Re: [PATCH 3/4] KVM/VMX: Invoke NMI non-IST entry instead of IST entry

[Thomas Gleixner]

On Tue, Apr 27 2021 at 07:09, Lai Jiangshan wrote:
> From: Lai Jiangshan <laijs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> In VMX, the NMI handler needs to be invoked after NMI VM-Exit.
>
> Before the commit 1a5488ef0dcf6 ("KVM: VMX: Invoke NMI handler via
> indirect call instead of INTn"), the work is done by INTn ("int $2").
>
> But INTn microcode is relatively expensive, so the commit reworked
> NMI VM-Exit handling to invoke the kernel handler by function call.
> And INTn doesn't set the NMI blocked flag required by the linux kernel
> NMI entry.  So moving away from INTn are very reasonable.
>
> Yet some details were missed.  After the said commit applied, the NMI
> entry pointer is fetched from the IDT table and called from the kernel
> stack.  But the NMI entry pointer installed on the IDT table is
> asm_exc_nmi() which expects to be invoked on the IST stack by the ISA.
> And it relies on the "NMI executing" variable on the IST stack to work
> correctly.  When it is unexpectedly called from the kernel stack, the
> RSP-located "NMI executing" variable is also on the kernel stack and
> is "uninitialized" and can cause the NMI entry to run in the wrong way.
>
> So we should not used the NMI entry installed on the IDT table.  Rather,
> we should use the NMI entry allowed to be used on the kernel stack which
> is asm_noist_exc_nmi() which is also used for XENPV and early booting.

It's not used by XENPV. XENPV only uses the C entry point, but the ASM
entry is separate.

Thanks,

        tglx