1 The Definitive KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) API Documentation
2 ===================================================================
7 The kvm API is a set of ioctls that are issued to control various aspects
8 of a virtual machine. The ioctls belong to three classes
10 - System ioctls: These query and set global attributes which affect the
11 whole kvm subsystem. In addition a system ioctl is used to create
14 - VM ioctls: These query and set attributes that affect an entire virtual
15 machine, for example memory layout. In addition a VM ioctl is used to
16 create virtual cpus (vcpus).
18 Only run VM ioctls from the same process (address space) that was used
21 - vcpu ioctls: These query and set attributes that control the operation
22 of a single virtual cpu.
24 Only run vcpu ioctls from the same thread that was used to create the
31 The kvm API is centered around file descriptors. An initial
32 open("/dev/kvm") obtains a handle to the kvm subsystem; this handle
33 can be used to issue system ioctls. A KVM_CREATE_VM ioctl on this
34 handle will create a VM file descriptor which can be used to issue VM
35 ioctls. A KVM_CREATE_VCPU ioctl on a VM fd will create a virtual cpu
36 and return a file descriptor pointing to it. Finally, ioctls on a vcpu
37 fd can be used to control the vcpu, including the important task of
38 actually running guest code.
40 In general file descriptors can be migrated among processes by means
41 of fork() and the SCM_RIGHTS facility of unix domain socket. These
42 kinds of tricks are explicitly not supported by kvm. While they will
43 not cause harm to the host, their actual behavior is not guaranteed by
44 the API. The only supported use is one virtual machine per process,
45 and one vcpu per thread.
51 As of Linux 2.6.22, the KVM ABI has been stabilized: no backward
52 incompatible change are allowed. However, there is an extension
53 facility that allows backward-compatible extensions to the API to be
56 The extension mechanism is not based on the Linux version number.
57 Instead, kvm defines extension identifiers and a facility to query
58 whether a particular extension identifier is available. If it is, a
59 set of ioctls is available for application use.
65 This section describes ioctls that can be used to control kvm guests.
66 For each ioctl, the following information is provided along with a
69 Capability: which KVM extension provides this ioctl. Can be 'basic',
70 which means that is will be provided by any kernel that supports
71 API version 12 (see section 4.1), a KVM_CAP_xyz constant, which
72 means availability needs to be checked with KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION
73 (see section 4.4), or 'none' which means that while not all kernels
74 support this ioctl, there's no capability bit to check its
75 availability: for kernels that don't support the ioctl,
76 the ioctl returns -ENOTTY.
78 Architectures: which instruction set architectures provide this ioctl.
79 x86 includes both i386 and x86_64.
81 Type: system, vm, or vcpu.
83 Parameters: what parameters are accepted by the ioctl.
85 Returns: the return value. General error numbers (EBADF, ENOMEM, EINVAL)
86 are not detailed, but errors with specific meanings are.
89 4.1 KVM_GET_API_VERSION
95 Returns: the constant KVM_API_VERSION (=12)
97 This identifies the API version as the stable kvm API. It is not
98 expected that this number will change. However, Linux 2.6.20 and
99 2.6.21 report earlier versions; these are not documented and not
100 supported. Applications should refuse to run if KVM_GET_API_VERSION
101 returns a value other than 12. If this check passes, all ioctls
102 described as 'basic' will be available.
110 Parameters: machine type identifier (KVM_VM_*)
111 Returns: a VM fd that can be used to control the new virtual machine.
113 The new VM has no virtual cpus and no memory.
114 You probably want to use 0 as machine type.
116 In order to create user controlled virtual machines on S390, check
117 KVM_CAP_S390_UCONTROL and use the flag KVM_VM_S390_UCONTROL as
118 privileged user (CAP_SYS_ADMIN).
120 To use hardware assisted virtualization on MIPS (VZ ASE) rather than
121 the default trap & emulate implementation (which changes the virtual
122 memory layout to fit in user mode), check KVM_CAP_MIPS_VZ and use the
126 4.3 KVM_GET_MSR_INDEX_LIST, KVM_GET_MSR_FEATURE_INDEX_LIST
128 Capability: basic, KVM_CAP_GET_MSR_FEATURES for KVM_GET_MSR_FEATURE_INDEX_LIST
131 Parameters: struct kvm_msr_list (in/out)
132 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
134 EFAULT: the msr index list cannot be read from or written to
135 E2BIG: the msr index list is to be to fit in the array specified by
138 struct kvm_msr_list {
139 __u32 nmsrs; /* number of msrs in entries */
143 The user fills in the size of the indices array in nmsrs, and in return
144 kvm adjusts nmsrs to reflect the actual number of msrs and fills in the
145 indices array with their numbers.
147 KVM_GET_MSR_INDEX_LIST returns the guest msrs that are supported. The list
148 varies by kvm version and host processor, but does not change otherwise.
150 Note: if kvm indicates supports MCE (KVM_CAP_MCE), then the MCE bank MSRs are
151 not returned in the MSR list, as different vcpus can have a different number
152 of banks, as set via the KVM_X86_SETUP_MCE ioctl.
154 KVM_GET_MSR_FEATURE_INDEX_LIST returns the list of MSRs that can be passed
155 to the KVM_GET_MSRS system ioctl. This lets userspace probe host capabilities
156 and processor features that are exposed via MSRs (e.g., VMX capabilities).
157 This list also varies by kvm version and host processor, but does not change
161 4.4 KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION
163 Capability: basic, KVM_CAP_CHECK_EXTENSION_VM for vm ioctl
165 Type: system ioctl, vm ioctl
166 Parameters: extension identifier (KVM_CAP_*)
167 Returns: 0 if unsupported; 1 (or some other positive integer) if supported
169 The API allows the application to query about extensions to the core
170 kvm API. Userspace passes an extension identifier (an integer) and
171 receives an integer that describes the extension availability.
172 Generally 0 means no and 1 means yes, but some extensions may report
173 additional information in the integer return value.
175 Based on their initialization different VMs may have different capabilities.
176 It is thus encouraged to use the vm ioctl to query for capabilities (available
177 with KVM_CAP_CHECK_EXTENSION_VM on the vm fd)
179 4.5 KVM_GET_VCPU_MMAP_SIZE
185 Returns: size of vcpu mmap area, in bytes
187 The KVM_RUN ioctl (cf.) communicates with userspace via a shared
188 memory region. This ioctl returns the size of that region. See the
189 KVM_RUN documentation for details.
192 4.6 KVM_SET_MEMORY_REGION
197 Parameters: struct kvm_memory_region (in)
198 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
200 This ioctl is obsolete and has been removed.
208 Parameters: vcpu id (apic id on x86)
209 Returns: vcpu fd on success, -1 on error
211 This API adds a vcpu to a virtual machine. No more than max_vcpus may be added.
212 The vcpu id is an integer in the range [0, max_vcpu_id).
214 The recommended max_vcpus value can be retrieved using the KVM_CAP_NR_VCPUS of
215 the KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION ioctl() at run-time.
216 The maximum possible value for max_vcpus can be retrieved using the
217 KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPUS of the KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION ioctl() at run-time.
219 If the KVM_CAP_NR_VCPUS does not exist, you should assume that max_vcpus is 4
221 If the KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPUS does not exist, you should assume that max_vcpus is
222 same as the value returned from KVM_CAP_NR_VCPUS.
224 The maximum possible value for max_vcpu_id can be retrieved using the
225 KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPU_ID of the KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION ioctl() at run-time.
227 If the KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPU_ID does not exist, you should assume that max_vcpu_id
228 is the same as the value returned from KVM_CAP_MAX_VCPUS.
230 On powerpc using book3s_hv mode, the vcpus are mapped onto virtual
231 threads in one or more virtual CPU cores. (This is because the
232 hardware requires all the hardware threads in a CPU core to be in the
233 same partition.) The KVM_CAP_PPC_SMT capability indicates the number
234 of vcpus per virtual core (vcore). The vcore id is obtained by
235 dividing the vcpu id by the number of vcpus per vcore. The vcpus in a
236 given vcore will always be in the same physical core as each other
237 (though that might be a different physical core from time to time).
238 Userspace can control the threading (SMT) mode of the guest by its
239 allocation of vcpu ids. For example, if userspace wants
240 single-threaded guest vcpus, it should make all vcpu ids be a multiple
241 of the number of vcpus per vcore.
243 For virtual cpus that have been created with S390 user controlled virtual
244 machines, the resulting vcpu fd can be memory mapped at page offset
245 KVM_S390_SIE_PAGE_OFFSET in order to obtain a memory map of the virtual
246 cpu's hardware control block.
249 4.8 KVM_GET_DIRTY_LOG (vm ioctl)
254 Parameters: struct kvm_dirty_log (in/out)
255 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
257 /* for KVM_GET_DIRTY_LOG */
258 struct kvm_dirty_log {
262 void __user *dirty_bitmap; /* one bit per page */
267 Given a memory slot, return a bitmap containing any pages dirtied
268 since the last call to this ioctl. Bit 0 is the first page in the
269 memory slot. Ensure the entire structure is cleared to avoid padding
272 If KVM_CAP_MULTI_ADDRESS_SPACE is available, bits 16-31 specifies
273 the address space for which you want to return the dirty bitmap.
274 They must be less than the value that KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION returns for
275 the KVM_CAP_MULTI_ADDRESS_SPACE capability.
278 4.9 KVM_SET_MEMORY_ALIAS
283 Parameters: struct kvm_memory_alias (in)
284 Returns: 0 (success), -1 (error)
286 This ioctl is obsolete and has been removed.
295 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
297 EINTR: an unmasked signal is pending
299 This ioctl is used to run a guest virtual cpu. While there are no
300 explicit parameters, there is an implicit parameter block that can be
301 obtained by mmap()ing the vcpu fd at offset 0, with the size given by
302 KVM_GET_VCPU_MMAP_SIZE. The parameter block is formatted as a 'struct
303 kvm_run' (see below).
309 Architectures: all except ARM, arm64
311 Parameters: struct kvm_regs (out)
312 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
314 Reads the general purpose registers from the vcpu.
318 /* out (KVM_GET_REGS) / in (KVM_SET_REGS) */
319 __u64 rax, rbx, rcx, rdx;
320 __u64 rsi, rdi, rsp, rbp;
321 __u64 r8, r9, r10, r11;
322 __u64 r12, r13, r14, r15;
328 /* out (KVM_GET_REGS) / in (KVM_SET_REGS) */
339 Architectures: all except ARM, arm64
341 Parameters: struct kvm_regs (in)
342 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
344 Writes the general purpose registers into the vcpu.
346 See KVM_GET_REGS for the data structure.
352 Architectures: x86, ppc
354 Parameters: struct kvm_sregs (out)
355 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
357 Reads special registers from the vcpu.
361 struct kvm_segment cs, ds, es, fs, gs, ss;
362 struct kvm_segment tr, ldt;
363 struct kvm_dtable gdt, idt;
364 __u64 cr0, cr2, cr3, cr4, cr8;
367 __u64 interrupt_bitmap[(KVM_NR_INTERRUPTS + 63) / 64];
370 /* ppc -- see arch/powerpc/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h */
372 interrupt_bitmap is a bitmap of pending external interrupts. At most
373 one bit may be set. This interrupt has been acknowledged by the APIC
374 but not yet injected into the cpu core.
380 Architectures: x86, ppc
382 Parameters: struct kvm_sregs (in)
383 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
385 Writes special registers into the vcpu. See KVM_GET_SREGS for the
394 Parameters: struct kvm_translation (in/out)
395 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
397 Translates a virtual address according to the vcpu's current address
400 struct kvm_translation {
402 __u64 linear_address;
405 __u64 physical_address;
416 Architectures: x86, ppc, mips
418 Parameters: struct kvm_interrupt (in)
419 Returns: 0 on success, negative on failure.
421 Queues a hardware interrupt vector to be injected.
423 /* for KVM_INTERRUPT */
424 struct kvm_interrupt {
431 Returns: 0 on success,
432 -EEXIST if an interrupt is already enqueued
433 -EINVAL the the irq number is invalid
434 -ENXIO if the PIC is in the kernel
435 -EFAULT if the pointer is invalid
437 Note 'irq' is an interrupt vector, not an interrupt pin or line. This
438 ioctl is useful if the in-kernel PIC is not used.
442 Queues an external interrupt to be injected. This ioctl is overleaded
443 with 3 different irq values:
447 This injects an edge type external interrupt into the guest once it's ready
448 to receive interrupts. When injected, the interrupt is done.
450 b) KVM_INTERRUPT_UNSET
452 This unsets any pending interrupt.
454 Only available with KVM_CAP_PPC_UNSET_IRQ.
456 c) KVM_INTERRUPT_SET_LEVEL
458 This injects a level type external interrupt into the guest context. The
459 interrupt stays pending until a specific ioctl with KVM_INTERRUPT_UNSET
462 Only available with KVM_CAP_PPC_IRQ_LEVEL.
464 Note that any value for 'irq' other than the ones stated above is invalid
465 and incurs unexpected behavior.
469 Queues an external interrupt to be injected into the virtual CPU. A negative
470 interrupt number dequeues the interrupt.
481 Support for this has been removed. Use KVM_SET_GUEST_DEBUG instead.
486 Capability: basic (vcpu), KVM_CAP_GET_MSR_FEATURES (system)
488 Type: system ioctl, vcpu ioctl
489 Parameters: struct kvm_msrs (in/out)
490 Returns: number of msrs successfully returned;
493 When used as a system ioctl:
494 Reads the values of MSR-based features that are available for the VM. This
495 is similar to KVM_GET_SUPPORTED_CPUID, but it returns MSR indices and values.
496 The list of msr-based features can be obtained using KVM_GET_MSR_FEATURE_INDEX_LIST
499 When used as a vcpu ioctl:
500 Reads model-specific registers from the vcpu. Supported msr indices can
501 be obtained using KVM_GET_MSR_INDEX_LIST in a system ioctl.
504 __u32 nmsrs; /* number of msrs in entries */
507 struct kvm_msr_entry entries[0];
510 struct kvm_msr_entry {
516 Application code should set the 'nmsrs' member (which indicates the
517 size of the entries array) and the 'index' member of each array entry.
518 kvm will fill in the 'data' member.
526 Parameters: struct kvm_msrs (in)
527 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
529 Writes model-specific registers to the vcpu. See KVM_GET_MSRS for the
532 Application code should set the 'nmsrs' member (which indicates the
533 size of the entries array), and the 'index' and 'data' members of each
542 Parameters: struct kvm_cpuid (in)
543 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
545 Defines the vcpu responses to the cpuid instruction. Applications
546 should use the KVM_SET_CPUID2 ioctl if available.
549 struct kvm_cpuid_entry {
558 /* for KVM_SET_CPUID */
562 struct kvm_cpuid_entry entries[0];
566 4.21 KVM_SET_SIGNAL_MASK
571 Parameters: struct kvm_signal_mask (in)
572 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
574 Defines which signals are blocked during execution of KVM_RUN. This
575 signal mask temporarily overrides the threads signal mask. Any
576 unblocked signal received (except SIGKILL and SIGSTOP, which retain
577 their traditional behaviour) will cause KVM_RUN to return with -EINTR.
