[PATCH v3 16/18] KVM: x86/pmu: Ignore AnyThread bit if CPUID.0AH:EDX[15] is set
From: Zide Chen
Date: Thu Nov 05 2026 - 20:57:05 EST
Intel PerfMon v5 introduces the ANYTHREAD_DEPRECATION capability
(CPUID.0AH:EDX[15]) to indicate that AnyThread counting is deprecated
and that writes to the AnyThread bit in IA32_PERFEVTSELx and
IA32_FIXED_CTR_CTRL are ignored.
Preserve the guest-written value in guest-visible state so that guest
RDMSRs observe the AnyThread bit, but strip it before programming
hardware to ensure cross-VM SMT isolation.
Continue to inject #GP when ANYTHREAD_DEPRECATION is not present in the
guest CPUID, e.g. for PerfMon v3/v4 guests or when the capability is
not configured for a PerfMon v5+ guest.
Advertise CPUID.0AH:EDX[15] only for PMU version 5+ guests, since the
bit doesn't exist below version 5.
Signed-off-by: Zide Chen <zide.chen@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v3:
- Exclude Fixed Counter 3 bit 14 (METRICS_CLEAR_EN) from the AnyThread mask
so it remains reserved in fixed_ctr_ctrl_rsvd. (Jim)
- Preserve AnyThread in guest-visible state (eventsel/fixed_ctr_ctrl) to
match bare-metal RDMSR behavior. (Jim)
- Removed it from the hardware-visible counterparts (_hw) so that it
doesn't need to explicitly remove this bit in intel_pmu_set_msr().
(Jim)
- Re-use intel_pmu_fixed_ctrl_bits() for AnyThread bits computation.
(Sashiko)
v2:
- Advertise anythread_deprecated only if kvm_pmu_cap.version >= 5.
- Add the missing AnyThr bit handling for IA32_FIXED_CTR_CTRL.
- Update the comments to be clearer.
---
arch/x86/kvm/cpuid.c | 2 +-
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c | 28 +++++++++++++++++++++++++---
2 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/cpuid.c b/arch/x86/kvm/cpuid.c
index 00a2ca6d3049..66e68a867946 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/cpuid.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/cpuid.c
@@ -1549,7 +1549,7 @@ static inline int __do_cpuid_func(struct kvm_cpuid_array *array, u32 function)
KVM_MAX_NR_FIXED_COUNTERS);
edx.split.bit_width_fixed = kvm_pmu_cap.bit_width_fixed;
- if (kvm_pmu_cap.version)
+ if (kvm_pmu_cap.version >= 5)
edx.split.anythread_deprecated = 1;
entry->eax = eax.full;
diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
index 6bd7c8e03c14..961d16e7f31f 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
@@ -67,6 +67,13 @@ static u64 intel_pmu_fixed_ctrl_bits(struct kvm_pmu *pmu, u64 bits)
return fixed_ctrl_bits;
}
+static u64 intel_pmu_fixed_anythread_mask(struct kvm_pmu *pmu)
+{
+ /* Fixed counter 3 repurposes that bit for METRICS_CLEAR_EN. */
+ return intel_pmu_fixed_ctrl_bits(pmu, INTEL_FIXED_0_ANYTHREAD) &
+ ~intel_fixed_bits_by_idx(3, INTEL_FIXED_3_METRICS_CLEAR);
+}
+
static void reprogram_fixed_counters(struct kvm_pmu *pmu, u64 data)
{
/*
@@ -83,9 +90,9 @@ static void reprogram_fixed_counters(struct kvm_pmu *pmu, u64 data)
int i;
pmu->fixed_ctr_ctrl = data;
- pmu->fixed_ctr_ctrl_hw = data;
+ pmu->fixed_ctr_ctrl_hw = data & ~intel_pmu_fixed_anythread_mask(pmu);
kvm_for_each_fixed_counter(i, fixed_mask) {
- u8 new_ctrl = fixed_ctrl_field(data, i);
+ u8 new_ctrl = fixed_ctrl_field(pmu->fixed_ctr_ctrl_hw, i);
u8 old_ctrl = fixed_ctrl_field(old_fixed_ctr_ctrl, i);
if (old_ctrl == new_ctrl)
@@ -500,7 +507,7 @@ static int intel_pmu_set_msr(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, struct msr_data *msr_info)
if (data != pmc->eventsel) {
pmc->eventsel = data;
- pmc->eventsel_hw = data;
+ pmc->eventsel_hw = data & ~ARCH_PERFMON_EVENTSEL_ANY;
kvm_pmu_request_counter_reprogram(pmc);
}
break;
@@ -672,6 +679,21 @@ static void intel_pmu_refresh(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
pmu->fixed_ctr_ctrl_rsvd &=
~intel_pmu_fixed_ctrl_bits(pmu, fixed_enable_bits);
+
+ /*
+ * AnyThread counting is not supported by KVM due to cross-VM
+ * information leakage concerns on SMT cores. Therefore, AnyThread
+ * remains unavailable for PerfMon v3/v4 guests, where AnyThread
+ * deprecation is not enumerated.
+ *
+ * On PerfMon v5+ with ANYTHREAD_DEPRECATION, writes to AnyThread bits
+ * are accepted and preserved on RDMSR, while counting behavior is
+ * ignored.
+ */
+ if (pmu->version >= 5 && edx.split.anythread_deprecated) {
+ pmu->eventsel_rsvd &= ~ARCH_PERFMON_EVENTSEL_ANY;
+ pmu->fixed_ctr_ctrl_rsvd &= ~intel_pmu_fixed_anythread_mask(pmu);
+ }
}
static void intel_pmu_init(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
--
2.56.0