[PATCH] KVM: x86/pmu: Add mediated vPMU PerfMon v5 support

From: Zide Chen

Date: Thu Aug 27 2026 - 18:48:16 EST


KVM currently caps the guest Intel architectural PMU version at 2. This
series bumps it to PerfMon v5 and adds support for some features that
are introduced in PerfMon v3-v5.

- CPUID.0AH:ECX fixed-counter bitmap (v5): supersedes EDX[4:0] and
lets KVM/guests represent non-contiguous fixed counters (e.g. some
E-core server parts skip fixed counter 3).
- Add support for IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_STATUS_SET (v4): lets software set
individual bits in the global status MSR.
- Add support for IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE (v4): reports which counters
and PMI are currently claimed.
- Implement ANYTHREAD_DEPRECATION capability.

Intel PerfMon v5 doesn't support non-contiguous GP counters; however,
this series lays the groundwork for GP counter bitmap support anyway,
for consistency with the host perf API interface, and prepares for
Perfmon Masking support.

Freeze_PerfMon_On_PMI virtualization is not implemented because, as
commit 3daa96d67274 ("perf/intel: Remove Perfmon-v4 counter_freezing
support") states, the Freeze-on-PMI mechanism violates the perf counter
independence.

Streamlined Freeze_LBRs_On_PMI is not implemented because LBR is not
yet supported on mediated vPMU.

Tested on SPR and CWF:

- Ran "perf test" on both L0 and L1; no issues attributable to this
series have been observed so far.

- Ran KVM selftests on both L0 and L1.

- Passed AnyThread tests on both fixed and gp counters:
$ perf stat -e r20003c,r2000c4,r2000c0 -- sleep 1

- Tested various guest fixed-counter configurations:
CPUID.0AH:ECX = 0x7 CPUID.0AH:EDX[4:0]=3
CPUID.0AH:ECX = 0x2 CPUID.0AH:EDX[4:0]=0
CPUID.0AH:ECX = 0x6 CPUID.0AH:EDX[4:0]=0
CPUID.0AH:ECX = 0x5 CPUID.0AH:EDX[4:0]=1
CPUID.0AH:ECX = 0x0 CPUID.0AH:EDX[4:0]=0

Verified that the guest PMU reflected the configured fixed-counter
and that the following command used fixed or general-purpose counters
as expected:

$ perf stat -e instructions,cpu-cycles,ref-cycles -- sleep 1

- Manually tested IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE.

- Ran some additional perf tests on both L0 and L1.

- Sanity testing on nested VMs.

Patch series summary:
patch 1-4: Code cleanup and a fix.
patch 5-10: Implement PMC bitmap support.
patch 11-14: Implement PerfMon v3-v5 new features.
patch 15: Advertise PerfMon version up to v5.
patch 16: Fix pmu_counters_test selftests fixed counter test case.

Rebased to kvm-x86/next: 76671054f9a1

v2 changes:
- Dropped v1 11/15: KVM: x86/pmu: Emulate streamlined Freeze-LBR-on-PMI
- New patch 4/15 to gate BUFFER_OVF reserved bit on guest DS feature.
- Some renames:
- all_valid_pmc_mask to pmc_exists;
- add _is to kvm_{gp,fixed}_pmc_supported();
- split kvm_for_each_set_pmc_idx() to kvm_for_each_{gp,fixed}_counter().
- Add missing AnyThr handling in IA32_FIXED_CTR_CTRL and advertise
anythread_deprecated only if kvm_pmu_cap.version >= 5.
- Cap vPMU v3/v4 to v2, as AnyThread cannot be safely virtualized.
- Miscellaneous updates to changelogs and some minor fixes.

Dapeng Mi (6):
KVM: x86/pmu: Drop nr_arch_{gp,fixed}_counters from kvm_pmu
perf/x86: Plumb counter bitmap from x86_pmu to x86_pmu_cap
KVM: x86/pmu: Switch to bitmask-based KVM PMU capabilities
perf/x86: Remove num_counters_{gp,fixed} from x86_pmu_capability
KVM: x86/pmu: Advertise PerfMon version 5 on Intel hosts
KVM: selftests: Support fixed counters bitmap in pmu_counters_test

Zide Chen (10):
KVM: x86/pmu: Remove redundant Perf Global Status MSR bit definitions
KVM: x86/pmu: Rename all_valid_pmc_idx to pmc_exists
KVM: x86/pmu: Rename reserved_bits to eventsel_rsvd in kvm_pmu
KVM: x86/pmu: Gate BUFFER_OVF reserved bit on guest DS
KVM: x86/pmu: Add PMC bitmap accessor helpers
KVM: x86/pmu: Expose kvm_host_pmu to vendor modules
KVM: x86/pmu: Emulate the GLOBAL_STATUS_SET and GLOBAL_INUSE MSRs
KVM: x86/pmu: Populate CPUID.0AH:ECX fixed-counter bitmap
KVM: x86/pmu: Factor out fixed counter control bit calculation
KVM: x86/pmu: Ignore AnyThread bit if CPUID.0AH:EDX[15] is set

arch/x86/events/core.c | 8 +-
arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h | 9 +-
arch/x86/include/asm/msr-index.h | 12 +-
arch/x86/include/asm/perf_event.h | 10 +-
arch/x86/kvm/cpuid.c | 21 ++-
arch/x86/kvm/msrs.c | 12 +-
arch/x86/kvm/pmu.c | 85 ++++++---
arch/x86/kvm/pmu.h | 54 +++++-
arch/x86/kvm/svm/pmu.c | 37 ++--
arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c | 17 +-
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c | 8 +-
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c | 167 +++++++++++++-----
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c | 19 +-
.../selftests/kvm/include/x86/processor.h | 6 +-
.../selftests/kvm/x86/pmu_counters_test.c | 26 ++-
15 files changed, 349 insertions(+), 142 deletions(-)

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2.55.0