579 Note the signal will only be delivered if not blocked by the original
582 /* for KVM_SET_SIGNAL_MASK */
583 struct kvm_signal_mask {
594 Parameters: struct kvm_fpu (out)
595 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
597 Reads the floating point state from the vcpu.
599 /* for KVM_GET_FPU and KVM_SET_FPU */
604 __u8 ftwx; /* in fxsave format */
620 Parameters: struct kvm_fpu (in)
621 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
623 Writes the floating point state to the vcpu.
625 /* for KVM_GET_FPU and KVM_SET_FPU */
630 __u8 ftwx; /* in fxsave format */
641 4.24 KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP
643 Capability: KVM_CAP_IRQCHIP, KVM_CAP_S390_IRQCHIP (s390)
644 Architectures: x86, ARM, arm64, s390
647 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
649 Creates an interrupt controller model in the kernel.
650 On x86, creates a virtual ioapic, a virtual PIC (two PICs, nested), and sets up
651 future vcpus to have a local APIC. IRQ routing for GSIs 0-15 is set to both
652 PIC and IOAPIC; GSI 16-23 only go to the IOAPIC.
653 On ARM/arm64, a GICv2 is created. Any other GIC versions require the usage of
654 KVM_CREATE_DEVICE, which also supports creating a GICv2. Using
655 KVM_CREATE_DEVICE is preferred over KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP for GICv2.
656 On s390, a dummy irq routing table is created.
658 Note that on s390 the KVM_CAP_S390_IRQCHIP vm capability needs to be enabled
659 before KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP can be used.
664 Capability: KVM_CAP_IRQCHIP
665 Architectures: x86, arm, arm64
667 Parameters: struct kvm_irq_level
668 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
670 Sets the level of a GSI input to the interrupt controller model in the kernel.
671 On some architectures it is required that an interrupt controller model has
672 been previously created with KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP. Note that edge-triggered
673 interrupts require the level to be set to 1 and then back to 0.
675 On real hardware, interrupt pins can be active-low or active-high. This
676 does not matter for the level field of struct kvm_irq_level: 1 always
677 means active (asserted), 0 means inactive (deasserted).
679 x86 allows the operating system to program the interrupt polarity
680 (active-low/active-high) for level-triggered interrupts, and KVM used
681 to consider the polarity. However, due to bitrot in the handling of
682 active-low interrupts, the above convention is now valid on x86 too.
683 This is signaled by KVM_CAP_X86_IOAPIC_POLARITY_IGNORED. Userspace
684 should not present interrupts to the guest as active-low unless this
685 capability is present (or unless it is not using the in-kernel irqchip,
689 ARM/arm64 can signal an interrupt either at the CPU level, or at the
690 in-kernel irqchip (GIC), and for in-kernel irqchip can tell the GIC to
691 use PPIs designated for specific cpus. The irq field is interpreted
694 Â bits: | 31 ... 24 | 23 ... 16 | 15 ... 0 |
695 field: | irq_type | vcpu_index | irq_id |
697 The irq_type field has the following values:
698 - irq_type[0]: out-of-kernel GIC: irq_id 0 is IRQ, irq_id 1 is FIQ
699 - irq_type[1]: in-kernel GIC: SPI, irq_id between 32 and 1019 (incl.)
700 (the vcpu_index field is ignored)
701 - irq_type[2]: in-kernel GIC: PPI, irq_id between 16 and 31 (incl.)
703 (The irq_id field thus corresponds nicely to the IRQ ID in the ARM GIC specs)
705 In both cases, level is used to assert/deassert the line.
707 struct kvm_irq_level {
710 __s32 status; /* not used for KVM_IRQ_LEVEL */
712 __u32 level; /* 0 or 1 */
718 Capability: KVM_CAP_IRQCHIP
721 Parameters: struct kvm_irqchip (in/out)
722 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
724 Reads the state of a kernel interrupt controller created with
725 KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP into a buffer provided by the caller.
728 __u32 chip_id; /* 0 = PIC1, 1 = PIC2, 2 = IOAPIC */
731 char dummy[512]; /* reserving space */
732 struct kvm_pic_state pic;
733 struct kvm_ioapic_state ioapic;
740 Capability: KVM_CAP_IRQCHIP
743 Parameters: struct kvm_irqchip (in)
744 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
746 Sets the state of a kernel interrupt controller created with
747 KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP from a buffer provided by the caller.
750 __u32 chip_id; /* 0 = PIC1, 1 = PIC2, 2 = IOAPIC */
753 char dummy[512]; /* reserving space */
754 struct kvm_pic_state pic;
755 struct kvm_ioapic_state ioapic;
760 4.28 KVM_XEN_HVM_CONFIG
762 Capability: KVM_CAP_XEN_HVM
765 Parameters: struct kvm_xen_hvm_config (in)
766 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
768 Sets the MSR that the Xen HVM guest uses to initialize its hypercall
769 page, and provides the starting address and size of the hypercall
770 blobs in userspace. When the guest writes the MSR, kvm copies one
771 page of a blob (32- or 64-bit, depending on the vcpu mode) to guest
774 struct kvm_xen_hvm_config {
787 Capability: KVM_CAP_ADJUST_CLOCK
790 Parameters: struct kvm_clock_data (out)
791 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
793 Gets the current timestamp of kvmclock as seen by the current guest. In
794 conjunction with KVM_SET_CLOCK, it is used to ensure monotonicity on scenarios
797 When KVM_CAP_ADJUST_CLOCK is passed to KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, it returns the
798 set of bits that KVM can return in struct kvm_clock_data's flag member.
800 The only flag defined now is KVM_CLOCK_TSC_STABLE. If set, the returned
801 value is the exact kvmclock value seen by all VCPUs at the instant
802 when KVM_GET_CLOCK was called. If clear, the returned value is simply
803 CLOCK_MONOTONIC plus a constant offset; the offset can be modified
804 with KVM_SET_CLOCK. KVM will try to make all VCPUs follow this clock,
805 but the exact value read by each VCPU could differ, because the host
808 struct kvm_clock_data {
809 __u64 clock; /* kvmclock current value */
817 Capability: KVM_CAP_ADJUST_CLOCK
820 Parameters: struct kvm_clock_data (in)
821 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
823 Sets the current timestamp of kvmclock to the value specified in its parameter.
824 In conjunction with KVM_GET_CLOCK, it is used to ensure monotonicity on scenarios
827 struct kvm_clock_data {
828 __u64 clock; /* kvmclock current value */
834 4.31 KVM_GET_VCPU_EVENTS
836 Capability: KVM_CAP_VCPU_EVENTS
837 Extended by: KVM_CAP_INTR_SHADOW
840 Parameters: struct kvm_vcpu_event (out)
841 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
843 Gets currently pending exceptions, interrupts, and NMIs as well as related
846 struct kvm_vcpu_events {
876 Only two fields are defined in the flags field:
878 - KVM_VCPUEVENT_VALID_SHADOW may be set in the flags field to signal that
879 interrupt.shadow contains a valid state.
881 - KVM_VCPUEVENT_VALID_SMM may be set in the flags field to signal that
882 smi contains a valid state.
884 4.32 KVM_SET_VCPU_EVENTS
886 Capability: KVM_CAP_VCPU_EVENTS
887 Extended by: KVM_CAP_INTR_SHADOW
890 Parameters: struct kvm_vcpu_event (in)
891 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
893 Set pending exceptions, interrupts, and NMIs as well as related states of the
896 See KVM_GET_VCPU_EVENTS for the data structure.
898 Fields that may be modified asynchronously by running VCPUs can be excluded
899 from the update. These fields are nmi.pending, sipi_vector, smi.smm,
900 smi.pending. Keep the corresponding bits in the flags field cleared to
901 suppress overwriting the current in-kernel state. The bits are:
903 KVM_VCPUEVENT_VALID_NMI_PENDING - transfer nmi.pending to the kernel
904 KVM_VCPUEVENT_VALID_SIPI_VECTOR - transfer sipi_vector
905 KVM_VCPUEVENT_VALID_SMM - transfer the smi sub-struct.
907 If KVM_CAP_INTR_SHADOW is available, KVM_VCPUEVENT_VALID_SHADOW can be set in
908 the flags field to signal that interrupt.shadow contains a valid state and
909 shall be written into the VCPU.
911 KVM_VCPUEVENT_VALID_SMM can only be set if KVM_CAP_X86_SMM is available.
914 4.33 KVM_GET_DEBUGREGS
916 Capability: KVM_CAP_DEBUGREGS
919 Parameters: struct kvm_debugregs (out)
920 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
922 Reads debug registers from the vcpu.
924 struct kvm_debugregs {
933 4.34 KVM_SET_DEBUGREGS
935 Capability: KVM_CAP_DEBUGREGS
938 Parameters: struct kvm_debugregs (in)
939 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
941 Writes debug registers into the vcpu.
943 See KVM_GET_DEBUGREGS for the data structure. The flags field is unused
944 yet and must be cleared on entry.
947 4.35 KVM_SET_USER_MEMORY_REGION
949 Capability: KVM_CAP_USER_MEM
952 Parameters: struct kvm_userspace_memory_region (in)
953 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
955 struct kvm_userspace_memory_region {
958 __u64 guest_phys_addr;
959 __u64 memory_size; /* bytes */
960 __u64 userspace_addr; /* start of the userspace allocated memory */
963 /* for kvm_memory_region::flags */
964 #define KVM_MEM_LOG_DIRTY_PAGES (1UL << 0)
965 #define KVM_MEM_READONLY (1UL << 1)
967 This ioctl allows the user to create or modify a guest physical memory
968 slot. When changing an existing slot, it may be moved in the guest
969 physical memory space, or its flags may be modified. It may not be
970 resized. Slots may not overlap in guest physical address space.
971 Bits 0-15 of "slot" specifies the slot id and this value should be
972 less than the maximum number of user memory slots supported per VM.
973 The maximum allowed slots can be queried using KVM_CAP_NR_MEMSLOTS,
974 if this capability is supported by the architecture.
976 If KVM_CAP_MULTI_ADDRESS_SPACE is available, bits 16-31 of "slot"
977 specifies the address space which is being modified. They must be
978 less than the value that KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION returns for the
979 KVM_CAP_MULTI_ADDRESS_SPACE capability. Slots in separate address spaces
980 are unrelated; the restriction on overlapping slots only applies within
983 Memory for the region is taken starting at the address denoted by the
984 field userspace_addr, which must point at user addressable memory for
985 the entire memory slot size. Any object may back this memory, including
986 anonymous memory, ordinary files, and hugetlbfs.
988 It is recommended that the lower 21 bits of guest_phys_addr and userspace_addr
989 be identical. This allows large pages in the guest to be backed by large
992 The flags field supports two flags: KVM_MEM_LOG_DIRTY_PAGES and
993 KVM_MEM_READONLY. The former can be set to instruct KVM to keep track of
994 writes to memory within the slot. See KVM_GET_DIRTY_LOG ioctl to know how to
995 use it. The latter can be set, if KVM_CAP_READONLY_MEM capability allows it,
996 to make a new slot read-only. In this case, writes to this memory will be
997 posted to userspace as KVM_EXIT_MMIO exits.
999 When the KVM_CAP_SYNC_MMU capability is available, changes in the backing of
1000 the memory region are automatically reflected into the guest. For example, an
1001 mmap() that affects the region will be made visible immediately. Another
1002 example is madvise(MADV_DROP).
1004 It is recommended to use this API instead of the KVM_SET_MEMORY_REGION ioctl.
1005 The KVM_SET_MEMORY_REGION does not allow fine grained control over memory
1006 allocation and is deprecated.
1009 4.36 KVM_SET_TSS_ADDR
1011 Capability: KVM_CAP_SET_TSS_ADDR
1014 Parameters: unsigned long tss_address (in)
1015 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1017 This ioctl defines the physical address of a three-page region in the guest
1018 physical address space. The region must be within the first 4GB of the
1019 guest physical address space and must not conflict with any memory slot
1020 or any mmio address. The guest may malfunction if it accesses this memory
1023 This ioctl is required on Intel-based hosts. This is needed on Intel hardware
1024 because of a quirk in the virtualization implementation (see the internals
1025 documentation when it pops into existence).
1030 Capability: KVM_CAP_ENABLE_CAP, KVM_CAP_ENABLE_CAP_VM
1031 Architectures: x86 (only KVM_CAP_ENABLE_CAP_VM),
1032 mips (only KVM_CAP_ENABLE_CAP), ppc, s390
1033 Type: vcpu ioctl, vm ioctl (with KVM_CAP_ENABLE_CAP_VM)
1034 Parameters: struct kvm_enable_cap (in)
1035 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
1037 +Not all extensions are enabled by default. Using this ioctl the application
1038 can enable an extension, making it available to the guest.
1040 On systems that do not support this ioctl, it always fails. On systems that
1041 do support it, it only works for extensions that are supported for enablement.
1043 To check if a capability can be enabled, the KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION ioctl should
1046 struct kvm_enable_cap {
1050 The capability that is supposed to get enabled.
1054 A bitfield indicating future enhancements. Has to be 0 for now.
1058 Arguments for enabling a feature. If a feature needs initial values to
1059 function properly, this is the place to put them.
1064 The vcpu ioctl should be used for vcpu-specific capabilities, the vm ioctl
1065 for vm-wide capabilities.
1067 4.38 KVM_GET_MP_STATE
1069 Capability: KVM_CAP_MP_STATE
1070 Architectures: x86, s390, arm, arm64
1072 Parameters: struct kvm_mp_state (out)
1073 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
1075 struct kvm_mp_state {
1079 Returns the vcpu's current "multiprocessing state" (though also valid on
1080 uniprocessor guests).
1082 Possible values are:
1084 - KVM_MP_STATE_RUNNABLE: the vcpu is currently running [x86,arm/arm64]
1085 - KVM_MP_STATE_UNINITIALIZED: the vcpu is an application processor (AP)
1086 which has not yet received an INIT signal [x86]
1087 - KVM_MP_STATE_INIT_RECEIVED: the vcpu has received an INIT signal, and is
1088 now ready for a SIPI [x86]
1089 - KVM_MP_STATE_HALTED: the vcpu has executed a HLT instruction and
1090 is waiting for an interrupt [x86]
1091 - KVM_MP_STATE_SIPI_RECEIVED: the vcpu has just received a SIPI (vector
1092 accessible via KVM_GET_VCPU_EVENTS) [x86]
1093 - KVM_MP_STATE_STOPPED: the vcpu is stopped [s390,arm/arm64]
1094 - KVM_MP_STATE_CHECK_STOP: the vcpu is in a special error state [s390]
1095 - KVM_MP_STATE_OPERATING: the vcpu is operating (running or halted)
1097 - KVM_MP_STATE_LOAD: the vcpu is in a special load/startup state
1100 On x86, this ioctl is only useful after KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP. Without an
1101 in-kernel irqchip, the multiprocessing state must be maintained by userspace on
1102 these architectures.
1106 The only states that are valid are KVM_MP_STATE_STOPPED and
1107 KVM_MP_STATE_RUNNABLE which reflect if the vcpu is paused or not.
1109 4.39 KVM_SET_MP_STATE
1111 Capability: KVM_CAP_MP_STATE
1112 Architectures: x86, s390, arm, arm64
1114 Parameters: struct kvm_mp_state (in)
1115 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
1117 Sets the vcpu's current "multiprocessing state"; see KVM_GET_MP_STATE for
1120 On x86, this ioctl is only useful after KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP. Without an
1121 in-kernel irqchip, the multiprocessing state must be maintained by userspace on
1122 these architectures.
