Re: [PATCH v3 9/9] KVM: VMX: Only tell perf to enable PEBS counters for fully enabled PMCs

From: Mi, Dapeng

Date: Tue May 12 2026 - 01:02:17 EST



On 5/9/2026 7:13 AM, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> When passing the guest's requested PEBS_ENABLE (or rather, KVM's version
> of PEBS_ENABLE on behalf of the guest), omit counters that are locally
> disable and/or don't have a perf event (due to contention), in addition to
> omitting counters that are cross-mapped in the host.
>
> In practice, this should be a nop as perf will already have disabled the
> associated counter, i.e. cpuc->pebs_enabled should have been cleared, but
> paranoia is cheap, and the existing code _looks_ wrong.
>
> Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c | 30 ++++++++++++++++--------------
> arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c | 11 +----------
> arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.h | 15 ++++++++++++++-
> 3 files changed, 31 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
> index 659fe097b904..1e420c8bca9d 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
> +++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
> @@ -736,34 +736,36 @@ static void intel_pmu_cleanup(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
> intel_pmu_release_guest_lbr_event(vcpu);
> }
>
> -u64 intel_pmu_get_cross_mapped_mask(struct kvm_pmu *pmu)
> +u64 __intel_pmu_compute_pebs_enable(struct kvm_pmu *pmu)
> {
> - u64 host_cross_mapped_mask;
> + u64 guest_pebs_enable = pmu->pebs_enable & pmu->global_ctrl;
> + u64 pebs_enable = 0;
> struct kvm_pmc *pmc;
> int bit, hw_idx;
>
> /*
> - * Provide a mask of counters that are cross-mapped between the guest
> - * and the host, i.e. where a guest PMC is mapped to a host PMC with a
> - * different index. PEBS records hold a PERF_GLOBAL_STATUS snapshot,
> - * and so PEBS-enabled counters need to hold the correct index so as
> - * not to confuse the guest.
> + * Omit counters that are locally disabled, don't have a perf event, or
> + * ended up with a perf event that is using a different counter than
> + * the guest, i.e. where the guest PMC is different than the host PMC
> + * being used on behalf of the guest. PEBS records include
> + * PERF_GLOBAL_STATUS, and so using a counter with a different index
> + * means the guest will see overflow status for the wrong counter(s).
> */
> - host_cross_mapped_mask = 0;
> -
> - kvm_for_each_pmc(pmu, pmc, bit, (unsigned long *)&pmu->global_ctrl) {
> + kvm_for_each_pmc(pmu, pmc, bit, (unsigned long *)&guest_pebs_enable) {
> if (!pmc_is_locally_enabled(pmc) || !pmc->perf_event)
> continue;
>
> /*
> - * A negative index indicates the event isn't mapped to a
> + * Note, a negative index indicates the event isn't mapped to a
> * physical counter in the host, e.g. due to contention.
> */
> hw_idx = pmc->perf_event->hw.idx;
> - if (hw_idx != pmc->idx && hw_idx > -1)
> - host_cross_mapped_mask |= BIT_ULL(hw_idx);
> + if (hw_idx != pmc->idx)
> + continue;
> +
> + pebs_enable |= BIT_ULL(pmc->idx);
> }
> - return host_cross_mapped_mask;
> + return pebs_enable;
> }
>
> static bool intel_pmu_is_mediated_pmu_supported(struct x86_pmu_capability *host_pmu)
> diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
> index fbe3ce5f5a51..31675e5cf563 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
> +++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
> @@ -7314,20 +7314,11 @@ static void atomic_switch_perf_msrs(struct vcpu_vmx *vmx)
> return;
>
> struct x86_guest_pebs guest_pebs = {
> - .enable = pmu->pebs_enable,
> + .enable = intel_pmu_compute_pebs_enable(pmu),
> .ds_area = pmu->ds_area,
> .data_cfg = pmu->pebs_data_cfg,
> };
>
> - /*
> - * Disable counters where the guest PMC is different than the host PMC
> - * being used on behalf of the guest, as the PEBS record includes
> - * PERF_GLOBAL_STATUS, i.e. the guest will see overflow status for the
> - * wrong counter(s).
> - */
> - if (guest_pebs.enable & pmu->global_ctrl)
> - guest_pebs.enable &= ~intel_pmu_get_cross_mapped_mask(pmu);
> -
> /* Note, nr_msrs may be garbage if perf_guest_get_msrs() returns NULL. */
> msrs = perf_guest_get_msrs(&nr_msrs, &guest_pebs);
> if (!msrs)
> diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.h b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.h
> index 0c4563472940..b055731efd2d 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.h
> +++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.h
> @@ -659,7 +659,20 @@ static __always_inline struct vcpu_vmx *to_vmx(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
> return container_of(vcpu, struct vcpu_vmx, vcpu);
> }
>
> -u64 intel_pmu_get_cross_mapped_mask(struct kvm_pmu *pmu);
> +u64 __intel_pmu_compute_pebs_enable(struct kvm_pmu *pmu);
> +
> +static inline u64 intel_pmu_compute_pebs_enable(struct kvm_pmu *pmu)
> +{
> + /*
> + * Avoid the function call overhead in the common case that the guest
> + * isn't using PEBS.
> + */
> + if (!(pmu->pebs_enable & pmu->global_ctrl))
> + return 0;
> +
> + return __intel_pmu_compute_pebs_enable(pmu);
> +}
> +
> int intel_pmu_create_guest_lbr_event(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu);
> void vmx_passthrough_lbr_msrs(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu);

Reviewed-by: Dapeng Mi <dapeng1.mi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


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