Re: [PATCH 1/4] KVM: nVMX: Don't use Enlightened MSR Bitmap for L3

From: Maxim Levitsky
Date: Mon Sep 13 2021 - 07:34:09 EST


On Mon, 2021-09-13 at 08:53 +0200, Vitaly Kuznetsov wrote:
> Maxim Levitsky <mlevitsk@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
> > On Fri, 2021-09-10 at 18:06 +0200, Vitaly Kuznetsov wrote:
> > > When KVM runs as a nested hypervisor on top of Hyper-V it uses Enlightened
> > > VMCS and enables Enlightened MSR Bitmap feature for its L1s and L2s (which
> > > are actually L2s and L3s from Hyper-V's perspective). When MSR bitmap is
> > > updated, KVM has to reset HV_VMX_ENLIGHTENED_CLEAN_FIELD_MSR_BITMAP from
> > > clean fields to make Hyper-V aware of the change. For KVM's L1s, this is
> > > done in vmx_disable_intercept_for_msr()/vmx_enable_intercept_for_msr().
> > > MSR bitmap for L2 is build in nested_vmx_prepare_msr_bitmap() by blending
> > > MSR bitmap for L1 and L1's idea of MSR bitmap for L2. KVM, however, doesn't
> > > check if the resulting bitmap is different and never cleans
> > > HV_VMX_ENLIGHTENED_CLEAN_FIELD_MSR_BITMAP in eVMCS02. This is incorrect and
> > > may result in Hyper-V missing the update.
> > >
> > > The issue could've been solved by calling evmcs_touch_msr_bitmap() for
> > > eVMCS02 from nested_vmx_prepare_msr_bitmap() unconditionally but doing so
> > > would not give any performance benefits (compared to not using Enlightened
> > > MSR Bitmap at all). 3-level nesting is also not a very common setup
> > > nowadays.
> > >
> > > Don't enable 'Enlightened MSR Bitmap' feature for KVM's L2s (real L3s) for
> > > now.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Vitaly Kuznetsov <vkuznets@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > > ---
> > > arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c | 22 +++++++++++++---------
> > > 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
> > >
> > > diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
> > > index 0c2c0d5ae873..ae470afcb699 100644
> > > --- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
> > > +++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
> > > @@ -2654,15 +2654,6 @@ int alloc_loaded_vmcs(struct loaded_vmcs *loaded_vmcs)
> > > if (!loaded_vmcs->msr_bitmap)
> > > goto out_vmcs;
> > > memset(loaded_vmcs->msr_bitmap, 0xff, PAGE_SIZE);
> > > -
> > > - if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_HYPERV) &&
> > > - static_branch_unlikely(&enable_evmcs) &&
> > > - (ms_hyperv.nested_features & HV_X64_NESTED_MSR_BITMAP)) {
> > > - struct hv_enlightened_vmcs *evmcs =
> > > - (struct hv_enlightened_vmcs *)loaded_vmcs->vmcs;
> > > -
> > > - evmcs->hv_enlightenments_control.msr_bitmap = 1;
> > > - }
> > > }
> > >
> > > memset(&loaded_vmcs->host_state, 0, sizeof(struct vmcs_host_state));
> > > @@ -6861,6 +6852,19 @@ static int vmx_create_vcpu(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
> > > }
> > >
> > > vmx->loaded_vmcs = &vmx->vmcs01;
> > > +
> > > + /*
> > > + * Use Hyper-V 'Enlightened MSR Bitmap' feature when KVM runs as a
> > > + * nested (L1) hypervisor and Hyper-V in L0 supports it.
> > > + */
> > > + if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_HYPERV) && static_branch_unlikely(&enable_evmcs)
> > > + && (ms_hyperv.nested_features & HV_X64_NESTED_MSR_BITMAP)) {
> > > + struct hv_enlightened_vmcs *evmcs =
> > > + (struct hv_enlightened_vmcs *)vmx->loaded_vmcs->vmcs;
> > > +
> > > + evmcs->hv_enlightenments_control.msr_bitmap = 1;
> > > + }
> > > +
> > > cpu = get_cpu();
> > > vmx_vcpu_load(vcpu, cpu);
> > > vcpu->cpu = cpu;
> >
> > Makes sense.
> >
> > Reviewed-by: Maxim Levitsky <mlevitsk@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> >
> > However, just a note that it is very very confusing that KVM can use eVMCS in both ways.
> >
> >
> > 'Client': It can both run under HyperV, and thus take advantage of eVMCS when it runs its guests (with
> > help of
> > HyperV)
> >
> > 'Server' KVM can emulate some HyperV features, and one of these is eVMCS, thus a windows guest running
> > under KVM, can use KVM's eVMCS implementation to run nested guests.
> >
> > This patch fails under
> > 'Client', while the other patches in the series fall under the 'Server' category,
> > and even more confusing, the patch 2 moves 'Client' code around, but it is intended for following patches
> > 3,4 which are
> > for Server.
> >
>
> All this is confusing indeed, KVM-on-Hyper-V and Hyper-V-on-KVM are two
> different beasts but it's not always clear from patch subject. I was
> thinking about adding this to patch prexes:
>
> "KVM: VMX: KVM-on-Hyper-V: ... "
> "KVM: nVMX: Hyper-V-on-KVM ..."

Makes sense!
>
> or something similar.
>
> > Thus this patch probably should be a separate patch, just to avoid confusion.
> >
>
> This patch is a weird one. We actually fix
>
> Hyper-V-on-KVM-on-Hyper-V case.
>
> Don't get confused! :-)

Ah right!

This reminds me of these double windows with an air gap in between two glass layers :-)


Best regards,
Maxim Levitsky

>
>
> > However, since this patch series is already posted, and I figured that out, and hopefully explained it here,
> > no need to do anything though!
> >
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Maxim Levitsky
> >
> >
> >