1126 The only states that are valid are KVM_MP_STATE_STOPPED and
1127 KVM_MP_STATE_RUNNABLE which reflect if the vcpu should be paused or not.
1129 4.40 KVM_SET_IDENTITY_MAP_ADDR
1131 Capability: KVM_CAP_SET_IDENTITY_MAP_ADDR
1134 Parameters: unsigned long identity (in)
1135 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1137 This ioctl defines the physical address of a one-page region in the guest
1138 physical address space. The region must be within the first 4GB of the
1139 guest physical address space and must not conflict with any memory slot
1140 or any mmio address. The guest may malfunction if it accesses this memory
1143 Setting the address to 0 will result in resetting the address to its default
1146 This ioctl is required on Intel-based hosts. This is needed on Intel hardware
1147 because of a quirk in the virtualization implementation (see the internals
1148 documentation when it pops into existence).
1150 Fails if any VCPU has already been created.
1152 4.41 KVM_SET_BOOT_CPU_ID
1154 Capability: KVM_CAP_SET_BOOT_CPU_ID
1157 Parameters: unsigned long vcpu_id
1158 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1160 Define which vcpu is the Bootstrap Processor (BSP). Values are the same
1161 as the vcpu id in KVM_CREATE_VCPU. If this ioctl is not called, the default
1167 Capability: KVM_CAP_XSAVE
1170 Parameters: struct kvm_xsave (out)
1171 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1177 This ioctl would copy current vcpu's xsave struct to the userspace.
1182 Capability: KVM_CAP_XSAVE
1185 Parameters: struct kvm_xsave (in)
1186 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1192 This ioctl would copy userspace's xsave struct to the kernel.
1197 Capability: KVM_CAP_XCRS
1200 Parameters: struct kvm_xcrs (out)
1201 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1212 struct kvm_xcr xcrs[KVM_MAX_XCRS];
1216 This ioctl would copy current vcpu's xcrs to the userspace.
1221 Capability: KVM_CAP_XCRS
1224 Parameters: struct kvm_xcrs (in)
1225 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1236 struct kvm_xcr xcrs[KVM_MAX_XCRS];
1240 This ioctl would set vcpu's xcr to the value userspace specified.
1243 4.46 KVM_GET_SUPPORTED_CPUID
1245 Capability: KVM_CAP_EXT_CPUID
1248 Parameters: struct kvm_cpuid2 (in/out)
1249 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1254 struct kvm_cpuid_entry2 entries[0];
1257 #define KVM_CPUID_FLAG_SIGNIFCANT_INDEX BIT(0)
1258 #define KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATEFUL_FUNC BIT(1)
1259 #define KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATE_READ_NEXT BIT(2)
1261 struct kvm_cpuid_entry2 {
1272 This ioctl returns x86 cpuid features which are supported by both the
1273 hardware and kvm in its default configuration. Userspace can use the
1274 information returned by this ioctl to construct cpuid information (for
1275 KVM_SET_CPUID2) that is consistent with hardware, kernel, and
1276 userspace capabilities, and with user requirements (for example, the
1277 user may wish to constrain cpuid to emulate older hardware, or for
1278 feature consistency across a cluster).
1280 Note that certain capabilities, such as KVM_CAP_X86_DISABLE_EXITS, may
1281 expose cpuid features (e.g. MONITOR) which are not supported by kvm in
1282 its default configuration. If userspace enables such capabilities, it
1283 is responsible for modifying the results of this ioctl appropriately.
1285 Userspace invokes KVM_GET_SUPPORTED_CPUID by passing a kvm_cpuid2 structure
1286 with the 'nent' field indicating the number of entries in the variable-size
1287 array 'entries'. If the number of entries is too low to describe the cpu
1288 capabilities, an error (E2BIG) is returned. If the number is too high,
1289 the 'nent' field is adjusted and an error (ENOMEM) is returned. If the
1290 number is just right, the 'nent' field is adjusted to the number of valid
1291 entries in the 'entries' array, which is then filled.
1293 The entries returned are the host cpuid as returned by the cpuid instruction,
1294 with unknown or unsupported features masked out. Some features (for example,
1295 x2apic), may not be present in the host cpu, but are exposed by kvm if it can
1296 emulate them efficiently. The fields in each entry are defined as follows:
1298 function: the eax value used to obtain the entry
1299 index: the ecx value used to obtain the entry (for entries that are
1301 flags: an OR of zero or more of the following:
1302 KVM_CPUID_FLAG_SIGNIFCANT_INDEX:
1303 if the index field is valid
1304 KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATEFUL_FUNC:
1305 if cpuid for this function returns different values for successive
1306 invocations; there will be several entries with the same function,
1307 all with this flag set
1308 KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATE_READ_NEXT:
1309 for KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATEFUL_FUNC entries, set if this entry is
1310 the first entry to be read by a cpu
1311 eax, ebx, ecx, edx: the values returned by the cpuid instruction for
1312 this function/index combination
1314 The TSC deadline timer feature (CPUID leaf 1, ecx[24]) is always returned
1315 as false, since the feature depends on KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP for local APIC
1316 support. Instead it is reported via
1318 ioctl(KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION, KVM_CAP_TSC_DEADLINE_TIMER)
1320 if that returns true and you use KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP, or if you emulate the
1321 feature in userspace, then you can enable the feature for KVM_SET_CPUID2.
1324 4.47 KVM_PPC_GET_PVINFO
1326 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_GET_PVINFO
1329 Parameters: struct kvm_ppc_pvinfo (out)
1330 Returns: 0 on success, !0 on error
1332 struct kvm_ppc_pvinfo {
1338 This ioctl fetches PV specific information that need to be passed to the guest
1339 using the device tree or other means from vm context.
1341 The hcall array defines 4 instructions that make up a hypercall.
1343 If any additional field gets added to this structure later on, a bit for that
1344 additional piece of information will be set in the flags bitmap.
1346 The flags bitmap is defined as:
1348 /* the host supports the ePAPR idle hcall
1349 #define KVM_PPC_PVINFO_FLAGS_EV_IDLE (1<<0)
1351 4.52 KVM_SET_GSI_ROUTING
1353 Capability: KVM_CAP_IRQ_ROUTING
1354 Architectures: x86 s390 arm arm64
1356 Parameters: struct kvm_irq_routing (in)
1357 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1359 Sets the GSI routing table entries, overwriting any previously set entries.
1361 On arm/arm64, GSI routing has the following limitation:
1362 - GSI routing does not apply to KVM_IRQ_LINE but only to KVM_IRQFD.
1364 struct kvm_irq_routing {
1367 struct kvm_irq_routing_entry entries[0];
1370 No flags are specified so far, the corresponding field must be set to zero.
1372 struct kvm_irq_routing_entry {
1378 struct kvm_irq_routing_irqchip irqchip;
1379 struct kvm_irq_routing_msi msi;
1380 struct kvm_irq_routing_s390_adapter adapter;
1381 struct kvm_irq_routing_hv_sint hv_sint;
1386 /* gsi routing entry types */
1387 #define KVM_IRQ_ROUTING_IRQCHIP 1
1388 #define KVM_IRQ_ROUTING_MSI 2
1389 #define KVM_IRQ_ROUTING_S390_ADAPTER 3
1390 #define KVM_IRQ_ROUTING_HV_SINT 4
1393 - KVM_MSI_VALID_DEVID: used along with KVM_IRQ_ROUTING_MSI routing entry
1394 type, specifies that the devid field contains a valid value. The per-VM
1395 KVM_CAP_MSI_DEVID capability advertises the requirement to provide
1396 the device ID. If this capability is not available, userspace should
1397 never set the KVM_MSI_VALID_DEVID flag as the ioctl might fail.
1400 struct kvm_irq_routing_irqchip {
1405 struct kvm_irq_routing_msi {
1415 If KVM_MSI_VALID_DEVID is set, devid contains a unique device identifier
1416 for the device that wrote the MSI message. For PCI, this is usually a
1417 BFD identifier in the lower 16 bits.
1419 On x86, address_hi is ignored unless the KVM_X2APIC_API_USE_32BIT_IDS
1420 feature of KVM_CAP_X2APIC_API capability is enabled. If it is enabled,
1421 address_hi bits 31-8 provide bits 31-8 of the destination id. Bits 7-0 of
1422 address_hi must be zero.
1424 struct kvm_irq_routing_s390_adapter {
1428 __u32 summary_offset;
1432 struct kvm_irq_routing_hv_sint {
1438 4.55 KVM_SET_TSC_KHZ
1440 Capability: KVM_CAP_TSC_CONTROL
1443 Parameters: virtual tsc_khz
1444 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1446 Specifies the tsc frequency for the virtual machine. The unit of the
1450 4.56 KVM_GET_TSC_KHZ
1452 Capability: KVM_CAP_GET_TSC_KHZ
1456 Returns: virtual tsc-khz on success, negative value on error
1458 Returns the tsc frequency of the guest. The unit of the return value is
1459 KHz. If the host has unstable tsc this ioctl returns -EIO instead as an
1465 Capability: KVM_CAP_IRQCHIP
1468 Parameters: struct kvm_lapic_state (out)
1469 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1471 #define KVM_APIC_REG_SIZE 0x400
1472 struct kvm_lapic_state {
1473 char regs[KVM_APIC_REG_SIZE];
1476 Reads the Local APIC registers and copies them into the input argument. The
1477 data format and layout are the same as documented in the architecture manual.
1479 If KVM_X2APIC_API_USE_32BIT_IDS feature of KVM_CAP_X2APIC_API is
1480 enabled, then the format of APIC_ID register depends on the APIC mode
1481 (reported by MSR_IA32_APICBASE) of its VCPU. x2APIC stores APIC ID in
1482 the APIC_ID register (bytes 32-35). xAPIC only allows an 8-bit APIC ID
1483 which is stored in bits 31-24 of the APIC register, or equivalently in
1484 byte 35 of struct kvm_lapic_state's regs field. KVM_GET_LAPIC must then
1485 be called after MSR_IA32_APICBASE has been set with KVM_SET_MSR.
1487 If KVM_X2APIC_API_USE_32BIT_IDS feature is disabled, struct kvm_lapic_state
1488 always uses xAPIC format.
1493 Capability: KVM_CAP_IRQCHIP
1496 Parameters: struct kvm_lapic_state (in)
1497 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1499 #define KVM_APIC_REG_SIZE 0x400
1500 struct kvm_lapic_state {
1501 char regs[KVM_APIC_REG_SIZE];
1504 Copies the input argument into the Local APIC registers. The data format
1505 and layout are the same as documented in the architecture manual.
1507 The format of the APIC ID register (bytes 32-35 of struct kvm_lapic_state's
1508 regs field) depends on the state of the KVM_CAP_X2APIC_API capability.
1509 See the note in KVM_GET_LAPIC.
1514 Capability: KVM_CAP_IOEVENTFD
1517 Parameters: struct kvm_ioeventfd (in)
1518 Returns: 0 on success, !0 on error
1520 This ioctl attaches or detaches an ioeventfd to a legal pio/mmio address
1521 within the guest. A guest write in the registered address will signal the
1522 provided event instead of triggering an exit.
1524 struct kvm_ioeventfd {
1526 __u64 addr; /* legal pio/mmio address */
1527 __u32 len; /* 0, 1, 2, 4, or 8 bytes */
1533 For the special case of virtio-ccw devices on s390, the ioevent is matched
1534 to a subchannel/virtqueue tuple instead.
1536 The following flags are defined:
1538 #define KVM_IOEVENTFD_FLAG_DATAMATCH (1 << kvm_ioeventfd_flag_nr_datamatch)
1539 #define KVM_IOEVENTFD_FLAG_PIO (1 << kvm_ioeventfd_flag_nr_pio)
1540 #define KVM_IOEVENTFD_FLAG_DEASSIGN (1 << kvm_ioeventfd_flag_nr_deassign)
1541 #define KVM_IOEVENTFD_FLAG_VIRTIO_CCW_NOTIFY \
1542 (1 << kvm_ioeventfd_flag_nr_virtio_ccw_notify)
1544 If datamatch flag is set, the event will be signaled only if the written value
1545 to the registered address is equal to datamatch in struct kvm_ioeventfd.
1547 For virtio-ccw devices, addr contains the subchannel id and datamatch the
1550 With KVM_CAP_IOEVENTFD_ANY_LENGTH, a zero length ioeventfd is allowed, and
1551 the kernel will ignore the length of guest write and may get a faster vmexit.
1552 The speedup may only apply to specific architectures, but the ioeventfd will
1557 Capability: KVM_CAP_SW_TLB
1560 Parameters: struct kvm_dirty_tlb (in)
1561 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1563 struct kvm_dirty_tlb {
1568 This must be called whenever userspace has changed an entry in the shared
1569 TLB, prior to calling KVM_RUN on the associated vcpu.
1571 The "bitmap" field is the userspace address of an array. This array
1572 consists of a number of bits, equal to the total number of TLB entries as
1573 determined by the last successful call to KVM_CONFIG_TLB, rounded up to the
1574 nearest multiple of 64.
1576 Each bit corresponds to one TLB entry, ordered the same as in the shared TLB
1579 The array is little-endian: the bit 0 is the least significant bit of the
1580 first byte, bit 8 is the least significant bit of the second byte, etc.
1581 This avoids any complications with differing word sizes.
1583 The "num_dirty" field is a performance hint for KVM to determine whether it
1584 should skip processing the bitmap and just invalidate everything. It must
1585 be set to the number of set bits in the bitmap.
1588 4.62 KVM_CREATE_SPAPR_TCE
1590 Capability: KVM_CAP_SPAPR_TCE
1591 Architectures: powerpc
1593 Parameters: struct kvm_create_spapr_tce (in)
1594 Returns: file descriptor for manipulating the created TCE table
1596 This creates a virtual TCE (translation control entry) table, which
1597 is an IOMMU for PAPR-style virtual I/O. It is used to translate
1598 logical addresses used in virtual I/O into guest physical addresses,
1599 and provides a scatter/gather capability for PAPR virtual I/O.
1601 /* for KVM_CAP_SPAPR_TCE */
1602 struct kvm_create_spapr_tce {
1607 The liobn field gives the logical IO bus number for which to create a
1608 TCE table. The window_size field specifies the size of the DMA window
1609 which this TCE table will translate - the table will contain one 64
1610 bit TCE entry for every 4kiB of the DMA window.
1612 When the guest issues an H_PUT_TCE hcall on a liobn for which a TCE
1613 table has been created using this ioctl(), the kernel will handle it
1614 in real mode, updating the TCE table. H_PUT_TCE calls for other
1615 liobns will cause a vm exit and must be handled by userspace.
