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Sean Christopherson 5bd1ddb791 KVM: nSVM: Never use L0's PAUSE loop exiting while L2 is running
Never use L0's (KVM's) PAUSE loop exiting controls while L2 is running,
and instead always configure vmcb02 according to L1's exact capabilities
and desires.

The purpose of intercepting PAUSE after N attempts is to detect when the
vCPU may be stuck waiting on a lock, so that KVM can schedule in a
different vCPU that may be holding said lock.  Barring a very interesting
setup, L1 and L2 do not share locks, and it's extremely unlikely that an
L1 vCPU would hold a spinlock while running L2.  I.e. having a vCPU
executing in L1 yield to a vCPU running in L2 will not allow the L1 vCPU
to make forward progress, and vice versa.

While teaching KVM's "on spin" logic to only yield to other vCPUs in L2 is
doable, in all likelihood it would do more harm than good for most setups.
KVM has limited visibility into which L2 "vCPUs" belong to the same VM,
and thus share a locking domain.  And even if L2 vCPUs are in the same
VM, KVM has no visilibity into L2 vCPU's that are scheduled out by the
L1 hypervisor.

Furthermore, KVM doesn't actually steal PAUSE exits from L1. If L1 is
intercepting PAUSE, KVM will route PAUSE exits to L1, not L0, as
nested_svm_intercept() gives priority to the vmcb12 intercept.  As such,
overriding the count/threshold fields in vmcb02 with vmcb01's values is
nonsensical, as doing so clobbers all the training/learning that has been
done in L1.

Even worse, if L1 is not intercepting PAUSE, i.e. KVM is handling PAUSE
exits, then KVM will adjust the PLE knobs based on L2 behavior, which could
very well be detrimental to L1, e.g. due to essentially poisoning L1 PLE
training with bad data.

And copying the count from vmcb02 to vmcb01 on a nested VM-Exit makes even
less sense, because again, the purpose of PLE is to detect spinning vCPUs.
Whether or not a vCPU is spinning in L2 at the time of a nested VM-Exit
has no relevance as to the behavior of the vCPU when it executes in L1.

The only scenarios where any of this actually works is if at least one
of KVM or L1 is NOT intercepting PAUSE for the guest.  Per the original
changelog, those were the only scenarios considered to be supported.
Disabling KVM's use of PLE makes it so the VM is always in a "supported"
mode.

Last, but certainly not least, using KVM's count/threshold instead of the
values provided by L1 is a blatant violation of the SVM architecture.

Fixes: 74fd41ed16 ("KVM: x86: nSVM: support PAUSE filtering when L0 doesn't intercept PAUSE")
Cc: Maxim Levitsky <mlevitsk@redhat.com>
Tested-by: David Kaplan <david.kaplan@amd.com>
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260508213321.373309-1-seanjc@google.com/
Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
History 2026-05-12 22:17:28 +02:00
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Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst