Re: [RFC PATCH 3/3] nSVM: use svm->nested.save to load vmcb12 registers and avoid TOC/TOU races

From: Emanuele Giuseppe Esposito
Date: Tue Sep 14 2021 - 06:53:05 EST




I would do it this way:

struct svm_nested_state {
...
/* cached fields from the vmcb12 */
struct vmcb_control_area_cached ctl;
struct vmcb_save_area_cached save;
...
};



The only thing that requires a little bit of additional work when applying this is svm_get_nested_state() (and theoretically svm_set_nested_state(), in option 2). In this function, nested.ctl is copied in user_vmcb->control. But now nested.ctl is not anymore a vmcb_control_area, so the sizes differ.

There are 2 options here:
1) copy nested.ctl into a full vmcb_control_area, and copy it to user space without modifying the API. The advantage is that the API is left intact, but an additional copy is required.

2) modify KVM_GET_NESTED_STATE and KVM_SET_NESTED_STATE to handle vmcb_control_area_cached. Advantage is that there is a lightweight copy + the benefits explained by you in the previous email (no unset field).

I am not sure which one is the preferred way here.

Thank you,
Emanuele