1617 The return value is a file descriptor which can be passed to mmap(2)
1618 to map the created TCE table into userspace. This lets userspace read
1619 the entries written by kernel-handled H_PUT_TCE calls, and also lets
1620 userspace update the TCE table directly which is useful in some
1624 4.63 KVM_ALLOCATE_RMA
1626 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_RMA
1627 Architectures: powerpc
1629 Parameters: struct kvm_allocate_rma (out)
1630 Returns: file descriptor for mapping the allocated RMA
1632 This allocates a Real Mode Area (RMA) from the pool allocated at boot
1633 time by the kernel. An RMA is a physically-contiguous, aligned region
1634 of memory used on older POWER processors to provide the memory which
1635 will be accessed by real-mode (MMU off) accesses in a KVM guest.
1636 POWER processors support a set of sizes for the RMA that usually
1637 includes 64MB, 128MB, 256MB and some larger powers of two.
1639 /* for KVM_ALLOCATE_RMA */
1640 struct kvm_allocate_rma {
1644 The return value is a file descriptor which can be passed to mmap(2)
1645 to map the allocated RMA into userspace. The mapped area can then be
1646 passed to the KVM_SET_USER_MEMORY_REGION ioctl to establish it as the
1647 RMA for a virtual machine. The size of the RMA in bytes (which is
1648 fixed at host kernel boot time) is returned in the rma_size field of
1649 the argument structure.
1651 The KVM_CAP_PPC_RMA capability is 1 or 2 if the KVM_ALLOCATE_RMA ioctl
1652 is supported; 2 if the processor requires all virtual machines to have
1653 an RMA, or 1 if the processor can use an RMA but doesn't require it,
1654 because it supports the Virtual RMA (VRMA) facility.
1659 Capability: KVM_CAP_USER_NMI
1663 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
1665 Queues an NMI on the thread's vcpu. Note this is well defined only
1666 when KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP has not been called, since this is an interface
1667 between the virtual cpu core and virtual local APIC. After KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP
1668 has been called, this interface is completely emulated within the kernel.
1670 To use this to emulate the LINT1 input with KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP, use the
1671 following algorithm:
1674 - read the local APIC's state (KVM_GET_LAPIC)
1675 - check whether changing LINT1 will queue an NMI (see the LVT entry for LINT1)
1676 - if so, issue KVM_NMI
1679 Some guests configure the LINT1 NMI input to cause a panic, aiding in
1683 4.65 KVM_S390_UCAS_MAP
1685 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_UCONTROL
1688 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_ucas_mapping (in)
1689 Returns: 0 in case of success
1691 The parameter is defined like this:
1692 struct kvm_s390_ucas_mapping {
1698 This ioctl maps the memory at "user_addr" with the length "length" to
1699 the vcpu's address space starting at "vcpu_addr". All parameters need to
1700 be aligned by 1 megabyte.
1703 4.66 KVM_S390_UCAS_UNMAP
1705 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_UCONTROL
1708 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_ucas_mapping (in)
1709 Returns: 0 in case of success
1711 The parameter is defined like this:
1712 struct kvm_s390_ucas_mapping {
1718 This ioctl unmaps the memory in the vcpu's address space starting at
1719 "vcpu_addr" with the length "length". The field "user_addr" is ignored.
1720 All parameters need to be aligned by 1 megabyte.
1723 4.67 KVM_S390_VCPU_FAULT
1725 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_UCONTROL
1728 Parameters: vcpu absolute address (in)
1729 Returns: 0 in case of success
1731 This call creates a page table entry on the virtual cpu's address space
1732 (for user controlled virtual machines) or the virtual machine's address
1733 space (for regular virtual machines). This only works for minor faults,
1734 thus it's recommended to access subject memory page via the user page
1735 table upfront. This is useful to handle validity intercepts for user
1736 controlled virtual machines to fault in the virtual cpu's lowcore pages
1737 prior to calling the KVM_RUN ioctl.
1740 4.68 KVM_SET_ONE_REG
1742 Capability: KVM_CAP_ONE_REG
1745 Parameters: struct kvm_one_reg (in)
1746 Returns: 0 on success, negative value on failure
1748 struct kvm_one_reg {
1753 Using this ioctl, a single vcpu register can be set to a specific value
1754 defined by user space with the passed in struct kvm_one_reg, where id
1755 refers to the register identifier as described below and addr is a pointer
1756 to a variable with the respective size. There can be architecture agnostic
1757 and architecture specific registers. Each have their own range of operation
1758 and their own constants and width. To keep track of the implemented
1759 registers, find a list below:
1761 Arch | Register | Width (bits)
1763 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_HIOR | 64
1764 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_IAC1 | 64
1765 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_IAC2 | 64
1766 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_IAC3 | 64
1767 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_IAC4 | 64
1768 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DAC1 | 64
1769 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DAC2 | 64
1770 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DABR | 64
1771 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DSCR | 64
1772 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PURR | 64
1773 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_SPURR | 64
1774 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DAR | 64
1775 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DSISR | 32
1776 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_AMR | 64
1777 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_UAMOR | 64
1778 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MMCR0 | 64
1779 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MMCR1 | 64
1780 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MMCRA | 64
1781 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MMCR2 | 64
1782 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MMCRS | 64
1783 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_SIAR | 64
1784 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_SDAR | 64
1785 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_SIER | 64
1786 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PMC1 | 32
1787 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PMC2 | 32
1788 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PMC3 | 32
1789 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PMC4 | 32
1790 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PMC5 | 32
1791 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PMC6 | 32
1792 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PMC7 | 32
1793 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PMC8 | 32
1794 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_FPR0 | 64
1796 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_FPR31 | 64
1797 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VR0 | 128
1799 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VR31 | 128
1800 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VSR0 | 128
1802 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VSR31 | 128
1803 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_FPSCR | 64
1804 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VSCR | 32
1805 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VPA_ADDR | 64
1806 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VPA_SLB | 128
1807 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VPA_DTL | 128
1808 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_EPCR | 32
1809 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_EPR | 32
1810 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TCR | 32
1811 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TSR | 32
1812 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_OR_TSR | 32
1813 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_CLEAR_TSR | 32
1814 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MAS0 | 32
1815 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MAS1 | 32
1816 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MAS2 | 64
1817 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MAS7_3 | 64
1818 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MAS4 | 32
1819 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MAS6 | 32
1820 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_MMUCFG | 32
1821 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TLB0CFG | 32
1822 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TLB1CFG | 32
1823 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TLB2CFG | 32
1824 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TLB3CFG | 32
1825 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TLB0PS | 32
1826 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TLB1PS | 32
1827 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TLB2PS | 32
1828 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TLB3PS | 32
1829 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_EPTCFG | 32
1830 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_ICP_STATE | 64
1831 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TB_OFFSET | 64
1832 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_SPMC1 | 32
1833 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_SPMC2 | 32
1834 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_IAMR | 64
1835 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TFHAR | 64
1836 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TFIAR | 64
1837 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TEXASR | 64
1838 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_FSCR | 64
1839 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PSPB | 32
1840 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_EBBHR | 64
1841 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_EBBRR | 64
1842 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_BESCR | 64
1843 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TAR | 64
1844 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DPDES | 64
1845 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DAWR | 64
1846 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DAWRX | 64
1847 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_CIABR | 64
1848 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_IC | 64
1849 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VTB | 64
1850 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_CSIGR | 64
1851 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TACR | 64
1852 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TCSCR | 64
1853 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PID | 64
1854 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_ACOP | 64
1855 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_VRSAVE | 32
1856 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_LPCR | 32
1857 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_LPCR_64 | 64
1858 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PPR | 64
1859 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_ARCH_COMPAT | 32
1860 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DABRX | 32
1861 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_WORT | 64
1862 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_SPRG9 | 64
1863 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DBSR | 32
1864 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TIDR | 64
1865 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_PSSCR | 64
1866 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_DEC_EXPIRY | 64
1867 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_GPR0 | 64
1869 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_GPR31 | 64
1870 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_VSR0 | 128
1872 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_VSR63 | 128
1873 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_CR | 64
1874 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_LR | 64
1875 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_CTR | 64
1876 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_FPSCR | 64
1877 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_AMR | 64
1878 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_PPR | 64
1879 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_VRSAVE | 64
1880 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_VSCR | 32
1881 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_DSCR | 64
1882 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_TAR | 64
1883 PPC | KVM_REG_PPC_TM_XER | 64
1885 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_R0 | 64
1887 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_R31 | 64
1888 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_HI | 64
1889 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_LO | 64
1890 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_PC | 64
1891 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_INDEX | 32
1892 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_ENTRYLO0 | 64
1893 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_ENTRYLO1 | 64
1894 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CONTEXT | 64
1895 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CONTEXTCONFIG| 32
1896 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_USERLOCAL | 64
1897 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_XCONTEXTCONFIG| 64
1898 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_PAGEMASK | 32
1899 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_PAGEGRAIN | 32
1900 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_SEGCTL0 | 64
1901 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_SEGCTL1 | 64
1902 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_SEGCTL2 | 64
1903 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_PWBASE | 64
1904 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_PWFIELD | 64
1905 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_PWSIZE | 64
1906 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_WIRED | 32
1907 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_PWCTL | 32
1908 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_HWRENA | 32
1909 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_BADVADDR | 64
1910 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_BADINSTR | 32
1911 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_BADINSTRP | 32
1912 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_COUNT | 32
1913 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_ENTRYHI | 64
1914 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_COMPARE | 32
1915 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_STATUS | 32
1916 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_INTCTL | 32
1917 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CAUSE | 32
1918 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_EPC | 64
1919 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_PRID | 32
1920 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_EBASE | 64
1921 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CONFIG | 32
1922 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CONFIG1 | 32
1923 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CONFIG2 | 32
1924 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CONFIG3 | 32
1925 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CONFIG4 | 32
1926 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CONFIG5 | 32
1927 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_CONFIG7 | 32
1928 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_XCONTEXT | 64
1929 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_ERROREPC | 64
1930 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_KSCRATCH1 | 64
1931 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_KSCRATCH2 | 64
1932 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_KSCRATCH3 | 64
1933 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_KSCRATCH4 | 64
1934 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_KSCRATCH5 | 64
1935 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_KSCRATCH6 | 64
1936 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_MAAR(0..63) | 64
1937 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_COUNT_CTL | 64
1938 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_COUNT_RESUME | 64
1939 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_COUNT_HZ | 64
1940 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_FPR_32(0..31) | 32
1941 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_FPR_64(0..31) | 64
1942 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_VEC_128(0..31) | 128
1943 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_FCR_IR | 32
1944 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_FCR_CSR | 32
1945 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_MSA_IR | 32
1946 MIPS | KVM_REG_MIPS_MSA_CSR | 32
1948 ARM registers are mapped using the lower 32 bits. The upper 16 of that
1949 is the register group type, or coprocessor number:
1951 ARM core registers have the following id bit patterns:
1952 0x4020 0000 0010 <index into the kvm_regs struct:16>
1954 ARM 32-bit CP15 registers have the following id bit patterns:
1955 0x4020 0000 000F <zero:1> <crn:4> <crm:4> <opc1:4> <opc2:3>
1957 ARM 64-bit CP15 registers have the following id bit patterns:
1958 0x4030 0000 000F <zero:1> <zero:4> <crm:4> <opc1:4> <zero:3>
1960 ARM CCSIDR registers are demultiplexed by CSSELR value:
1961 0x4020 0000 0011 00 <csselr:8>
1963 ARM 32-bit VFP control registers have the following id bit patterns:
1964 0x4020 0000 0012 1 <regno:12>
1966 ARM 64-bit FP registers have the following id bit patterns:
1967 0x4030 0000 0012 0 <regno:12>
1969 ARM firmware pseudo-registers have the following bit pattern:
1970 0x4030 0000 0014 <regno:16>
1973 arm64 registers are mapped using the lower 32 bits. The upper 16 of
1974 that is the register group type, or coprocessor number:
1976 arm64 core/FP-SIMD registers have the following id bit patterns. Note
1977 that the size of the access is variable, as the kvm_regs structure
1978 contains elements ranging from 32 to 128 bits. The index is a 32bit
1979 value in the kvm_regs structure seen as a 32bit array.
1980 0x60x0 0000 0010 <index into the kvm_regs struct:16>
1982 arm64 CCSIDR registers are demultiplexed by CSSELR value:
1983 0x6020 0000 0011 00 <csselr:8>
1985 arm64 system registers have the following id bit patterns:
1986 0x6030 0000 0013 <op0:2> <op1:3> <crn:4> <crm:4> <op2:3>
1988 arm64 firmware pseudo-registers have the following bit pattern:
1989 0x6030 0000 0014 <regno:16>
1992 MIPS registers are mapped using the lower 32 bits. The upper 16 of that is
1993 the register group type:
1995 MIPS core registers (see above) have the following id bit patterns:
1996 0x7030 0000 0000 <reg:16>
1998 MIPS CP0 registers (see KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_* above) have the following id bit
1999 patterns depending on whether they're 32-bit or 64-bit registers:
2000 0x7020 0000 0001 00 <reg:5> <sel:3> (32-bit)
2001 0x7030 0000 0001 00 <reg:5> <sel:3> (64-bit)
2003 Note: KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_ENTRYLO0 and KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_ENTRYLO1 are the MIPS64
2004 versions of the EntryLo registers regardless of the word size of the host
2005 hardware, host kernel, guest, and whether XPA is present in the guest, i.e.
2006 with the RI and XI bits (if they exist) in bits 63 and 62 respectively, and
2007 the PFNX field starting at bit 30.
2009 MIPS MAARs (see KVM_REG_MIPS_CP0_MAAR(*) above) have the following id bit
2011 0x7030 0000 0001 01 <reg:8>
2013 MIPS KVM control registers (see above) have the following id bit patterns:
2014 0x7030 0000 0002 <reg:16>
2016 MIPS FPU registers (see KVM_REG_MIPS_FPR_{32,64}() above) have the following
2017 id bit patterns depending on the size of the register being accessed. They are
2018 always accessed according to the current guest FPU mode (Status.FR and
2019 Config5.FRE), i.e. as the guest would see them, and they become unpredictable
2020 if the guest FPU mode is changed. MIPS SIMD Architecture (MSA) vector
2021 registers (see KVM_REG_MIPS_VEC_128() above) have similar patterns as they
2022 overlap the FPU registers:
2023 0x7020 0000 0003 00 <0:3> <reg:5> (32-bit FPU registers)
2024 0x7030 0000 0003 00 <0:3> <reg:5> (64-bit FPU registers)
2025 0x7040 0000 0003 00 <0:3> <reg:5> (128-bit MSA vector registers)
2027 MIPS FPU control registers (see KVM_REG_MIPS_FCR_{IR,CSR} above) have the
2028 following id bit patterns:
2029 0x7020 0000 0003 01 <0:3> <reg:5>
2031 MIPS MSA control registers (see KVM_REG_MIPS_MSA_{IR,CSR} above) have the
2032 following id bit patterns:
2033 0x7020 0000 0003 02 <0:3> <reg:5>
2036 4.69 KVM_GET_ONE_REG
2038 Capability: KVM_CAP_ONE_REG
2041 Parameters: struct kvm_one_reg (in and out)
2042 Returns: 0 on success, negative value on failure
2044 This ioctl allows to receive the value of a single register implemented
2045 in a vcpu. The register to read is indicated by the "id" field of the
2046 kvm_one_reg struct passed in. On success, the register value can be found
2047 at the memory location pointed to by "addr".
