diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/virt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/virt/kvm/locking.rst | 37 |
1 files changed, 18 insertions, 19 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/virt/kvm/locking.rst b/Documentation/virt/kvm/locking.rst index 0aa4817b466d..85876afe0441 100644 --- a/Documentation/virt/kvm/locking.rst +++ b/Documentation/virt/kvm/locking.rst @@ -38,12 +38,11 @@ the mmu-lock on x86. Currently, the page fault can be fast in one of the following two cases: 1. Access Tracking: The SPTE is not present, but it is marked for access - tracking i.e. the SPTE_SPECIAL_MASK is set. That means we need to - restore the saved R/X bits. This is described in more detail later below. + tracking. That means we need to restore the saved R/X bits. This is + described in more detail later below. -2. Write-Protection: The SPTE is present and the fault is - caused by write-protect. That means we just need to change the W bit of - the spte. +2. Write-Protection: The SPTE is present and the fault is caused by + write-protect. That means we just need to change the W bit of the spte. What we use to avoid all the race is the SPTE_HOST_WRITEABLE bit and SPTE_MMU_WRITEABLE bit on the spte: @@ -54,9 +53,9 @@ SPTE_MMU_WRITEABLE bit on the spte: page write-protection. On fast page fault path, we will use cmpxchg to atomically set the spte W -bit if spte.SPTE_HOST_WRITEABLE = 1 and spte.SPTE_WRITE_PROTECT = 1, or -restore the saved R/X bits if VMX_EPT_TRACK_ACCESS mask is set, or both. This -is safe because whenever changing these bits can be detected by cmpxchg. +bit if spte.SPTE_HOST_WRITEABLE = 1 and spte.SPTE_WRITE_PROTECT = 1, to +restore the saved R/X bits if for an access-traced spte, or both. This is +safe because whenever changing these bits can be detected by cmpxchg. But we need carefully check these cases: @@ -185,17 +184,17 @@ See the comments in spte_has_volatile_bits() and mmu_spte_update(). Lockless Access Tracking: This is used for Intel CPUs that are using EPT but do not support the EPT A/D -bits. In this case, when the KVM MMU notifier is called to track accesses to a -page (via kvm_mmu_notifier_clear_flush_young), it marks the PTE as not-present -by clearing the RWX bits in the PTE and storing the original R & X bits in -some unused/ignored bits. In addition, the SPTE_SPECIAL_MASK is also set on the -PTE (using the ignored bit 62). When the VM tries to access the page later on, -a fault is generated and the fast page fault mechanism described above is used -to atomically restore the PTE to a Present state. The W bit is not saved when -the PTE is marked for access tracking and during restoration to the Present -state, the W bit is set depending on whether or not it was a write access. If -it wasn't, then the W bit will remain clear until a write access happens, at -which time it will be set using the Dirty tracking mechanism described above. +bits. In this case, PTEs are tagged as A/D disabled (using ignored bits), and +when the KVM MMU notifier is called to track accesses to a page (via +kvm_mmu_notifier_clear_flush_young), it marks the PTE not-present in hardware +by clearing the RWX bits in the PTE and storing the original R & X bits in more +unused/ignored bits. When the VM tries to access the page later on, a fault is +generated and the fast page fault mechanism described above is used to +atomically restore the PTE to a Present state. The W bit is not saved when the +PTE is marked for access tracking and during restoration to the Present state, +the W bit is set depending on whether or not it was a write access. If it +wasn't, then the W bit will remain clear until a write access happens, at which +time it will be set using the Dirty tracking mechanism described above. 3. Reference ------------ |