[PATCH] KVM: x86: optimize PKU branching in kvm_load_{guest|host}_xsave_state

From: Jon Kohler
Date: Wed Mar 23 2022 - 20:53:29 EST


kvm_load_{guest|host}_xsave_state handles xsave on vm entry and exit,
part of which is managing memory protection key state. The latest
arch.pkru is updated with a rdpkru, and if that doesn't match the base
host_pkru (which about 70% of the time), we issue a __write_pkru.

To improve performance, implement the following optimizations:
1. Reorder if conditions prior to wrpkru in both
kvm_load_{guest|host}_xsave_state.

Flip the ordering of the || condition so that XFEATURE_MASK_PKRU is
checked first, which when instrumented in our environment appeared
to be always true and less overall work than kvm_read_cr4_bits.

For kvm_load_guest_xsave_state, hoist arch.pkru != host_pkru ahead
one position. When instrumented, I saw this be true roughly ~70% of
the time vs the other conditions which were almost always true.
With this change, we will avoid 3rd condition check ~30% of the time.

2. Wrap PKU sections with CONFIG_X86_INTEL_MEMORY_PROTECTION_KEYS,
as if the user compiles out this feature, we should not have
these branches at all.

Signed-off-by: Jon Kohler <jon@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/kvm/x86.c | 14 +++++++++-----
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
index 6db3a506b402..2b00123a5d50 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
@@ -950,11 +950,13 @@ void kvm_load_guest_xsave_state(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
wrmsrl(MSR_IA32_XSS, vcpu->arch.ia32_xss);
}

+#ifdef CONFIG_X86_INTEL_MEMORY_PROTECTION_KEYS
if (static_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_PKU) &&
- (kvm_read_cr4_bits(vcpu, X86_CR4_PKE) ||
- (vcpu->arch.xcr0 & XFEATURE_MASK_PKRU)) &&
- vcpu->arch.pkru != vcpu->arch.host_pkru)
+ vcpu->arch.pkru != vcpu->arch.host_pkru &&
+ ((vcpu->arch.xcr0 & XFEATURE_MASK_PKRU) ||
+ kvm_read_cr4_bits(vcpu, X86_CR4_PKE)))
write_pkru(vcpu->arch.pkru);
+#endif /* CONFIG_X86_INTEL_MEMORY_PROTECTION_KEYS */
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(kvm_load_guest_xsave_state);

@@ -963,13 +965,15 @@ void kvm_load_host_xsave_state(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
if (vcpu->arch.guest_state_protected)
return;

+#ifdef CONFIG_X86_INTEL_MEMORY_PROTECTION_KEYS
if (static_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_PKU) &&
- (kvm_read_cr4_bits(vcpu, X86_CR4_PKE) ||
- (vcpu->arch.xcr0 & XFEATURE_MASK_PKRU))) {
+ ((vcpu->arch.xcr0 & XFEATURE_MASK_PKRU) ||
+ kvm_read_cr4_bits(vcpu, X86_CR4_PKE))) {
vcpu->arch.pkru = rdpkru();
if (vcpu->arch.pkru != vcpu->arch.host_pkru)
write_pkru(vcpu->arch.host_pkru);
}
+#endif /* CONFIG_X86_INTEL_MEMORY_PROTECTION_KEYS */

if (kvm_read_cr4_bits(vcpu, X86_CR4_OSXSAVE)) {

--
2.30.1 (Apple Git-130)