2049 The list of registers accessible using this interface is identical to the
2053 4.70 KVM_KVMCLOCK_CTRL
2055 Capability: KVM_CAP_KVMCLOCK_CTRL
2056 Architectures: Any that implement pvclocks (currently x86 only)
2059 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2061 This signals to the host kernel that the specified guest is being paused by
2062 userspace. The host will set a flag in the pvclock structure that is checked
2063 from the soft lockup watchdog. The flag is part of the pvclock structure that
2064 is shared between guest and host, specifically the second bit of the flags
2065 field of the pvclock_vcpu_time_info structure. It will be set exclusively by
2066 the host and read/cleared exclusively by the guest. The guest operation of
2067 checking and clearing the flag must an atomic operation so
2068 load-link/store-conditional, or equivalent must be used. There are two cases
2069 where the guest will clear the flag: when the soft lockup watchdog timer resets
2070 itself or when a soft lockup is detected. This ioctl can be called any time
2071 after pausing the vcpu, but before it is resumed.
2076 Capability: KVM_CAP_SIGNAL_MSI
2077 Architectures: x86 arm arm64
2079 Parameters: struct kvm_msi (in)
2080 Returns: >0 on delivery, 0 if guest blocked the MSI, and -1 on error
2082 Directly inject a MSI message. Only valid with in-kernel irqchip that handles
2094 flags: KVM_MSI_VALID_DEVID: devid contains a valid value. The per-VM
2095 KVM_CAP_MSI_DEVID capability advertises the requirement to provide
2096 the device ID. If this capability is not available, userspace
2097 should never set the KVM_MSI_VALID_DEVID flag as the ioctl might fail.
2099 If KVM_MSI_VALID_DEVID is set, devid contains a unique device identifier
2100 for the device that wrote the MSI message. For PCI, this is usually a
2101 BFD identifier in the lower 16 bits.
2103 On x86, address_hi is ignored unless the KVM_X2APIC_API_USE_32BIT_IDS
2104 feature of KVM_CAP_X2APIC_API capability is enabled. If it is enabled,
2105 address_hi bits 31-8 provide bits 31-8 of the destination id. Bits 7-0 of
2106 address_hi must be zero.
2109 4.71 KVM_CREATE_PIT2
2111 Capability: KVM_CAP_PIT2
2114 Parameters: struct kvm_pit_config (in)
2115 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2117 Creates an in-kernel device model for the i8254 PIT. This call is only valid
2118 after enabling in-kernel irqchip support via KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP. The following
2119 parameters have to be passed:
2121 struct kvm_pit_config {
2128 #define KVM_PIT_SPEAKER_DUMMY 1 /* emulate speaker port stub */
2130 PIT timer interrupts may use a per-VM kernel thread for injection. If it
2131 exists, this thread will have a name of the following pattern:
2133 kvm-pit/<owner-process-pid>
2135 When running a guest with elevated priorities, the scheduling parameters of
2136 this thread may have to be adjusted accordingly.
2138 This IOCTL replaces the obsolete KVM_CREATE_PIT.
2143 Capability: KVM_CAP_PIT_STATE2
2146 Parameters: struct kvm_pit_state2 (out)
2147 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2149 Retrieves the state of the in-kernel PIT model. Only valid after
2150 KVM_CREATE_PIT2. The state is returned in the following structure:
2152 struct kvm_pit_state2 {
2153 struct kvm_pit_channel_state channels[3];
2160 /* disable PIT in HPET legacy mode */
2161 #define KVM_PIT_FLAGS_HPET_LEGACY 0x00000001
2163 This IOCTL replaces the obsolete KVM_GET_PIT.
2168 Capability: KVM_CAP_PIT_STATE2
2171 Parameters: struct kvm_pit_state2 (in)
2172 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2174 Sets the state of the in-kernel PIT model. Only valid after KVM_CREATE_PIT2.
2175 See KVM_GET_PIT2 for details on struct kvm_pit_state2.
2177 This IOCTL replaces the obsolete KVM_SET_PIT.
2180 4.74 KVM_PPC_GET_SMMU_INFO
2182 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_GET_SMMU_INFO
2183 Architectures: powerpc
2186 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2188 This populates and returns a structure describing the features of
2189 the "Server" class MMU emulation supported by KVM.
2190 This can in turn be used by userspace to generate the appropriate
2191 device-tree properties for the guest operating system.
2193 The structure contains some global information, followed by an
2194 array of supported segment page sizes:
2196 struct kvm_ppc_smmu_info {
2200 struct kvm_ppc_one_seg_page_size sps[KVM_PPC_PAGE_SIZES_MAX_SZ];
2203 The supported flags are:
2205 - KVM_PPC_PAGE_SIZES_REAL:
2206 When that flag is set, guest page sizes must "fit" the backing
2207 store page sizes. When not set, any page size in the list can
2208 be used regardless of how they are backed by userspace.
2210 - KVM_PPC_1T_SEGMENTS
2211 The emulated MMU supports 1T segments in addition to the
2214 The "slb_size" field indicates how many SLB entries are supported
2216 The "sps" array contains 8 entries indicating the supported base
2217 page sizes for a segment in increasing order. Each entry is defined
2220 struct kvm_ppc_one_seg_page_size {
2221 __u32 page_shift; /* Base page shift of segment (or 0) */
2222 __u32 slb_enc; /* SLB encoding for BookS */
2223 struct kvm_ppc_one_page_size enc[KVM_PPC_PAGE_SIZES_MAX_SZ];
2226 An entry with a "page_shift" of 0 is unused. Because the array is
2227 organized in increasing order, a lookup can stop when encoutering
2230 The "slb_enc" field provides the encoding to use in the SLB for the
2231 page size. The bits are in positions such as the value can directly
2232 be OR'ed into the "vsid" argument of the slbmte instruction.
2234 The "enc" array is a list which for each of those segment base page
2235 size provides the list of supported actual page sizes (which can be
2236 only larger or equal to the base page size), along with the
2237 corresponding encoding in the hash PTE. Similarly, the array is
2238 8 entries sorted by increasing sizes and an entry with a "0" shift
2239 is an empty entry and a terminator:
2241 struct kvm_ppc_one_page_size {
2242 __u32 page_shift; /* Page shift (or 0) */
2243 __u32 pte_enc; /* Encoding in the HPTE (>>12) */
2246 The "pte_enc" field provides a value that can OR'ed into the hash
2247 PTE's RPN field (ie, it needs to be shifted left by 12 to OR it
2248 into the hash PTE second double word).
2252 Capability: KVM_CAP_IRQFD
2253 Architectures: x86 s390 arm arm64
2255 Parameters: struct kvm_irqfd (in)
2256 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2258 Allows setting an eventfd to directly trigger a guest interrupt.
2259 kvm_irqfd.fd specifies the file descriptor to use as the eventfd and
2260 kvm_irqfd.gsi specifies the irqchip pin toggled by this event. When
2261 an event is triggered on the eventfd, an interrupt is injected into
2262 the guest using the specified gsi pin. The irqfd is removed using
2263 the KVM_IRQFD_FLAG_DEASSIGN flag, specifying both kvm_irqfd.fd
2266 With KVM_CAP_IRQFD_RESAMPLE, KVM_IRQFD supports a de-assert and notify
2267 mechanism allowing emulation of level-triggered, irqfd-based
2268 interrupts. When KVM_IRQFD_FLAG_RESAMPLE is set the user must pass an
2269 additional eventfd in the kvm_irqfd.resamplefd field. When operating
2270 in resample mode, posting of an interrupt through kvm_irq.fd asserts
2271 the specified gsi in the irqchip. When the irqchip is resampled, such
2272 as from an EOI, the gsi is de-asserted and the user is notified via
2273 kvm_irqfd.resamplefd. It is the user's responsibility to re-queue
2274 the interrupt if the device making use of it still requires service.
2275 Note that closing the resamplefd is not sufficient to disable the
2276 irqfd. The KVM_IRQFD_FLAG_RESAMPLE is only necessary on assignment
2277 and need not be specified with KVM_IRQFD_FLAG_DEASSIGN.
2279 On arm/arm64, gsi routing being supported, the following can happen:
2280 - in case no routing entry is associated to this gsi, injection fails
2281 - in case the gsi is associated to an irqchip routing entry,
2282 irqchip.pin + 32 corresponds to the injected SPI ID.
2283 - in case the gsi is associated to an MSI routing entry, the MSI
2284 message and device ID are translated into an LPI (support restricted
2285 to GICv3 ITS in-kernel emulation).
2287 4.76 KVM_PPC_ALLOCATE_HTAB
2289 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_ALLOC_HTAB
2290 Architectures: powerpc
2292 Parameters: Pointer to u32 containing hash table order (in/out)
2293 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2295 This requests the host kernel to allocate an MMU hash table for a
2296 guest using the PAPR paravirtualization interface. This only does
2297 anything if the kernel is configured to use the Book 3S HV style of
2298 virtualization. Otherwise the capability doesn't exist and the ioctl
2299 returns an ENOTTY error. The rest of this description assumes Book 3S
2302 There must be no vcpus running when this ioctl is called; if there
2303 are, it will do nothing and return an EBUSY error.
2305 The parameter is a pointer to a 32-bit unsigned integer variable
2306 containing the order (log base 2) of the desired size of the hash
2307 table, which must be between 18 and 46. On successful return from the
2308 ioctl, the value will not be changed by the kernel.
2310 If no hash table has been allocated when any vcpu is asked to run
2311 (with the KVM_RUN ioctl), the host kernel will allocate a
2312 default-sized hash table (16 MB).
2314 If this ioctl is called when a hash table has already been allocated,
2315 with a different order from the existing hash table, the existing hash
2316 table will be freed and a new one allocated. If this is ioctl is
2317 called when a hash table has already been allocated of the same order
2318 as specified, the kernel will clear out the existing hash table (zero
2319 all HPTEs). In either case, if the guest is using the virtualized
2320 real-mode area (VRMA) facility, the kernel will re-create the VMRA
2321 HPTEs on the next KVM_RUN of any vcpu.
2323 4.77 KVM_S390_INTERRUPT
2327 Type: vm ioctl, vcpu ioctl
2328 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_interrupt (in)
2329 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2331 Allows to inject an interrupt to the guest. Interrupts can be floating
2332 (vm ioctl) or per cpu (vcpu ioctl), depending on the interrupt type.
2334 Interrupt parameters are passed via kvm_s390_interrupt:
2336 struct kvm_s390_interrupt {
2342 type can be one of the following:
2344 KVM_S390_SIGP_STOP (vcpu) - sigp stop; optional flags in parm
2345 KVM_S390_PROGRAM_INT (vcpu) - program check; code in parm
2346 KVM_S390_SIGP_SET_PREFIX (vcpu) - sigp set prefix; prefix address in parm
2347 KVM_S390_RESTART (vcpu) - restart
2348 KVM_S390_INT_CLOCK_COMP (vcpu) - clock comparator interrupt
2349 KVM_S390_INT_CPU_TIMER (vcpu) - CPU timer interrupt
2350 KVM_S390_INT_VIRTIO (vm) - virtio external interrupt; external interrupt
2351 parameters in parm and parm64
2352 KVM_S390_INT_SERVICE (vm) - sclp external interrupt; sclp parameter in parm
2353 KVM_S390_INT_EMERGENCY (vcpu) - sigp emergency; source cpu in parm
2354 KVM_S390_INT_EXTERNAL_CALL (vcpu) - sigp external call; source cpu in parm
2355 KVM_S390_INT_IO(ai,cssid,ssid,schid) (vm) - compound value to indicate an
2356 I/O interrupt (ai - adapter interrupt; cssid,ssid,schid - subchannel);
2357 I/O interruption parameters in parm (subchannel) and parm64 (intparm,
2358 interruption subclass)
2359 KVM_S390_MCHK (vm, vcpu) - machine check interrupt; cr 14 bits in parm,
2360 machine check interrupt code in parm64 (note that
2361 machine checks needing further payload are not
2362 supported by this ioctl)
2364 Note that the vcpu ioctl is asynchronous to vcpu execution.
2366 4.78 KVM_PPC_GET_HTAB_FD
2368 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_HTAB_FD
2369 Architectures: powerpc
2371 Parameters: Pointer to struct kvm_get_htab_fd (in)
2372 Returns: file descriptor number (>= 0) on success, -1 on error
2374 This returns a file descriptor that can be used either to read out the
2375 entries in the guest's hashed page table (HPT), or to write entries to
2376 initialize the HPT. The returned fd can only be written to if the
2377 KVM_GET_HTAB_WRITE bit is set in the flags field of the argument, and
2378 can only be read if that bit is clear. The argument struct looks like
2381 /* For KVM_PPC_GET_HTAB_FD */
2382 struct kvm_get_htab_fd {
2388 /* Values for kvm_get_htab_fd.flags */
2389 #define KVM_GET_HTAB_BOLTED_ONLY ((__u64)0x1)
2390 #define KVM_GET_HTAB_WRITE ((__u64)0x2)
2392 The `start_index' field gives the index in the HPT of the entry at
2393 which to start reading. It is ignored when writing.
2395 Reads on the fd will initially supply information about all
2396 "interesting" HPT entries. Interesting entries are those with the
2397 bolted bit set, if the KVM_GET_HTAB_BOLTED_ONLY bit is set, otherwise
2398 all entries. When the end of the HPT is reached, the read() will
2399 return. If read() is called again on the fd, it will start again from
2400 the beginning of the HPT, but will only return HPT entries that have
2401 changed since they were last read.
2403 Data read or written is structured as a header (8 bytes) followed by a
2404 series of valid HPT entries (16 bytes) each. The header indicates how
2405 many valid HPT entries there are and how many invalid entries follow
2406 the valid entries. The invalid entries are not represented explicitly
2407 in the stream. The header format is:
2409 struct kvm_get_htab_header {
2415 Writes to the fd create HPT entries starting at the index given in the
2416 header; first `n_valid' valid entries with contents from the data
2417 written, then `n_invalid' invalid entries, invalidating any previously
2418 valid entries found.
2420 4.79 KVM_CREATE_DEVICE
2422 Capability: KVM_CAP_DEVICE_CTRL
2424 Parameters: struct kvm_create_device (in/out)
2425 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2427 ENODEV: The device type is unknown or unsupported
2428 EEXIST: Device already created, and this type of device may not
2429 be instantiated multiple times
2431 Other error conditions may be defined by individual device types or
2432 have their standard meanings.
2434 Creates an emulated device in the kernel. The file descriptor returned
2435 in fd can be used with KVM_SET/GET/HAS_DEVICE_ATTR.
2437 If the KVM_CREATE_DEVICE_TEST flag is set, only test whether the
2438 device type is supported (not necessarily whether it can be created
2441 Individual devices should not define flags. Attributes should be used
2442 for specifying any behavior that is not implied by the device type
2445 struct kvm_create_device {
2446 __u32 type; /* in: KVM_DEV_TYPE_xxx */
2447 __u32 fd; /* out: device handle */
2448 __u32 flags; /* in: KVM_CREATE_DEVICE_xxx */
2451 4.80 KVM_SET_DEVICE_ATTR/KVM_GET_DEVICE_ATTR
2453 Capability: KVM_CAP_DEVICE_CTRL, KVM_CAP_VM_ATTRIBUTES for vm device,
2454 KVM_CAP_VCPU_ATTRIBUTES for vcpu device
2455 Type: device ioctl, vm ioctl, vcpu ioctl
2456 Parameters: struct kvm_device_attr
2457 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2459 ENXIO: The group or attribute is unknown/unsupported for this device
2460 or hardware support is missing.
