[Xen-devel] [PATCH] [RFC PATCH] xen: vmx: Use an INT 2 call to process real NMI's instead of self_nmi() in VMEXIT handler

[Malcolm Crossley <malcolm.crossley@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The self_nmi() code cause's an NMI to be triggered by sending an APIC message
to the local processor. Unfortunately there is a delay in the delivery of the
APIC message and we may already have re-entered the HVM guest by the time the
NMI is taken. This results in the VMEXIT code calling the self_nmi() function
again. We have seen hundreds of iterations of this VMEXIT/VMENTER loop before
the HVM guest resumes normal operation.

Volume 3 Chapter 27 Section 1 of the Intel SDM states:

An NMI causes subsequent NMIs to be blocked, but only after the VM exit
completes.

So we believe it is safe to directly invoke the INT call as NMI's should
already be blocked.

diff -r 62885b3c34c8 -r ea756059a8da xen/arch/x86/hvm/vmx/vmx.c
--- a/xen/arch/x86/hvm/vmx/vmx.c
+++ b/xen/arch/x86/hvm/vmx/vmx.c
@@ -2442,7 +2442,7 @@ void vmx_vmexit_handler(struct cpu_user_
                  (X86_EVENTTYPE_NMI << 8) )
                 goto exit_and_crash;
             HVMTRACE_0D(NMI);
-            self_nmi(); /* Real NMI, vector 2: normal processing. */
+            asm("int $2"); /* Real NMI, vector 2: normal processing. */
             break;
         case TRAP_machine_check:
             HVMTRACE_0D(MCE);

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