[PATCH v1 0/3] x86/traps: Fix DR6/DR7 inintialization

From: Xin Li (Intel)
Date: Fri Jun 13 2025 - 03:02:51 EST


Sohil reported seeing a split lock warning when running a test that
generates userspace #DB:

x86/split lock detection: #DB: sigtrap_loop_64/4614 took a bus_lock trap at address: 0x4011ae


We investigated the issue and identified how the false bus lock detected
warning is generated under certain test conditions:

1) The warning is a false positive.

2) It is not caused by the test itself.

3) It occurs even when Bus Lock Detection (BLD) is disabled.

4) It only happens on the first #DB on a CPU.


And the root cause is, at boot time, Linux zeros DR6. This leads to
different DR6 values depending on whether the CPU supports BLD:

1) On CPUs with BLD support, DR6 becomes 0xFFFF07F0 (bit 11, DR6.BLD,
is cleared).

2) On CPUs without BLD, DR6 becomes 0xFFFF0FF0.

Since only BLD-induced #DB exceptions clear DR6.BLD and other debug
exceptions leave it unchanged, even if the first #DB is unrelated to
BLD, DR6.BLD is still cleared. As a result, such a first #DB is
misinterpreted as a BLD #DB, and a false warning is triggerred.


Fix the bug by initializing DR6 by writing its architectural reset
value at boot time.


DR7 suffers from a similar issue. We apply the same fix.


This patch set is based on tip/x86/urgent branch as of today.


Xin Li (Intel) (3):
x86/traps: Move DR7_RESET_VALUE to <uapi/asm/debugreg.h>
x86/traps: Initialize DR7 by writing its architectural reset value
x86/traps: Initialize DR6 by writing its architectural reset value

arch/x86/coco/sev/core.c | 1 +
arch/x86/coco/sev/vc-handle.c | 1 +
arch/x86/include/asm/debugreg.h | 12 +++++-----
arch/x86/include/asm/sev-internal.h | 2 --
arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/debugreg.h | 9 ++++++-
arch/x86/kernel/cpu/common.c | 17 ++++++-------
arch/x86/kernel/hw_breakpoint.c | 8 +++----
arch/x86/kernel/kgdb.c | 4 ++--
arch/x86/kernel/process_32.c | 6 ++---
arch/x86/kernel/process_64.c | 6 ++---
arch/x86/kernel/traps.c | 36 +++++++++++++++++-----------
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c | 2 +-
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c | 6 ++---
arch/x86/kvm/x86.c | 4 ++--
14 files changed, 63 insertions(+), 51 deletions(-)


base-commit: 7cd9a11dd0c3d1dd225795ed1b5b53132888e7b5
--
2.49.0