2461 EPERM: The attribute cannot (currently) be accessed this way
2462 (e.g. read-only attribute, or attribute that only makes
2463 sense when the device is in a different state)
2465 Other error conditions may be defined by individual device types.
2467 Gets/sets a specified piece of device configuration and/or state. The
2468 semantics are device-specific. See individual device documentation in
2469 the "devices" directory. As with ONE_REG, the size of the data
2470 transferred is defined by the particular attribute.
2472 struct kvm_device_attr {
2473 __u32 flags; /* no flags currently defined */
2474 __u32 group; /* device-defined */
2475 __u64 attr; /* group-defined */
2476 __u64 addr; /* userspace address of attr data */
2479 4.81 KVM_HAS_DEVICE_ATTR
2481 Capability: KVM_CAP_DEVICE_CTRL, KVM_CAP_VM_ATTRIBUTES for vm device,
2482 KVM_CAP_VCPU_ATTRIBUTES for vcpu device
2483 Type: device ioctl, vm ioctl, vcpu ioctl
2484 Parameters: struct kvm_device_attr
2485 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2487 ENXIO: The group or attribute is unknown/unsupported for this device
2488 or hardware support is missing.
2490 Tests whether a device supports a particular attribute. A successful
2491 return indicates the attribute is implemented. It does not necessarily
2492 indicate that the attribute can be read or written in the device's
2493 current state. "addr" is ignored.
2495 4.82 KVM_ARM_VCPU_INIT
2498 Architectures: arm, arm64
2500 Parameters: struct kvm_vcpu_init (in)
2501 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
2503 Â EINVAL: Â Â Â the target is unknown, or the combination of features is invalid.
2504 Â ENOENT: Â Â Â a features bit specified is unknown.
2506 This tells KVM what type of CPU to present to the guest, and what
2507 optional features it should have. Â This will cause a reset of the cpu
2508 registers to their initial values. Â If this is not called, KVM_RUN will
2509 return ENOEXEC for that vcpu.
2511 Note that because some registers reflect machine topology, all vcpus
2512 should be created before this ioctl is invoked.
2514 Userspace can call this function multiple times for a given vcpu, including
2515 after the vcpu has been run. This will reset the vcpu to its initial
2516 state. All calls to this function after the initial call must use the same
2517 target and same set of feature flags, otherwise EINVAL will be returned.
2520 - KVM_ARM_VCPU_POWER_OFF: Starts the CPU in a power-off state.
2521 Depends on KVM_CAP_ARM_PSCI. If not set, the CPU will be powered on
2522 and execute guest code when KVM_RUN is called.
2523 - KVM_ARM_VCPU_EL1_32BIT: Starts the CPU in a 32bit mode.
2524 Depends on KVM_CAP_ARM_EL1_32BIT (arm64 only).
2525 - KVM_ARM_VCPU_PSCI_0_2: Emulate PSCI v0.2 (or a future revision
2526 backward compatible with v0.2) for the CPU.
2527 Depends on KVM_CAP_ARM_PSCI_0_2.
2528 - KVM_ARM_VCPU_PMU_V3: Emulate PMUv3 for the CPU.
2529 Depends on KVM_CAP_ARM_PMU_V3.
2532 4.83 KVM_ARM_PREFERRED_TARGET
2535 Architectures: arm, arm64
2537 Parameters: struct struct kvm_vcpu_init (out)
2538 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
2540 ENODEV: no preferred target available for the host
2542 This queries KVM for preferred CPU target type which can be emulated
2543 by KVM on underlying host.
2545 The ioctl returns struct kvm_vcpu_init instance containing information
2546 about preferred CPU target type and recommended features for it. The
2547 kvm_vcpu_init->features bitmap returned will have feature bits set if
2548 the preferred target recommends setting these features, but this is
2551 The information returned by this ioctl can be used to prepare an instance
2552 of struct kvm_vcpu_init for KVM_ARM_VCPU_INIT ioctl which will result in
2553 in VCPU matching underlying host.
2556 4.84 KVM_GET_REG_LIST
2559 Architectures: arm, arm64, mips
2561 Parameters: struct kvm_reg_list (in/out)
2562 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
2564 Â E2BIG: Â Â Â Â the reg index list is too big to fit in the array specified by
2565 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â the user (the number required will be written into n).
2567 struct kvm_reg_list {
2568 __u64 n; /* number of registers in reg[] */
2572 This ioctl returns the guest registers that are supported for the
2573 KVM_GET_ONE_REG/KVM_SET_ONE_REG calls.
2576 4.85 KVM_ARM_SET_DEVICE_ADDR (deprecated)
2578 Capability: KVM_CAP_ARM_SET_DEVICE_ADDR
2579 Architectures: arm, arm64
2581 Parameters: struct kvm_arm_device_address (in)
2582 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2584 ENODEV: The device id is unknown
2585 ENXIO: Device not supported on current system
2586 EEXIST: Address already set
2587 E2BIG: Address outside guest physical address space
2588 EBUSY: Address overlaps with other device range
2590 struct kvm_arm_device_addr {
2595 Specify a device address in the guest's physical address space where guests
2596 can access emulated or directly exposed devices, which the host kernel needs
2597 to know about. The id field is an architecture specific identifier for a
2600 ARM/arm64 divides the id field into two parts, a device id and an
2601 address type id specific to the individual device.
2603 Â bits: | 63 ... 32 | 31 ... 16 | 15 ... 0 |
2604 field: | 0x00000000 | device id | addr type id |
2606 ARM/arm64 currently only require this when using the in-kernel GIC
2607 support for the hardware VGIC features, using KVM_ARM_DEVICE_VGIC_V2
2608 as the device id. When setting the base address for the guest's
2609 mapping of the VGIC virtual CPU and distributor interface, the ioctl
2610 must be called after calling KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP, but before calling
2611 KVM_RUN on any of the VCPUs. Calling this ioctl twice for any of the
2612 base addresses will return -EEXIST.
2614 Note, this IOCTL is deprecated and the more flexible SET/GET_DEVICE_ATTR API
2615 should be used instead.
2618 4.86 KVM_PPC_RTAS_DEFINE_TOKEN
2620 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_RTAS
2623 Parameters: struct kvm_rtas_token_args
2624 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2626 Defines a token value for a RTAS (Run Time Abstraction Services)
2627 service in order to allow it to be handled in the kernel. The
2628 argument struct gives the name of the service, which must be the name
2629 of a service that has a kernel-side implementation. If the token
2630 value is non-zero, it will be associated with that service, and
2631 subsequent RTAS calls by the guest specifying that token will be
2632 handled by the kernel. If the token value is 0, then any token
2633 associated with the service will be forgotten, and subsequent RTAS
2634 calls by the guest for that service will be passed to userspace to be
2637 4.87 KVM_SET_GUEST_DEBUG
2639 Capability: KVM_CAP_SET_GUEST_DEBUG
2640 Architectures: x86, s390, ppc, arm64
2642 Parameters: struct kvm_guest_debug (in)
2643 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
2645 struct kvm_guest_debug {
2648 struct kvm_guest_debug_arch arch;
2651 Set up the processor specific debug registers and configure vcpu for
2652 handling guest debug events. There are two parts to the structure, the
2653 first a control bitfield indicates the type of debug events to handle
2654 when running. Common control bits are:
2656 - KVM_GUESTDBG_ENABLE: guest debugging is enabled
2657 - KVM_GUESTDBG_SINGLESTEP: the next run should single-step
2659 The top 16 bits of the control field are architecture specific control
2660 flags which can include the following:
2662 - KVM_GUESTDBG_USE_SW_BP: using software breakpoints [x86, arm64]
2663 - KVM_GUESTDBG_USE_HW_BP: using hardware breakpoints [x86, s390, arm64]
2664 - KVM_GUESTDBG_INJECT_DB: inject DB type exception [x86]
2665 - KVM_GUESTDBG_INJECT_BP: inject BP type exception [x86]
2666 - KVM_GUESTDBG_EXIT_PENDING: trigger an immediate guest exit [s390]
2668 For example KVM_GUESTDBG_USE_SW_BP indicates that software breakpoints
2669 are enabled in memory so we need to ensure breakpoint exceptions are
2670 correctly trapped and the KVM run loop exits at the breakpoint and not
2671 running off into the normal guest vector. For KVM_GUESTDBG_USE_HW_BP
2672 we need to ensure the guest vCPUs architecture specific registers are
2673 updated to the correct (supplied) values.
2675 The second part of the structure is architecture specific and
2676 typically contains a set of debug registers.
2678 For arm64 the number of debug registers is implementation defined and
2679 can be determined by querying the KVM_CAP_GUEST_DEBUG_HW_BPS and
2680 KVM_CAP_GUEST_DEBUG_HW_WPS capabilities which return a positive number
2681 indicating the number of supported registers.
2683 When debug events exit the main run loop with the reason
2684 KVM_EXIT_DEBUG with the kvm_debug_exit_arch part of the kvm_run
2685 structure containing architecture specific debug information.
2687 4.88 KVM_GET_EMULATED_CPUID
2689 Capability: KVM_CAP_EXT_EMUL_CPUID
2692 Parameters: struct kvm_cpuid2 (in/out)
2693 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2698 struct kvm_cpuid_entry2 entries[0];
2701 The member 'flags' is used for passing flags from userspace.
2703 #define KVM_CPUID_FLAG_SIGNIFCANT_INDEX BIT(0)
2704 #define KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATEFUL_FUNC BIT(1)
2705 #define KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATE_READ_NEXT BIT(2)
2707 struct kvm_cpuid_entry2 {
2718 This ioctl returns x86 cpuid features which are emulated by
2719 kvm.Userspace can use the information returned by this ioctl to query
2720 which features are emulated by kvm instead of being present natively.
2722 Userspace invokes KVM_GET_EMULATED_CPUID by passing a kvm_cpuid2
2723 structure with the 'nent' field indicating the number of entries in
2724 the variable-size array 'entries'. If the number of entries is too low
2725 to describe the cpu capabilities, an error (E2BIG) is returned. If the
2726 number is too high, the 'nent' field is adjusted and an error (ENOMEM)
2727 is returned. If the number is just right, the 'nent' field is adjusted
2728 to the number of valid entries in the 'entries' array, which is then
2731 The entries returned are the set CPUID bits of the respective features
2732 which kvm emulates, as returned by the CPUID instruction, with unknown
2733 or unsupported feature bits cleared.
2735 Features like x2apic, for example, may not be present in the host cpu
2736 but are exposed by kvm in KVM_GET_SUPPORTED_CPUID because they can be
2737 emulated efficiently and thus not included here.
2739 The fields in each entry are defined as follows:
2741 function: the eax value used to obtain the entry
2742 index: the ecx value used to obtain the entry (for entries that are
2744 flags: an OR of zero or more of the following:
2745 KVM_CPUID_FLAG_SIGNIFCANT_INDEX:
2746 if the index field is valid
2747 KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATEFUL_FUNC:
2748 if cpuid for this function returns different values for successive
2749 invocations; there will be several entries with the same function,
2750 all with this flag set
2751 KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATE_READ_NEXT:
2752 for KVM_CPUID_FLAG_STATEFUL_FUNC entries, set if this entry is
2753 the first entry to be read by a cpu
2754 eax, ebx, ecx, edx: the values returned by the cpuid instruction for
2755 this function/index combination
2757 4.89 KVM_S390_MEM_OP
2759 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_MEM_OP
2762 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_mem_op (in)
2763 Returns: = 0 on success,
2764 < 0 on generic error (e.g. -EFAULT or -ENOMEM),
2765 > 0 if an exception occurred while walking the page tables
2767 Read or write data from/to the logical (virtual) memory of a VCPU.
2769 Parameters are specified via the following structure:
2771 struct kvm_s390_mem_op {
2772 __u64 gaddr; /* the guest address */
2773 __u64 flags; /* flags */
2774 __u32 size; /* amount of bytes */
2775 __u32 op; /* type of operation */
2776 __u64 buf; /* buffer in userspace */
2777 __u8 ar; /* the access register number */
2778 __u8 reserved[31]; /* should be set to 0 */
2781 The type of operation is specified in the "op" field. It is either
2782 KVM_S390_MEMOP_LOGICAL_READ for reading from logical memory space or
2783 KVM_S390_MEMOP_LOGICAL_WRITE for writing to logical memory space. The
2784 KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_CHECK_ONLY flag can be set in the "flags" field to check
2785 whether the corresponding memory access would create an access exception
2786 (without touching the data in the memory at the destination). In case an
2787 access exception occurred while walking the MMU tables of the guest, the
2788 ioctl returns a positive error number to indicate the type of exception.
2789 This exception is also raised directly at the corresponding VCPU if the
2790 flag KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_INJECT_EXCEPTION is set in the "flags" field.
2792 The start address of the memory region has to be specified in the "gaddr"
2793 field, and the length of the region in the "size" field. "buf" is the buffer
2794 supplied by the userspace application where the read data should be written
2795 to for KVM_S390_MEMOP_LOGICAL_READ, or where the data that should be written
2796 is stored for a KVM_S390_MEMOP_LOGICAL_WRITE. "buf" is unused and can be NULL
2797 when KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_CHECK_ONLY is specified. "ar" designates the access
2798 register number to be used.
2800 The "reserved" field is meant for future extensions. It is not used by
2801 KVM with the currently defined set of flags.
2803 4.90 KVM_S390_GET_SKEYS
2805 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_SKEYS
2808 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_skeys
2809 Returns: 0 on success, KVM_S390_GET_KEYS_NONE if guest is not using storage
2810 keys, negative value on error
2812 This ioctl is used to get guest storage key values on the s390
2813 architecture. The ioctl takes parameters via the kvm_s390_skeys struct.
2815 struct kvm_s390_skeys {
2818 __u64 skeydata_addr;
2823 The start_gfn field is the number of the first guest frame whose storage keys
2826 The count field is the number of consecutive frames (starting from start_gfn)
2827 whose storage keys to get. The count field must be at least 1 and the maximum
2828 allowed value is defined as KVM_S390_SKEYS_ALLOC_MAX. Values outside this range
2829 will cause the ioctl to return -EINVAL.
2831 The skeydata_addr field is the address to a buffer large enough to hold count
2832 bytes. This buffer will be filled with storage key data by the ioctl.
2834 4.91 KVM_S390_SET_SKEYS
2836 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_SKEYS
2839 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_skeys
2840 Returns: 0 on success, negative value on error
2842 This ioctl is used to set guest storage key values on the s390
2843 architecture. The ioctl takes parameters via the kvm_s390_skeys struct.
2844 See section on KVM_S390_GET_SKEYS for struct definition.
2846 The start_gfn field is the number of the first guest frame whose storage keys
2849 The count field is the number of consecutive frames (starting from start_gfn)
2850 whose storage keys to get. The count field must be at least 1 and the maximum
2851 allowed value is defined as KVM_S390_SKEYS_ALLOC_MAX. Values outside this range
2852 will cause the ioctl to return -EINVAL.
