[PATCH v3 12/18] KVM: x86/pmu: Emulate IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE MSR

From: Zide Chen

Date: Thu Nov 05 2026 - 20:53:07 EST


Intel PerfMon v4 introduces IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE (0x392) to track
which counters and the PMI are currently claimed by software agents,
allowing independent software agents to check counter availability
without a shared scheduler arbitrating between them.

IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE is a read-only MSR, and any write attempt
results in a #GP. The MSR is not part of the VM state, so it does
not need to be advertised to userspace, nor saved and restored during
live migration.

Always intercept IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE to prevent the guest from
erroneously observing filtered fixed counters as idle.

Originally-by: Yang Weijiang <weijiang.yang@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Zide Chen <zide.chen@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v3:
- Split from combined v2 patch into standalone GLOBAL_INUSE patch.
- Always intercept MSR_CORE_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE. (Jim)
- Use '!!' for explicit boolean conversion. (Jim)
- Relocate PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE_PMI_INUSE to perf_event.h.

v2:
- Change intel_pmu_get_global_inuse() to return u64, to match the
surrounding code style.
- Add the missing vmcs02 updates for these two MSRs.
- Change "> 3" to ">= 4" to make the "v4-gated" more obvious and match
the existing code style.
---
arch/x86/include/asm/msr-index.h | 1 +
arch/x86/include/asm/perf_event.h | 3 +++
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c | 36 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3 files changed, 40 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/msr-index.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/msr-index.h
index 30cd04c0ace9..25dda50fbdc1 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/msr-index.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/msr-index.h
@@ -1242,6 +1242,7 @@
#define MSR_CORE_PERF_GLOBAL_CTRL 0x0000038f
#define MSR_CORE_PERF_GLOBAL_OVF_CTRL 0x00000390
#define MSR_CORE_PERF_GLOBAL_STATUS_SET 0x00000391
+#define MSR_CORE_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE 0x00000392

#define MSR_PERF_METRICS 0x00000329

diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/perf_event.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/perf_event.h
index 17b0bc7dfce7..2937e8a27891 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/perf_event.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/perf_event.h
@@ -454,6 +454,9 @@ static inline bool is_topdown_idx(int idx)
#define GLOBAL_STATUS_ARCH_PEBS_THRESHOLD BIT_ULL(GLOBAL_STATUS_ARCH_PEBS_THRESHOLD_BIT)
#define GLOBAL_STATUS_PERF_METRICS_OVF_BIT 48

+/* Intel IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE MSR */
+#define PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE_PMI_INUSE BIT_ULL(63)
+
#define GLOBAL_CTRL_EN_PERF_METRICS BIT_ULL(48)
/*
* We model guest LBR event tracing as another fixed-mode PMC like BTS.
diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
index e81a3f8b9b02..1372091dc1f8 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ static bool intel_is_valid_msr(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u32 msr)
case MSR_CORE_PERF_FIXED_CTR_CTRL:
return kvm_pmu_has_perf_global_ctrl(pmu);
case MSR_CORE_PERF_GLOBAL_STATUS_SET:
+ case MSR_CORE_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE:
return pmu->version >= 4;
case MSR_IA32_PEBS_ENABLE:
ret = vcpu_get_perf_capabilities(vcpu) & PERF_CAP_PEBS_FORMAT;
@@ -346,6 +347,38 @@ static bool intel_pmu_handle_lbr_msrs_access(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu,
return true;
}

+static u64 intel_pmu_get_global_inuse(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
+{
+ struct kvm_pmu *pmu = vcpu_to_pmu(vcpu);
+ unsigned long fixed_mask = kvm_fixed_pmc_mask(pmu);
+ unsigned long gp_mask = kvm_gp_pmc_mask(pmu);
+ bool pmi_inuse = false;
+ u64 eventsel, data = 0;
+ u32 fixed_ctrl;
+ int i;
+
+ kvm_for_each_gp_counter(i, gp_mask) {
+ eventsel = pmu->gp_counters[i].eventsel;
+
+ if (eventsel & ARCH_PERFMON_EVENTSEL_EVENT)
+ data |= BIT_ULL(i);
+ pmi_inuse |= !!(eventsel & ARCH_PERFMON_EVENTSEL_INT);
+ }
+ kvm_for_each_fixed_counter(i, fixed_mask) {
+ fixed_ctrl = fixed_ctrl_field(pmu->fixed_ctr_ctrl, i);
+
+ if (fixed_ctrl & (INTEL_FIXED_0_KERNEL | INTEL_FIXED_0_USER))
+ data |= BIT_ULL(KVM_FIXED_PMC_BASE_IDX + i);
+ pmi_inuse |= !!(fixed_ctrl & INTEL_FIXED_0_ENABLE_PMI);
+ }
+ pmi_inuse |= pmu->pebs_enable;
+
+ if (pmi_inuse)
+ data |= PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE_PMI_INUSE;
+
+ return data;
+}
+
static int intel_pmu_get_msr(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, struct msr_data *msr_info)
{
struct kvm_pmu *pmu = vcpu_to_pmu(vcpu);
@@ -356,6 +389,9 @@ static int intel_pmu_get_msr(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, struct msr_data *msr_info)
case MSR_CORE_PERF_FIXED_CTR_CTRL:
msr_info->data = pmu->fixed_ctr_ctrl;
break;
+ case MSR_CORE_PERF_GLOBAL_INUSE:
+ msr_info->data = intel_pmu_get_global_inuse(vcpu);
+ break;
case MSR_IA32_PEBS_ENABLE:
msr_info->data = pmu->pebs_enable;
break;
--
2.56.0