[PATCH 1/2] KVM: VMX: Drop obsolete branch hint prefixes from inline asm

From: Uros Bizjak

Date: Wed Feb 11 2026 - 05:29:53 EST


Remove explicit branch hint prefixes (.byte 0x2e / 0x3e) from VMX
inline assembly sequences.

These prefixes (CS/DS segment overrides used as branch hints on
very old x86 CPUs) have been ignored by modern processors for a
long time. Keeping them provides no measurable benefit and only
enlarges the generated code.

No functional change intended.

Signed-off-by: Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@xxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx_ops.h | 3 ---
1 file changed, 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx_ops.h b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx_ops.h
index 96677576c836..1000d37f5b0c 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx_ops.h
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx_ops.h
@@ -119,7 +119,6 @@ static __always_inline unsigned long __vmcs_readl(unsigned long field)
#else /* !CONFIG_CC_HAS_ASM_GOTO_OUTPUT */

asm volatile("1: vmread %[field], %[output]\n\t"
- ".byte 0x3e\n\t" /* branch taken hint */
"ja 3f\n\t"

/*
@@ -191,7 +190,6 @@ static __always_inline unsigned long vmcs_readl(unsigned long field)
#define vmx_asm1(insn, op1, error_args...) \
do { \
asm goto("1: " __stringify(insn) " %0\n\t" \
- ".byte 0x2e\n\t" /* branch not taken hint */ \
"jna %l[error]\n\t" \
_ASM_EXTABLE(1b, %l[fault]) \
: : op1 : "cc" : error, fault); \
@@ -208,7 +206,6 @@ fault: \
#define vmx_asm2(insn, op1, op2, error_args...) \
do { \
asm goto("1: " __stringify(insn) " %1, %0\n\t" \
- ".byte 0x2e\n\t" /* branch not taken hint */ \
"jna %l[error]\n\t" \
_ASM_EXTABLE(1b, %l[fault]) \
: : op1, op2 : "cc" : error, fault); \
--
2.53.0