2854 The skeydata_addr field is the address to a buffer containing count bytes of
2855 storage keys. Each byte in the buffer will be set as the storage key for a
2856 single frame starting at start_gfn for count frames.
2858 Note: If any architecturally invalid key value is found in the given data then
2859 the ioctl will return -EINVAL.
2863 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_INJECT_IRQ
2866 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_irq (in)
2867 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2869 EINVAL: interrupt type is invalid
2870 type is KVM_S390_SIGP_STOP and flag parameter is invalid value
2871 type is KVM_S390_INT_EXTERNAL_CALL and code is bigger
2872 than the maximum of VCPUs
2873 EBUSY: type is KVM_S390_SIGP_SET_PREFIX and vcpu is not stopped
2874 type is KVM_S390_SIGP_STOP and a stop irq is already pending
2875 type is KVM_S390_INT_EXTERNAL_CALL and an external call interrupt
2878 Allows to inject an interrupt to the guest.
2880 Using struct kvm_s390_irq as a parameter allows
2881 to inject additional payload which is not
2882 possible via KVM_S390_INTERRUPT.
2884 Interrupt parameters are passed via kvm_s390_irq:
2886 struct kvm_s390_irq {
2889 struct kvm_s390_io_info io;
2890 struct kvm_s390_ext_info ext;
2891 struct kvm_s390_pgm_info pgm;
2892 struct kvm_s390_emerg_info emerg;
2893 struct kvm_s390_extcall_info extcall;
2894 struct kvm_s390_prefix_info prefix;
2895 struct kvm_s390_stop_info stop;
2896 struct kvm_s390_mchk_info mchk;
2901 type can be one of the following:
2903 KVM_S390_SIGP_STOP - sigp stop; parameter in .stop
2904 KVM_S390_PROGRAM_INT - program check; parameters in .pgm
2905 KVM_S390_SIGP_SET_PREFIX - sigp set prefix; parameters in .prefix
2906 KVM_S390_RESTART - restart; no parameters
2907 KVM_S390_INT_CLOCK_COMP - clock comparator interrupt; no parameters
2908 KVM_S390_INT_CPU_TIMER - CPU timer interrupt; no parameters
2909 KVM_S390_INT_EMERGENCY - sigp emergency; parameters in .emerg
2910 KVM_S390_INT_EXTERNAL_CALL - sigp external call; parameters in .extcall
2911 KVM_S390_MCHK - machine check interrupt; parameters in .mchk
2914 Note that the vcpu ioctl is asynchronous to vcpu execution.
2916 4.94 KVM_S390_GET_IRQ_STATE
2918 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_IRQ_STATE
2921 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_irq_state (out)
2922 Returns: >= number of bytes copied into buffer,
2923 -EINVAL if buffer size is 0,
2924 -ENOBUFS if buffer size is too small to fit all pending interrupts,
2925 -EFAULT if the buffer address was invalid
2927 This ioctl allows userspace to retrieve the complete state of all currently
2928 pending interrupts in a single buffer. Use cases include migration
2929 and introspection. The parameter structure contains the address of a
2930 userspace buffer and its length:
2932 struct kvm_s390_irq_state {
2934 __u32 flags; /* will stay unused for compatibility reasons */
2936 __u32 reserved[4]; /* will stay unused for compatibility reasons */
2939 Userspace passes in the above struct and for each pending interrupt a
2940 struct kvm_s390_irq is copied to the provided buffer.
2942 The structure contains a flags and a reserved field for future extensions. As
2943 the kernel never checked for flags == 0 and QEMU never pre-zeroed flags and
2944 reserved, these fields can not be used in the future without breaking
2947 If -ENOBUFS is returned the buffer provided was too small and userspace
2948 may retry with a bigger buffer.
2950 4.95 KVM_S390_SET_IRQ_STATE
2952 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_IRQ_STATE
2955 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_irq_state (in)
2956 Returns: 0 on success,
2957 -EFAULT if the buffer address was invalid,
2958 -EINVAL for an invalid buffer length (see below),
2959 -EBUSY if there were already interrupts pending,
2960 errors occurring when actually injecting the
2961 interrupt. See KVM_S390_IRQ.
2963 This ioctl allows userspace to set the complete state of all cpu-local
2964 interrupts currently pending for the vcpu. It is intended for restoring
2965 interrupt state after a migration. The input parameter is a userspace buffer
2966 containing a struct kvm_s390_irq_state:
2968 struct kvm_s390_irq_state {
2970 __u32 flags; /* will stay unused for compatibility reasons */
2972 __u32 reserved[4]; /* will stay unused for compatibility reasons */
2975 The restrictions for flags and reserved apply as well.
2976 (see KVM_S390_GET_IRQ_STATE)
2978 The userspace memory referenced by buf contains a struct kvm_s390_irq
2979 for each interrupt to be injected into the guest.
2980 If one of the interrupts could not be injected for some reason the
2983 len must be a multiple of sizeof(struct kvm_s390_irq). It must be > 0
2984 and it must not exceed (max_vcpus + 32) * sizeof(struct kvm_s390_irq),
2985 which is the maximum number of possibly pending cpu-local interrupts.
2989 Capability: KVM_CAP_X86_SMM
2993 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
2995 Queues an SMI on the thread's vcpu.
2997 4.97 KVM_CAP_PPC_MULTITCE
2999 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_MULTITCE
3003 This capability means the kernel is capable of handling hypercalls
3004 H_PUT_TCE_INDIRECT and H_STUFF_TCE without passing those into the user
3005 space. This significantly accelerates DMA operations for PPC KVM guests.
3006 User space should expect that its handlers for these hypercalls
3007 are not going to be called if user space previously registered LIOBN
3008 in KVM (via KVM_CREATE_SPAPR_TCE or similar calls).
3010 In order to enable H_PUT_TCE_INDIRECT and H_STUFF_TCE use in the guest,
3011 user space might have to advertise it for the guest. For example,
3012 IBM pSeries (sPAPR) guest starts using them if "hcall-multi-tce" is
3013 present in the "ibm,hypertas-functions" device-tree property.
3015 The hypercalls mentioned above may or may not be processed successfully
3016 in the kernel based fast path. If they can not be handled by the kernel,
3017 they will get passed on to user space. So user space still has to have
3018 an implementation for these despite the in kernel acceleration.
3020 This capability is always enabled.
3022 4.98 KVM_CREATE_SPAPR_TCE_64
3024 Capability: KVM_CAP_SPAPR_TCE_64
3025 Architectures: powerpc
3027 Parameters: struct kvm_create_spapr_tce_64 (in)
3028 Returns: file descriptor for manipulating the created TCE table
3030 This is an extension for KVM_CAP_SPAPR_TCE which only supports 32bit
3031 windows, described in 4.62 KVM_CREATE_SPAPR_TCE
3033 This capability uses extended struct in ioctl interface:
3035 /* for KVM_CAP_SPAPR_TCE_64 */
3036 struct kvm_create_spapr_tce_64 {
3040 __u64 offset; /* in pages */
3041 __u64 size; /* in pages */
3044 The aim of extension is to support an additional bigger DMA window with
3045 a variable page size.
3046 KVM_CREATE_SPAPR_TCE_64 receives a 64bit window size, an IOMMU page shift and
3047 a bus offset of the corresponding DMA window, @size and @offset are numbers
3050 @flags are not used at the moment.
3052 The rest of functionality is identical to KVM_CREATE_SPAPR_TCE.
3054 4.99 KVM_REINJECT_CONTROL
3056 Capability: KVM_CAP_REINJECT_CONTROL
3059 Parameters: struct kvm_reinject_control (in)
3060 Returns: 0 on success,
3061 -EFAULT if struct kvm_reinject_control cannot be read,
3062 -ENXIO if KVM_CREATE_PIT or KVM_CREATE_PIT2 didn't succeed earlier.
3064 i8254 (PIT) has two modes, reinject and !reinject. The default is reinject,
3065 where KVM queues elapsed i8254 ticks and monitors completion of interrupt from
3066 vector(s) that i8254 injects. Reinject mode dequeues a tick and injects its
3067 interrupt whenever there isn't a pending interrupt from i8254.
3068 !reinject mode injects an interrupt as soon as a tick arrives.
3070 struct kvm_reinject_control {
3075 pit_reinject = 0 (!reinject mode) is recommended, unless running an old
3076 operating system that uses the PIT for timing (e.g. Linux 2.4.x).
3078 4.100 KVM_PPC_CONFIGURE_V3_MMU
3080 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_RADIX_MMU or KVM_CAP_PPC_HASH_MMU_V3
3083 Parameters: struct kvm_ppc_mmuv3_cfg (in)
3084 Returns: 0 on success,
3085 -EFAULT if struct kvm_ppc_mmuv3_cfg cannot be read,
3086 -EINVAL if the configuration is invalid
3088 This ioctl controls whether the guest will use radix or HPT (hashed
3089 page table) translation, and sets the pointer to the process table for
3092 struct kvm_ppc_mmuv3_cfg {
3094 __u64 process_table;
3097 There are two bits that can be set in flags; KVM_PPC_MMUV3_RADIX and
3098 KVM_PPC_MMUV3_GTSE. KVM_PPC_MMUV3_RADIX, if set, configures the guest
3099 to use radix tree translation, and if clear, to use HPT translation.
3100 KVM_PPC_MMUV3_GTSE, if set and if KVM permits it, configures the guest
3101 to be able to use the global TLB and SLB invalidation instructions;
3102 if clear, the guest may not use these instructions.
3104 The process_table field specifies the address and size of the guest
3105 process table, which is in the guest's space. This field is formatted
3106 as the second doubleword of the partition table entry, as defined in
3107 the Power ISA V3.00, Book III section 5.7.6.1.
3109 4.101 KVM_PPC_GET_RMMU_INFO
3111 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_RADIX_MMU
3114 Parameters: struct kvm_ppc_rmmu_info (out)
3115 Returns: 0 on success,
3116 -EFAULT if struct kvm_ppc_rmmu_info cannot be written,
3117 -EINVAL if no useful information can be returned
3119 This ioctl returns a structure containing two things: (a) a list
3120 containing supported radix tree geometries, and (b) a list that maps
3121 page sizes to put in the "AP" (actual page size) field for the tlbie
3122 (TLB invalidate entry) instruction.
3124 struct kvm_ppc_rmmu_info {
3125 struct kvm_ppc_radix_geom {
3130 __u32 ap_encodings[8];
3133 The geometries[] field gives up to 8 supported geometries for the
3134 radix page table, in terms of the log base 2 of the smallest page
3135 size, and the number of bits indexed at each level of the tree, from
3136 the PTE level up to the PGD level in that order. Any unused entries
3137 will have 0 in the page_shift field.
3139 The ap_encodings gives the supported page sizes and their AP field
3140 encodings, encoded with the AP value in the top 3 bits and the log
3141 base 2 of the page size in the bottom 6 bits.
3143 4.102 KVM_PPC_RESIZE_HPT_PREPARE
3145 Capability: KVM_CAP_SPAPR_RESIZE_HPT
3146 Architectures: powerpc
3148 Parameters: struct kvm_ppc_resize_hpt (in)
3149 Returns: 0 on successful completion,
3150 >0 if a new HPT is being prepared, the value is an estimated
3151 number of milliseconds until preparation is complete
3152 -EFAULT if struct kvm_reinject_control cannot be read,
3153 -EINVAL if the supplied shift or flags are invalid
3154 -ENOMEM if unable to allocate the new HPT
3155 -ENOSPC if there was a hash collision when moving existing
3156 HPT entries to the new HPT
3157 -EIO on other error conditions
3159 Used to implement the PAPR extension for runtime resizing of a guest's
3160 Hashed Page Table (HPT). Specifically this starts, stops or monitors
3161 the preparation of a new potential HPT for the guest, essentially
3162 implementing the H_RESIZE_HPT_PREPARE hypercall.
3164 If called with shift > 0 when there is no pending HPT for the guest,
3165 this begins preparation of a new pending HPT of size 2^(shift) bytes.
3166 It then returns a positive integer with the estimated number of
3167 milliseconds until preparation is complete.
3169 If called when there is a pending HPT whose size does not match that
3170 requested in the parameters, discards the existing pending HPT and
3171 creates a new one as above.
3173 If called when there is a pending HPT of the size requested, will:
3174 * If preparation of the pending HPT is already complete, return 0
3175 * If preparation of the pending HPT has failed, return an error
3176 code, then discard the pending HPT.
3177 * If preparation of the pending HPT is still in progress, return an
3178 estimated number of milliseconds until preparation is complete.
3180 If called with shift == 0, discards any currently pending HPT and
3181 returns 0 (i.e. cancels any in-progress preparation).
3183 flags is reserved for future expansion, currently setting any bits in
3184 flags will result in an -EINVAL.
3186 Normally this will be called repeatedly with the same parameters until
3187 it returns <= 0. The first call will initiate preparation, subsequent
3188 ones will monitor preparation until it completes or fails.
3190 struct kvm_ppc_resize_hpt {
3196 4.103 KVM_PPC_RESIZE_HPT_COMMIT
3198 Capability: KVM_CAP_SPAPR_RESIZE_HPT
3199 Architectures: powerpc
3201 Parameters: struct kvm_ppc_resize_hpt (in)
3202 Returns: 0 on successful completion,
3203 -EFAULT if struct kvm_reinject_control cannot be read,
3204 -EINVAL if the supplied shift or flags are invalid
3205 -ENXIO is there is no pending HPT, or the pending HPT doesn't
3206 have the requested size
3207 -EBUSY if the pending HPT is not fully prepared
3208 -ENOSPC if there was a hash collision when moving existing
3209 HPT entries to the new HPT
3210 -EIO on other error conditions
3212 Used to implement the PAPR extension for runtime resizing of a guest's
3213 Hashed Page Table (HPT). Specifically this requests that the guest be
3214 transferred to working with the new HPT, essentially implementing the
3215 H_RESIZE_HPT_COMMIT hypercall.
3217 This should only be called after KVM_PPC_RESIZE_HPT_PREPARE has
3218 returned 0 with the same parameters. In other cases
3219 KVM_PPC_RESIZE_HPT_COMMIT will return an error (usually -ENXIO or
3220 -EBUSY, though others may be possible if the preparation was started,
3223 This will have undefined effects on the guest if it has not already
3224 placed itself in a quiescent state where no vcpu will make MMU enabled
3227 On succsful completion, the pending HPT will become the guest's active
3228 HPT and the previous HPT will be discarded.
3230 On failure, the guest will still be operating on its previous HPT.
3232 struct kvm_ppc_resize_hpt {
3238 4.104 KVM_X86_GET_MCE_CAP_SUPPORTED
3240 Capability: KVM_CAP_MCE
3243 Parameters: u64 mce_cap (out)
3244 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
3246 Returns supported MCE capabilities. The u64 mce_cap parameter
3247 has the same format as the MSR_IA32_MCG_CAP register. Supported
3248 capabilities will have the corresponding bits set.
3250 4.105 KVM_X86_SETUP_MCE
3252 Capability: KVM_CAP_MCE
3255 Parameters: u64 mcg_cap (in)
3256 Returns: 0 on success,
3257 -EFAULT if u64 mcg_cap cannot be read,
3258 -EINVAL if the requested number of banks is invalid,
3259 -EINVAL if requested MCE capability is not supported.
