define L1_PAT_VALUE 0x0007040600070404ULL /* Change PA0 to WT */
+#define L2_VMCB12_PAT 0x0606060606060606ULL /* All WB */
+#define L2_PAT_MODIFIED 0x0606060606060604ULL /* Change PA0 to WT */
+#define INVALID_PAT_VALUE 0x0808080808080808ULL /* 8 is reserved */
+
+bool npt_enabled;
+int nr_iterations;
+
+static void l2_guest_code(void)
+{
+ u64 expected_pat = npt_enabled ? L2_VMCB12_PAT : L1_PAT_VALUE;
+ int i;
+
+ for (i = 0; i < nr_iterations; i++) {
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(rdmsr(MSR_IA32_CR_PAT), expected_pat);
+ GUEST_SYNC(1);
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(rdmsr(MSR_IA32_CR_PAT), expected_pat);
+
+ wrmsr(MSR_IA32_CR_PAT, L2_PAT_MODIFIED);
+ expected_pat = L2_PAT_MODIFIED;
+
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(rdmsr(MSR_IA32_CR_PAT), L2_PAT_MODIFIED);
+ GUEST_SYNC(2);
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(rdmsr(MSR_IA32_CR_PAT), L2_PAT_MODIFIED);
+
+ vmmcall();
+ }
+}
+
+static void l1_guest_code(struct svm_test_data *svm)
+{
+ unsigned long l2_guest_stack[L2_GUEST_STACK_SIZE];
+ struct vmcb *vmcb = svm->vmcb;
+ int i;
+
+ wrmsr(MSR_IA32_CR_PAT, L1_PAT_VALUE);
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(rdmsr(MSR_IA32_CR_PAT), L1_PAT_VALUE);
+
+ generic_svm_setup(svm, l2_guest_code, &l2_guest_stack[L2_GUEST_STACK_SIZE]);
+
+ vmcb->save.g_pat = L2_VMCB12_PAT;
+ vmcb->control.intercept &= ~(1ULL << INTERCEPT_MSR_PROT);
+
+ for (i = 0; i < nr_iterations; i++) {
+ run_guest(vmcb, svm->vmcb_gpa);
+
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(vmcb->control.exit_code, SVM_EXIT_VMMCALL);
+
+ /*
+ * If NPT is enabled by L1, L2 has a unique PAT and L1's PAT is
+ * unchanged. Otherwise, PAT is shared between L1 and L2.
+ */
+ if (npt_enabled) {
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(vmcb->save.g_pat, L2_PAT_MODIFIED);
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(rdmsr(MSR_IA32_CR_PAT), L1_PAT_VALUE);
+ } else {
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(rdmsr(MSR_IA32_CR_PAT), L2_PAT_MODIFIED);
+ }
+ vmcb->save.rip += 3; /* skip over VMMCALL */
+ }
+
+ GUEST_DONE();
+}
+
+static void l1_guest_code_invalid_gpat(struct svm_test_data *svm)
+{
+ unsigned long l2_guest_stack[L2_GUEST_STACK_SIZE];
+ struct vmcb *vmcb = svm->vmcb;
+
+ /* VMRUN should fail without running L2 */
+ generic_svm_setup(svm, NULL, &l2_guest_stack[L2_GUEST_STACK_SIZE]);
+
+ vmcb->save.g_pat = INVALID_PAT_VALUE;
+ run_guest(vmcb, svm->vmcb_gpa);
+
+ GUEST_ASSERT_EQ(vmcb->control.exit_code, SVM_EXIT_ERR);
+ GUEST_DONE();
+}
+
+static void run_test(void *guest_code, bool do_save_restore, int nr_iters)
+{
+ struct kvm_x86_state *state;
+ struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu;
+ struct kvm_vm *vm;
+ struct ucall uc;
+ gva_t svm_gva;
+
+ vm = vm_create_with_one_vcpu(&vcpu, guest_code);
+ vm_enable_cap(vm, KVM_CAP_DISABLE_QUIRKS2,
+ KVM_X86_QUIRK_NESTED_SVM_SHARED_PAT);
+
+ if (npt_enabled)
+ vm_enable_npt(vm);
+
+ vcpu_alloc_svm(vm, &svm_gva);
+
+ if (npt_enabled)
+ tdp_identity_map_default_memslots(vm);
+
+ vcpu_args_set(vcpu, 1, svm_gva);
+
+ nr_iterations = nr_iters;
+ sync_global_to_guest(vm, npt_enabled);
+ sync_global_to_guest(vm, nr_iterations);
+
+ for (;;) {
+ vcpu_run(vcpu);
+ TEST_ASSERT_KVM_EXIT_REASON(vcpu, KVM_EXIT_IO);
+
+ switch (get_ucall(vcpu, &uc)) {
+ case UCALL_ABORT:
+ REPORT_GUEST_ASSERT(uc);
+ /* NOT REACHED */
+ case UCALL_SYNC:
+ if (do_save_restore) {
+ state = vcpu_save_state(vcpu);
+ kvm_vm_release(vm);
+ vcpu = vm_recreate_with_one_vcpu(vm);
+ vm_enable_cap(vm, KVM_CAP_DISABLE_QUIRKS2,
+ KVM_X86_QUIRK_NESTED_SVM_SHARED_PAT);
+ vcpu_load_state(vcpu, state);
+ kvm_x86_state_cleanup(state);
+ }
+ break;
+ case UCALL_DONE:
+ kvm_vm_free(vm);
+ return;
+ default:
+ TEST_FAIL("Unknown ucall %lu", uc.cmd);
+ }
+ }
+}
+
+#define gpat_test(test_name, guest_code, npt_setting) \
+do { \
+ npt_setting; \
+ \
+ pr_info("Testing: " test_name "\n"); \
+ run_test(guest_code, false, 1); \
+ \
+ if (guest_code == l1_guest_code) { \
+ pr_info("Testing: " test_name " Save/Restore\n"); \
+ run_test(guest_code, true, 1); \
+ \
+ pr_info("Testing: " test_name " Multiple VMRUNs\n"); \
+ run_test(guest_code, false, 10); \
+ } \
+} while (0)
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+ TEST_REQUIRE(kvm_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_SVM));
+ TEST_REQUIRE(kvm_has_cap(KVM_CAP_NESTED_STATE));
+ TEST_REQUIRE(kvm_check_cap(KVM_CAP_DISABLE_QUIRKS2) &
+ KVM_X86_QUIRK_NESTED_SVM_SHARED_PAT);
+
+ if (!kvm_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_NPT))
+ goto skip_npt;
+
+ gpat_test("Invalid gPAT", l1_guest_code_invalid_gpat, npt_enabled = true);
+ gpat_test("Nested NPT enabled", l1_guest_code, npt_enabled = true);
+skip_npt:
+ gpat_test("Nested NPT disabled", l1_guest_code, npt_enabled = false);
+ return 0;
+}

base-commit: d1568b1332b6b3b36b222c2868fc102727c12a34
--
2.54.0.823.g6e5bcc1fc9-goog