* [PATCH v4] KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Avoid spurious interrupts caused by LPCR_MER bit
@ 2026-10-05 8:45 Gautam Menghani
2026-10-08 19:45 ` Narayana Murty N
0 siblings, 1 reply; 2+ messages in thread
From: Gautam Menghani @ 2026-10-05 8:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: maddy, npiggin, mpe, chleroy, ritesh.list, sshegde, nnmlinux,
amachhiw, harshpb
Cc: linuxppc-dev, kvm, linux-kernel, stable, Timothy Pearson
A huge number of spurious interrupts can be seen immediately after a KVM
on PowerNV guest boots up in XIVE mode.
$ cat /proc/interrupts | grep SPU
SPU: 223705 192439 273526 147623 Spurious interrupts
This bug was introduced by commit ecd10702baae5 ("KVM: PPC: Book3S HV:
Handle pending exceptions on guest entry with MSR_EE"). The root cause
is that once LPCR_MER bit is set, it is supposed to be reset by
software. But when a vCPU starts running with LPCR_MER set, the vCPU does
not exit back to the host until the decrementer expires or there is an
hcall, etc. This is because KVM on PowerNV guests have support for
native XIVE, so they are not dependent on host for interrupt emulation.
Due to this behaviour, a huge number of spurious interrupts are seen
since LPCR_MER continues to be set and LPCR_MER cannot be reset until the
vCPU exits to the host.
Fix this behaviour by not using the LPCR_MER bit whenever native XIVE is
available (currently in case of KVM on PowerNV only), as the XIVE hardware
can present interrupts to the KVM guest vCPU directly. So the LPCR_MER
functionality is not required. This reduces the number of spurious
interrupts drastically.
Fixes: ecd10702baae5 ("KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Handle pending exceptions on guest entry with MSR_EE")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org # 6.8+
Reported-by: Timothy Pearson <tpearson@raptorengineering.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linuxppc-dev/582904882.11159.1786719390349.JavaMail.zimbra@raptorengineeringinc.com
Signed-off-by: Gautam Menghani <gautam@linux.ibm.com>
---
v4:
1. If interrupt mode is changed to XICS during guest reboot, MER should
be used. (Amit)
v3:
1. Continue the use of LPCR_MER when kernel-irqchip=off (Sashiko)
v2:
1. Handle the case where xive_interrupt_pending() is true and also the
external exception bit is set. (Narayana)
arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h | 7 +++++++
arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c | 2 +-
2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h
index 169ea6a7fbad..9178406dc365 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h
@@ -747,6 +747,11 @@ static inline int kvmppc_xive_enabled(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
return vcpu->arch.irq_type == KVMPPC_IRQ_XIVE;
}
+static inline bool kvmppc_xive_native_enabled(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
+{
+ return kvmppc_xive_enabled(vcpu) && vcpu->kvm->arch.xive_devices.native;
+}
+
extern int kvmppc_xive_native_connect_vcpu(struct kvm_device *dev,
struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u32 cpu);
extern void kvmppc_xive_native_cleanup_vcpu(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu);
@@ -782,6 +787,8 @@ static inline bool kvmppc_xive_rearm_escalation(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) { return
static inline int kvmppc_xive_enabled(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
{ return 0; }
+static inline bool kvmppc_xive_native_enabled(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) { return false; }
+
static inline int kvmppc_xive_native_connect_vcpu(struct kvm_device *dev,
struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u32 cpu) { return -EBUSY; }
static inline void kvmppc_xive_native_cleanup_vcpu(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) { }
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c b/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c
index dbac3573b2c8..dec89c014c52 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c
@@ -4980,7 +4980,7 @@ int kvmhv_run_single_vcpu(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u64 time_limit,
if (!kvmhv_on_pseries() && (__kvmppc_get_msr_hv(vcpu) & MSR_EE))
kvmppc_inject_interrupt_hv(vcpu,
BOOK3S_INTERRUPT_EXTERNAL, 0);
- else
+ else if (!kvmppc_xive_native_enabled(vcpu))
lpcr |= LPCR_MER;
} else {
/*
--
2.52.0
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 2+ messages in thread* Re: [PATCH v4] KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Avoid spurious interrupts caused by LPCR_MER bit
2026-10-05 8:45 [PATCH v4] KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Avoid spurious interrupts caused by LPCR_MER bit Gautam Menghani
@ 2026-10-08 19:45 ` Narayana Murty N
0 siblings, 0 replies; 2+ messages in thread
From: Narayana Murty N @ 2026-10-08 19:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Gautam Menghani, maddy, npiggin, mpe, chleroy, ritesh.list,
sshegde, amachhiw, harshpb
Cc: linuxppc-dev, kvm, linux-kernel, stable, Timothy Pearson
On 05/10/26 2:15 PM, Gautam Menghani wrote:
> A huge number of spurious interrupts can be seen immediately after a KVM
> on PowerNV guest boots up in XIVE mode.
