[PATCH] KVM/VMX: Avoid stack engine synchronization uop in __vmx_vcpu_run

From: Uros Bizjak
Date: Tue Aug 16 2022 - 17:10:33 EST


Avoid instructions with explicit uses of the stack pointer between
instructions that implicitly refer to it. The sequence of
POP %reg; ADD $x, %RSP; POP %reg forces emission of synchronization
uop to synchronize the value of the stack pointer in the stack engine
and the out-of-order core.

Using POP with the dummy register instead of ADD $x, %RSP results in a
smaller code size and faster code.

The patch also fixes the reference to the wrong register in the
nearby comment.

Cc: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@xxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S | 9 ++++-----
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S
index 6de96b943804..afcb237e1c17 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmenter.S
@@ -189,13 +189,16 @@ SYM_INNER_LABEL(vmx_vmexit, SYM_L_GLOBAL)
xor %ebx, %ebx

.Lclear_regs:
+ /* "POP" @regs. */
+ pop %_ASM_AX
+
/*
* Clear all general purpose registers except RSP and RBX to prevent
* speculative use of the guest's values, even those that are reloaded
* via the stack. In theory, an L1 cache miss when restoring registers
* could lead to speculative execution with the guest's values.
* Zeroing XORs are dirt cheap, i.e. the extra paranoia is essentially
- * free. RSP and RAX are exempt as RSP is restored by hardware during
+ * free. RSP and RBX are exempt as RSP is restored by hardware during
* VM-Exit and RBX is explicitly loaded with 0 or 1 to hold the return
* value.
*/
@@ -216,9 +219,6 @@ SYM_INNER_LABEL(vmx_vmexit, SYM_L_GLOBAL)
xor %r15d, %r15d
#endif

- /* "POP" @regs. */
- add $WORD_SIZE, %_ASM_SP
-
/*
* IMPORTANT: RSB filling and SPEC_CTRL handling must be done before
* the first unbalanced RET after vmexit!
@@ -234,7 +234,6 @@ SYM_INNER_LABEL(vmx_vmexit, SYM_L_GLOBAL)
FILL_RETURN_BUFFER %_ASM_CX, RSB_CLEAR_LOOPS, X86_FEATURE_RSB_VMEXIT,\
X86_FEATURE_RSB_VMEXIT_LITE

-
pop %_ASM_ARG2 /* @flags */
pop %_ASM_ARG1 /* @vmx */

--
2.37.1