Re: [PATCH 02/30] x86, tlb: make CR4-based TLB flushes more robust

From: Borislav Petkov
Date: Thu Nov 09 2017 - 05:48:25 EST


On Wed, Nov 08, 2017 at 11:46:49AM -0800, Dave Hansen wrote:
>
> From: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Our CR4-based TLB flush currently requries global pages to be
> supported *and* enabled. But, the hardware only needs for them to
> be supported.
>
> Make the code more robust by alllowing the initial state of
> X86_CR4_PGE to be on *or* off. In addition, if we get called in
> an unepected state (X86_CR4_PGE=0), issue a warning. Having
> X86_CR4_PGE=0 is certainly unexpected and we should not ignore
> it if encountered.
>
> This essentially gives us the best of both worlds: we get a TLB
> flush no matter what, and we get a warning if we got called in
> an unexpected way (X86_CR4_PGE=0).

Commit message could use a spell checker.

> The XOR change was suggested by Kirill Shutemov.
>
> Signed-off-by: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Moritz Lipp <moritz.lipp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Daniel Gruss <daniel.gruss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Michael Schwarz <michael.schwarz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Richard Fellner <richard.fellner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Hugh Dickins <hughd@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: x86@xxxxxxxxxx
> ---
>
> b/arch/x86/include/asm/tlbflush.h | 17 ++++++++++++++---
> 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>
> diff -puN arch/x86/include/asm/tlbflush.h~kaiser-prep-make-cr4-writes-tolerate-clear-pge arch/x86/include/asm/tlbflush.h
> --- a/arch/x86/include/asm/tlbflush.h~kaiser-prep-make-cr4-writes-tolerate-clear-pge 2017-11-08 10:45:26.461681402 -0800
> +++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/tlbflush.h 2017-11-08 10:45:26.464681402 -0800
> @@ -250,9 +250,20 @@ static inline void __native_flush_tlb_gl
> unsigned long cr4;
>
> cr4 = this_cpu_read(cpu_tlbstate.cr4);
> - /* clear PGE */
> - native_write_cr4(cr4 & ~X86_CR4_PGE);
> - /* write old PGE again and flush TLBs */

<---- newline here.

> + /*
> + * This function is only called on systems that support X86_CR4_PGE
> + * and where always set X86_CR4_PGE. Warn if we are called without

"... and where X86_CR4_PGE is normally always set."

> + * PGE set.
> + */
> + WARN_ON_ONCE(!(cr4 & X86_CR4_PGE));

<---- newline here.

> + /*
> + * Architecturally, any _change_ to X86_CR4_PGE will fully flush the
> + * TLB of all entries including all entries in all PCIDs and all
> + * global pages. Make sure that we _change_ the bit, regardless of
> + * whether we had X86_CR4_PGE set in the first place.

... or not."

> + */
> + native_write_cr4(cr4 ^ X86_CR4_PGE);


<---- newline here.

> + /* Put original CR4 value back: */
> native_write_cr4(cr4);
> }

Btw, Andy, we read the CR4 shadow in that function but we don't update
it. Why?

--
Regards/Gruss,
Boris.

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