[tip:x86/asm] x86/cpu: Probe the behavior of nulling out a segment at boot time

From: tip-bot for Andy Lutomirski
Date: Wed Apr 13 2016 - 07:30:58 EST


Commit-ID: 7a5d67048745e3eab62779c6d043a2e3d95dc848
Gitweb: http://git.kernel.org/tip/7a5d67048745e3eab62779c6d043a2e3d95dc848
Author: Andy Lutomirski <luto@xxxxxxxxxx>
AuthorDate: Thu, 7 Apr 2016 17:31:46 -0700
Committer: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
CommitDate: Wed, 13 Apr 2016 10:20:41 +0200

x86/cpu: Probe the behavior of nulling out a segment at boot time

AMD and Intel do different things when writing zero to a segment
selector. Since neither vendor documents the behavior well and it's
easy to test the behavior, try nulling fs to see what happens.

Signed-off-by: Andy Lutomirski <luto@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Borislav Petkov <bp@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Denys Vlasenko <dvlasenk@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Rudolf Marek <r.marek@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/61588ba0e0df35beafd363dc8b68a4c5878ef095.1460075211.git.luto@xxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h | 1 +
arch/x86/kernel/cpu/common.c | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 32 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h
index 8f9afef..2a05230 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@
#define X86_BUG_FXSAVE_LEAK X86_BUG(6) /* FXSAVE leaks FOP/FIP/FOP */
#define X86_BUG_CLFLUSH_MONITOR X86_BUG(7) /* AAI65, CLFLUSH required before MONITOR */
#define X86_BUG_SYSRET_SS_ATTRS X86_BUG(8) /* SYSRET doesn't fix up SS attrs */
+#define X86_BUG_NULL_SEG X86_BUG(9) /* Nulling a selector preserves the base */

#ifdef CONFIG_X86_32
/*
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/common.c b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/common.c
index 7fea407..8e40eee 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/common.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/common.c
@@ -889,6 +889,35 @@ static void detect_nopl(struct cpuinfo_x86 *c)
#endif
}

+static void detect_null_seg_behavior(struct cpuinfo_x86 *c)
+{
+#ifdef CONFIG_X86_64
+ /*
+ * Empirically, writing zero to a segment selector on AMD does
+ * not clear the base, whereas writing zero to a segment
+ * selector on Intel does clear the base. Intel's behavior
+ * allows slightly faster context switches in the common case
+ * where GS is unused by the prev and next threads.
+ *
+ * Since neither vendor documents this anywhere that I can see,
+ * detect it directly instead of hardcoding the choice by
+ * vendor.
+ *
+ * I've designated AMD's behavior as the "bug" because it's
+ * counterintuitive and less friendly.
+ */
+
+ unsigned long old_base, tmp;
+ rdmsrl(MSR_FS_BASE, old_base);
+ wrmsrl(MSR_FS_BASE, 1);
+ loadsegment(fs, 0);
+ rdmsrl(MSR_FS_BASE, tmp);
+ if (tmp != 0)
+ set_cpu_bug(c, X86_BUG_NULL_SEG);
+ wrmsrl(MSR_FS_BASE, old_base);
+#endif
+}
+
static void generic_identify(struct cpuinfo_x86 *c)
{
c->extended_cpuid_level = 0;
@@ -921,6 +950,8 @@ static void generic_identify(struct cpuinfo_x86 *c)
get_model_name(c); /* Default name */

detect_nopl(c);
+
+ detect_null_seg_behavior(c);
}

static void x86_init_cache_qos(struct cpuinfo_x86 *c)