>
> $ cat /proc/interrupts | grep SPU
> SPU: 223705 192439 273526 147623 Spurious interrupts
>
> This bug was introduced by commit ecd10702baae5 ("KVM: PPC: Book3S HV:
> Handle pending exceptions on guest entry with MSR_EE"). The root cause
> is that once LPCR_MER bit is set, it is supposed to be reset by
> software. But when a vCPU starts running with LPCR_MER set, the vCPU does
> not exit back to the host until the decrementer expires or there is an
> hcall, etc. This is because KVM on PowerNV guests have support for
> native XIVE, so they are not dependent on host for interrupt emulation.
> Due to this behaviour, a huge number of spurious interrupts are seen
> since LPCR_MER continues to be set and LPCR_MER cannot be reset until the
> vCPU exits to the host.
>
> Fix this behaviour by not using the LPCR_MER bit whenever native XIVE is
> available (currently in case of KVM on PowerNV only), as the XIVE hardware
> can present interrupts to the KVM guest vCPU directly. So the LPCR_MER
> functionality is not required. This reduces the number of spurious
> interrupts drastically.
>
> Fixes: ecd10702baae5 ("KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Handle pending exceptions on guest entry with MSR_EE")
> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org # 6.8+
> Reported-by: Timothy Pearson <tpearson@raptorengineering.com>
> Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linuxppc-dev/582904882.11159.1786719390349.JavaMail.zimbra@raptorengineeringinc.com
> Signed-off-by: Gautam Menghani <gautam@linux.ibm.com>
> ---
> v4:
> 1. If interrupt mode is changed to XICS during guest reboot, MER should
> be used. (Amit)
>
> v3:
> 1. Continue the use of LPCR_MER when kernel-irqchip=off (Sashiko)
>
> v2:
> 1. Handle the case where xive_interrupt_pending() is true and also the
> external exception bit is set. (Narayana)
>
> arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h | 7 +++++++
> arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c | 2 +-
> 2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h
> index 169ea6a7fbad..9178406dc365 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_ppc.h
> @@ -747,6 +747,11 @@ static inline int kvmppc_xive_enabled(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
> return vcpu->arch.irq_type == KVMPPC_IRQ_XIVE;
> }
>
> +static inline bool kvmppc_xive_native_enabled(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
> +{
> + return kvmppc_xive_enabled(vcpu) && vcpu->kvm->arch.xive_devices.native;
> +}
> +
> extern int kvmppc_xive_native_connect_vcpu(struct kvm_device *dev,
> struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u32 cpu);
> extern void kvmppc_xive_native_cleanup_vcpu(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu);
> @@ -782,6 +787,8 @@ static inline bool kvmppc_xive_rearm_escalation(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) { return
>
> static inline int kvmppc_xive_enabled(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
> { return 0; }
> +static inline bool kvmppc_xive_native_enabled(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) { return false; }
> +
> static inline int kvmppc_xive_native_connect_vcpu(struct kvm_device *dev,
> struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u32 cpu) { return -EBUSY; }
> static inline void kvmppc_xive_native_cleanup_vcpu(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu) { }
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c b/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c
> index dbac3573b2c8..dec89c014c52 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c
> @@ -4980,7 +4980,7 @@ int kvmhv_run_single_vcpu(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, u64 time_limit,
> if (!kvmhv_on_pseries() && (__kvmppc_get_msr_hv(vcpu) & MSR_EE))
> kvmppc_inject_interrupt_hv(vcpu,
> BOOK3S_INTERRUPT_EXTERNAL, 0);
> - else
> + else if (!kvmppc_xive_native_enabled(vcpu))
> lpcr |= LPCR_MER;
> } else {
> /*
The v4 change also handles switching back to XICS while the native XIVE
device is still present. With that, the interrupt-mode cases look
covered to me, feel free to add
Reviewed-by: Narayana Murty <nnmlinux@linux.ibm.com>
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 2+ messages in thread
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2026-10-05 8:45 [PATCH v4] KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Avoid spurious interrupts caused by LPCR_MER bit Gautam Menghani
2026-10-08 19:45 ` Narayana Murty N
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