[Xen-devel] Altp2m use with PML can deadlock Xen

[Tamas K Lengyel <tamas.k.lengyel@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,
I'm investigating an issue with altp2m that can easily be reproduced
and leads to a hypervisor deadlock when PML is available in hardware.
I haven't been able to trace down where the actual deadlock occurs.

The problem seem to stem from hvm/vmx/vmcs.c:vmx_vcpu_flush_pml_buffer
that calls p2m_change_type_one on all gfns that were recorded the PML
buffer. The problem occurs when the PML buffer full vmexit happens
while the active p2m is an altp2m. Switching  p2m_change_type_one to
work with the altp2m instead of the hostp2m however results in EPT
misconfiguration crashes.

Adding to the issue is that it seem to only occur when the altp2m has
remapped GFNs. Since PML records entries based on GFN leads me to
question whether it is safe at all to use PML when altp2m is used with
GFN remapping. However, AFAICT the GFNs in the PML buffer are not the
remapped GFNs and my understanding is that it should be safe as long
as the GFNs being tracked by PML are never the remapped GFNs.

Booting Xen with ept=pml=0 resolves the issue.

If anyone has any insight into what might be happening, please let me know.

Thanks,
Tamas

_______________________________________________
Xen-devel mailing list
Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.xenproject.org/mailman/listinfo/xen-devel