[PATCH] x86/acpi/boot: Correct acpi_is_processor_usable() check again

From: Yazen Ghannam

Date: Tue Nov 11 2025 - 09:54:12 EST


ACPI v6.3 defined a new "Online Capable" MADT LAPIC flag. This bit is
used in conjunction with the "Enabled" MADT LAPIC flag to determine if a
CPU can be enabled/hotplugged by the OS after boot.

Before the new bit was defined, the "Enabled" bit was explicitly
described like this (ACPI v6.0 wording provided):
"If zero, this processor is unusable, and the operating system
support will not attempt to use it"

This means that CPU hotplug (based on MADT) is not possible. Many BIOS
implementations follow this guidance. They may include LAPIC entries in
MADT for unavailable CPUs, but since these entries are marked with
"Enabled=0" it is expected that the OS will completely ignore these
entries.

However, QEMU will do the same (include entries with "Enabled=0") for
the purpose of allowing CPU hotplug within the guest.

Comment from QEMU function pc_madt_cpu_entry():
/* ACPI spec says that LAPIC entry for non present
* CPU may be omitted from MADT or it must be marked
* as disabled. However omitting non present CPU from
* MADT breaks hotplug on linux. So possible CPUs
* should be put in MADT but kept disabled.
*/

Recent Linux topology changes broke the QEMU use case. A following fix
for the QEMU use case broke bare metal topology enumeration.

Rework the Linux MADT LAPIC flags check to allow the QEMU use case only
for guests and to maintain the ACPI spec behavior for bare metal.

Remove an unnecessary check added to fix a bare metal case introduced by
the QEMU "fix".

Fixes: fed8d8773b8e ("x86/acpi/boot: Correct acpi_is_processor_usable() check")
Fixes: f0551af02130 ("x86/topology: Ignore non-present APIC IDs in a present package")
Reported-by: Michal Pecio <michal.pecio@xxxxxxxxx>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251024204658.3da9bf3f.michal.pecio@xxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Yazen Ghannam <yazen.ghannam@xxxxxxx>
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Eric DeVolder <eric.devolder@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mario Limonciello <mario.limonciello@xxxxxxx>
---

Notes:
Link:
https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251024204658.3da9bf3f.michal.pecio@xxxxxxxxx

Hi all,

This patch came out of the discussion above.

A number of folks (myself included) understood the ACPI MADT LAPIC
"Enabled" flag to be potentially used for CPU hotplug. This is
explicitly false based on the wording in older revisions of the ACPI
spec.

However, this understanding is used for QEMU. Hence we need a check to
differentiate the virtualization and bare metal use cases.

Thanks,
Yazen

arch/x86/kernel/acpi/boot.c | 12 ++++++++----
arch/x86/kernel/cpu/topology.c | 15 ---------------
2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/acpi/boot.c b/arch/x86/kernel/acpi/boot.c
index 9fa321a95eb3..bc99398852c4 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/acpi/boot.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/acpi/boot.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
#include <asm/smp.h>
#include <asm/i8259.h>
#include <asm/setup.h>
+#include <asm/hypervisor.h>

#include "sleep.h" /* To include x86_acpi_suspend_lowlevel */
static int __initdata acpi_force = 0;
@@ -164,11 +165,14 @@ static bool __init acpi_is_processor_usable(u32 lapic_flags)
if (lapic_flags & ACPI_MADT_ENABLED)
return true;

- if (!acpi_support_online_capable ||
- (lapic_flags & ACPI_MADT_ONLINE_CAPABLE))
- return true;
+ /*
+ * QEMU expects legacy "Enabled=0" LAPIC entries to be counted as usable
+ * in order to support CPU hotplug in guests.
+ */
+ if (!acpi_support_online_capable)
+ return !hypervisor_is_type(X86_HYPER_NATIVE);

- return false;
+ return (lapic_flags & ACPI_MADT_ONLINE_CAPABLE);
}

static int __init
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/topology.c b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/topology.c
index 6073a16628f9..425404e7b7b4 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/topology.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/topology.c
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
#include <xen/xen.h>

#include <asm/apic.h>
-#include <asm/hypervisor.h>
#include <asm/io_apic.h>
#include <asm/mpspec.h>
#include <asm/msr.h>
@@ -240,20 +239,6 @@ static __init void topo_register_apic(u32 apic_id, u32 acpi_id, bool present)
cpuid_to_apicid[cpu] = apic_id;
topo_set_cpuids(cpu, apic_id, acpi_id);
} else {
- u32 pkgid = topo_apicid(apic_id, TOPO_PKG_DOMAIN);
-
- /*
- * Check for present APICs in the same package when running
- * on bare metal. Allow the bogosity in a guest.
- */
- if (hypervisor_is_type(X86_HYPER_NATIVE) &&
- topo_unit_count(pkgid, TOPO_PKG_DOMAIN, phys_cpu_present_map)) {
- pr_info_once("Ignoring hot-pluggable APIC ID %x in present package.\n",
- apic_id);
- topo_info.nr_rejected_cpus++;
- return;
- }
-
topo_info.nr_disabled_cpus++;
}


base-commit: ed4f9638d905a97cebd49ecea85cc9b706b73761
--
2.51.2