[Bug 1864536] [NEW] Support for XSAVES intel instructions in QEMU

[Alexandre Bécholey]

Public bug reported:

Dear QEMU developers,

I am running Hyper-V on qemu+kvm. During it initialization, it checks
for XSAVES support: first it executes CPUID with EAX = 0xd and ECX = 1
and looks at bit 3 in the returned value of EAX (Supports XSAVES/XRSTORS
and IA32_XSS [1]), and then it reads the MSR IA32_VMX_PROCBASED_CTLS2
(index 0x48B) and looks at bit 20 (Enable XSAVES/XSTORS [2]). If CPUID
shows that XSAVES is supported and the bit is not enabled in the MSR,
Hyper-V decides to fail and stops its initialization. It used to work
until last spring/summer where something might have changed in either
KVM or QEMU.

It seems that KVM sets the correct flags (in CPUID and the MSR) when the host 
CPU supports XSAVES. In QEMU, based on comments in target/i386/cpu.c it seems 
that XSAVES is not added in
builtin_x86_defs[].features[FEAT_VMX_SECONDARY_CTLS] because it might break 
live migration. Therefore, when setting the MSR for the vcpu, QEMU is masking 
off the feature.

I have tested two possible solutions:
- adding the flag in .features[FEAT_VMX_SECONDARY_CTLS]
- removing the support of the instruction in 
feature_word_info[FEAT_XSAVE].feat_names

Both solutions work and Hyper-v is happily running. I can provide a
patch for the solution you might consider applying. Otherwise, is there
a better way to fix the issue?

Qemu version: 4.2.0
Kernel version: 5.5.4
Qemu command: https://gist.github.com/0xabe-io/b4d797538e2160252addc1d1d64738e2


Many thanks,
Alexandre

Ref:
[1] Intel SDM Volume 2A, chapter 3, page 196
[2] Intel SDM Volume 3C, chapter 24, page 11

** Affects: qemu
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1864536

Title:
  Support for XSAVES intel instructions in QEMU

Status in QEMU:
  New

Bug description:
  Dear QEMU developers,

  I am running Hyper-V on qemu+kvm. During it initialization, it checks
  for XSAVES support: first it executes CPUID with EAX = 0xd and ECX = 1
  and looks at bit 3 in the returned value of EAX (Supports
  XSAVES/XRSTORS and IA32_XSS [1]), and then it reads the MSR
  IA32_VMX_PROCBASED_CTLS2 (index 0x48B) and looks at bit 20 (Enable
  XSAVES/XSTORS [2]). If CPUID shows that XSAVES is supported and the
  bit is not enabled in the MSR, Hyper-V decides to fail and stops its
  initialization. It used to work until last spring/summer where
  something might have changed in either KVM or QEMU.

  It seems that KVM sets the correct flags (in CPUID and the MSR) when the host 
CPU supports XSAVES. In QEMU, based on comments in target/i386/cpu.c it seems 
that XSAVES is not added in
  builtin_x86_defs[].features[FEAT_VMX_SECONDARY_CTLS] because it might break 
live migration. Therefore, when setting the MSR for the vcpu, QEMU is masking 
off the feature.

  I have tested two possible solutions:
  - adding the flag in .features[FEAT_VMX_SECONDARY_CTLS]
  - removing the support of the instruction in 
feature_word_info[FEAT_XSAVE].feat_names

  Both solutions work and Hyper-v is happily running. I can provide a
  patch for the solution you might consider applying. Otherwise, is
  there a better way to fix the issue?

  Qemu version: 4.2.0
  Kernel version: 5.5.4
  Qemu command: 
https://gist.github.com/0xabe-io/b4d797538e2160252addc1d1d64738e2

  
  Many thanks,
  Alexandre

  Ref:
  [1] Intel SDM Volume 2A, chapter 3, page 196
  [2] Intel SDM Volume 3C, chapter 24, page 11

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