3261 Initializes MCE support for use. The u64 mcg_cap parameter
3262 has the same format as the MSR_IA32_MCG_CAP register and
3263 specifies which capabilities should be enabled. The maximum
3264 supported number of error-reporting banks can be retrieved when
3265 checking for KVM_CAP_MCE. The supported capabilities can be
3266 retrieved with KVM_X86_GET_MCE_CAP_SUPPORTED.
3268 4.106 KVM_X86_SET_MCE
3270 Capability: KVM_CAP_MCE
3273 Parameters: struct kvm_x86_mce (in)
3274 Returns: 0 on success,
3275 -EFAULT if struct kvm_x86_mce cannot be read,
3276 -EINVAL if the bank number is invalid,
3277 -EINVAL if VAL bit is not set in status field.
3279 Inject a machine check error (MCE) into the guest. The input
3282 struct kvm_x86_mce {
3292 If the MCE being reported is an uncorrected error, KVM will
3293 inject it as an MCE exception into the guest. If the guest
3294 MCG_STATUS register reports that an MCE is in progress, KVM
3295 causes an KVM_EXIT_SHUTDOWN vmexit.
3297 Otherwise, if the MCE is a corrected error, KVM will just
3298 store it in the corresponding bank (provided this bank is
3299 not holding a previously reported uncorrected error).
3301 4.107 KVM_S390_GET_CMMA_BITS
3303 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_CMMA_MIGRATION
3306 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_cmma_log (in, out)
3307 Returns: 0 on success, a negative value on error
3309 This ioctl is used to get the values of the CMMA bits on the s390
3310 architecture. It is meant to be used in two scenarios:
3311 - During live migration to save the CMMA values. Live migration needs
3312 to be enabled via the KVM_REQ_START_MIGRATION VM property.
3313 - To non-destructively peek at the CMMA values, with the flag
3314 KVM_S390_CMMA_PEEK set.
3316 The ioctl takes parameters via the kvm_s390_cmma_log struct. The desired
3317 values are written to a buffer whose location is indicated via the "values"
3318 member in the kvm_s390_cmma_log struct. The values in the input struct are
3319 also updated as needed.
3320 Each CMMA value takes up one byte.
3322 struct kvm_s390_cmma_log {
3333 start_gfn is the number of the first guest frame whose CMMA values are
3336 count is the length of the buffer in bytes,
3338 values points to the buffer where the result will be written to.
3340 If count is greater than KVM_S390_SKEYS_MAX, then it is considered to be
3341 KVM_S390_SKEYS_MAX. KVM_S390_SKEYS_MAX is re-used for consistency with
3344 The result is written in the buffer pointed to by the field values, and
3345 the values of the input parameter are updated as follows.
3347 Depending on the flags, different actions are performed. The only
3348 supported flag so far is KVM_S390_CMMA_PEEK.
3350 The default behaviour if KVM_S390_CMMA_PEEK is not set is:
3351 start_gfn will indicate the first page frame whose CMMA bits were dirty.
3352 It is not necessarily the same as the one passed as input, as clean pages
3355 count will indicate the number of bytes actually written in the buffer.
3356 It can (and very often will) be smaller than the input value, since the
3357 buffer is only filled until 16 bytes of clean values are found (which
3358 are then not copied in the buffer). Since a CMMA migration block needs
3359 the base address and the length, for a total of 16 bytes, we will send
3360 back some clean data if there is some dirty data afterwards, as long as
3361 the size of the clean data does not exceed the size of the header. This
3362 allows to minimize the amount of data to be saved or transferred over
3363 the network at the expense of more roundtrips to userspace. The next
3364 invocation of the ioctl will skip over all the clean values, saving
3365 potentially more than just the 16 bytes we found.
3367 If KVM_S390_CMMA_PEEK is set:
3368 the existing storage attributes are read even when not in migration
3369 mode, and no other action is performed;
3371 the output start_gfn will be equal to the input start_gfn,
3373 the output count will be equal to the input count, except if the end of
3374 memory has been reached.
3377 the field "remaining" will indicate the total number of dirty CMMA values
3378 still remaining, or 0 if KVM_S390_CMMA_PEEK is set and migration mode is
3383 values points to the userspace buffer where the result will be stored.
3385 This ioctl can fail with -ENOMEM if not enough memory can be allocated to
3386 complete the task, with -ENXIO if CMMA is not enabled, with -EINVAL if
3387 KVM_S390_CMMA_PEEK is not set but migration mode was not enabled, with
3388 -EFAULT if the userspace address is invalid or if no page table is
3389 present for the addresses (e.g. when using hugepages).
3391 4.108 KVM_S390_SET_CMMA_BITS
3393 Capability: KVM_CAP_S390_CMMA_MIGRATION
3396 Parameters: struct kvm_s390_cmma_log (in)
3397 Returns: 0 on success, a negative value on error
3399 This ioctl is used to set the values of the CMMA bits on the s390
3400 architecture. It is meant to be used during live migration to restore
3401 the CMMA values, but there are no restrictions on its use.
3402 The ioctl takes parameters via the kvm_s390_cmma_values struct.
3403 Each CMMA value takes up one byte.
3405 struct kvm_s390_cmma_log {
3416 start_gfn indicates the starting guest frame number,
3418 count indicates how many values are to be considered in the buffer,
3420 flags is not used and must be 0.
3422 mask indicates which PGSTE bits are to be considered.
3424 remaining is not used.
3426 values points to the buffer in userspace where to store the values.
3428 This ioctl can fail with -ENOMEM if not enough memory can be allocated to
3429 complete the task, with -ENXIO if CMMA is not enabled, with -EINVAL if
3430 the count field is too large (e.g. more than KVM_S390_CMMA_SIZE_MAX) or
3431 if the flags field was not 0, with -EFAULT if the userspace address is
3432 invalid, if invalid pages are written to (e.g. after the end of memory)
3433 or if no page table is present for the addresses (e.g. when using
3436 4.109 KVM_PPC_GET_CPU_CHAR
3438 Capability: KVM_CAP_PPC_GET_CPU_CHAR
3439 Architectures: powerpc
3441 Parameters: struct kvm_ppc_cpu_char (out)
3442 Returns: 0 on successful completion
3443 -EFAULT if struct kvm_ppc_cpu_char cannot be written
3445 This ioctl gives userspace information about certain characteristics
3446 of the CPU relating to speculative execution of instructions and
3447 possible information leakage resulting from speculative execution (see
3448 CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5754). The information is
3449 returned in struct kvm_ppc_cpu_char, which looks like this:
3451 struct kvm_ppc_cpu_char {
3452 __u64 character; /* characteristics of the CPU */
3453 __u64 behaviour; /* recommended software behaviour */
3454 __u64 character_mask; /* valid bits in character */
3455 __u64 behaviour_mask; /* valid bits in behaviour */
3458 For extensibility, the character_mask and behaviour_mask fields
3459 indicate which bits of character and behaviour have been filled in by
3460 the kernel. If the set of defined bits is extended in future then
3461 userspace will be able to tell whether it is running on a kernel that
3462 knows about the new bits.
3464 The character field describes attributes of the CPU which can help
3465 with preventing inadvertent information disclosure - specifically,
3466 whether there is an instruction to flash-invalidate the L1 data cache
3467 (ori 30,30,0 or mtspr SPRN_TRIG2,rN), whether the L1 data cache is set
3468 to a mode where entries can only be used by the thread that created
3469 them, whether the bcctr[l] instruction prevents speculation, and
3470 whether a speculation barrier instruction (ori 31,31,0) is provided.
3472 The behaviour field describes actions that software should take to
3473 prevent inadvertent information disclosure, and thus describes which
3474 vulnerabilities the hardware is subject to; specifically whether the
3475 L1 data cache should be flushed when returning to user mode from the
3476 kernel, and whether a speculation barrier should be placed between an
3477 array bounds check and the array access.
3479 These fields use the same bit definitions as the new
3480 H_GET_CPU_CHARACTERISTICS hypercall.
3482 4.110 KVM_MEMORY_ENCRYPT_OP
3487 Parameters: an opaque platform specific structure (in/out)
3488 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
3490 If the platform supports creating encrypted VMs then this ioctl can be used
3491 for issuing platform-specific memory encryption commands to manage those
3494 Currently, this ioctl is used for issuing Secure Encrypted Virtualization
3495 (SEV) commands on AMD Processors. The SEV commands are defined in
3496 Documentation/virtual/kvm/amd-memory-encryption.rst.
3498 4.111 KVM_MEMORY_ENCRYPT_REG_REGION
3503 Parameters: struct kvm_enc_region (in)
3504 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
3506 This ioctl can be used to register a guest memory region which may
3507 contain encrypted data (e.g. guest RAM, SMRAM etc).
3509 It is used in the SEV-enabled guest. When encryption is enabled, a guest
3510 memory region may contain encrypted data. The SEV memory encryption
3511 engine uses a tweak such that two identical plaintext pages, each at
3512 different locations will have differing ciphertexts. So swapping or
3513 moving ciphertext of those pages will not result in plaintext being
3514 swapped. So relocating (or migrating) physical backing pages for the SEV
3515 guest will require some additional steps.
3517 Note: The current SEV key management spec does not provide commands to
3518 swap or migrate (move) ciphertext pages. Hence, for now we pin the guest
3519 memory region registered with the ioctl.
3521 4.112 KVM_MEMORY_ENCRYPT_UNREG_REGION
3526 Parameters: struct kvm_enc_region (in)
3527 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
3529 This ioctl can be used to unregister the guest memory region registered
3530 with KVM_MEMORY_ENCRYPT_REG_REGION ioctl above.
3532 4.113 KVM_HYPERV_EVENTFD
3534 Capability: KVM_CAP_HYPERV_EVENTFD
3537 Parameters: struct kvm_hyperv_eventfd (in)
3539 This ioctl (un)registers an eventfd to receive notifications from the guest on
3540 the specified Hyper-V connection id through the SIGNAL_EVENT hypercall, without
3541 causing a user exit. SIGNAL_EVENT hypercall with non-zero event flag number
3542 (bits 24-31) still triggers a KVM_EXIT_HYPERV_HCALL user exit.
3544 struct kvm_hyperv_eventfd {
3551 The conn_id field should fit within 24 bits:
3553 #define KVM_HYPERV_CONN_ID_MASK 0x00ffffff
3555 The acceptable values for the flags field are:
3557 #define KVM_HYPERV_EVENTFD_DEASSIGN (1 << 0)
3559 Returns: 0 on success,
3560 -EINVAL if conn_id or flags is outside the allowed range
3561 -ENOENT on deassign if the conn_id isn't registered
3562 -EEXIST on assign if the conn_id is already registered
3564 4.114 KVM_GET_NESTED_STATE
3566 Capability: KVM_CAP_NESTED_STATE
3569 Parameters: struct kvm_nested_state (in/out)
3570 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
3572 E2BIG: the total state size (including the fixed-size part of struct
3573 kvm_nested_state) exceeds the value of 'size' specified by
3574 the user; the size required will be written into size.
3576 struct kvm_nested_state {
3581 struct kvm_vmx_nested_state vmx;
3582 struct kvm_svm_nested_state svm;
3588 #define KVM_STATE_NESTED_GUEST_MODE 0x00000001
3589 #define KVM_STATE_NESTED_RUN_PENDING 0x00000002
3591 #define KVM_STATE_NESTED_SMM_GUEST_MODE 0x00000001
3592 #define KVM_STATE_NESTED_SMM_VMXON 0x00000002
3594 struct kvm_vmx_nested_state {
3603 This ioctl copies the vcpu's nested virtualization state from the kernel to
3606 The maximum size of the state, including the fixed-size part of struct
3607 kvm_nested_state, can be retrieved by passing KVM_CAP_NESTED_STATE to
3608 the KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION ioctl().
3610 4.115 KVM_SET_NESTED_STATE
3612 Capability: KVM_CAP_NESTED_STATE
3615 Parameters: struct kvm_nested_state (in)
3616 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
3618 This copies the vcpu's kvm_nested_state struct from userspace to the kernel. For
3619 the definition of struct kvm_nested_state, see KVM_GET_NESTED_STATE.
3621 5. The kvm_run structure
3622 ------------------------
3624 Application code obtains a pointer to the kvm_run structure by
3625 mmap()ing a vcpu fd. From that point, application code can control
3626 execution by changing fields in kvm_run prior to calling the KVM_RUN
3627 ioctl, and obtain information about the reason KVM_RUN returned by
3628 looking up structure members.
3632 __u8 request_interrupt_window;
3634 Request that KVM_RUN return when it becomes possible to inject external
3635 interrupts into the guest. Useful in conjunction with KVM_INTERRUPT.
3637 __u8 immediate_exit;
3639 This field is polled once when KVM_RUN starts; if non-zero, KVM_RUN
3640 exits immediately, returning -EINTR. In the common scenario where a
3641 signal is used to "kick" a VCPU out of KVM_RUN, this field can be used
3642 to avoid usage of KVM_SET_SIGNAL_MASK, which has worse scalability.
3643 Rather than blocking the signal outside KVM_RUN, userspace can set up
3644 a signal handler that sets run->immediate_exit to a non-zero value.
3646 This field is ignored if KVM_CAP_IMMEDIATE_EXIT is not available.
3653 When KVM_RUN has returned successfully (return value 0), this informs
3654 application code why KVM_RUN has returned. Allowable values for this
3655 field are detailed below.
3657 __u8 ready_for_interrupt_injection;
3659 If request_interrupt_window has been specified, this field indicates
3660 an interrupt can be injected now with KVM_INTERRUPT.
3664 The value of the current interrupt flag. Only valid if in-kernel
3665 local APIC is not used.
3669 More architecture-specific flags detailing state of the VCPU that may
3670 affect the device's behavior. The only currently defined flag is
3671 KVM_RUN_X86_SMM, which is valid on x86 machines and is set if the
3672 VCPU is in system management mode.
3674 /* in (pre_kvm_run), out (post_kvm_run) */
3677 The value of the cr8 register. Only valid if in-kernel local APIC is
3678 not used. Both input and output.
3682 The value of the APIC BASE msr. Only valid if in-kernel local
3683 APIC is not used. Both input and output.
3686 /* KVM_EXIT_UNKNOWN */
3688 __u64 hardware_exit_reason;
3691 If exit_reason is KVM_EXIT_UNKNOWN, the vcpu has exited due to unknown
3692 reasons. Further architecture-specific information is available in
3693 hardware_exit_reason.
3695 /* KVM_EXIT_FAIL_ENTRY */
3697 __u64 hardware_entry_failure_reason;
3700 If exit_reason is KVM_EXIT_FAIL_ENTRY, the vcpu could not be run due
3701 to unknown reasons. Further architecture-specific information is
3702 available in hardware_entry_failure_reason.
3704 /* KVM_EXIT_EXCEPTION */
3714 #define KVM_EXIT_IO_IN 0
3715 #define KVM_EXIT_IO_OUT 1
3717 __u8 size; /* bytes */
3720 __u64 data_offset; /* relative to kvm_run start */
3723 If exit_reason is KVM_EXIT_IO, then the vcpu has
3724 executed a port I/O instruction which could not be satisfied by kvm.
3725 data_offset describes where the data is located (KVM_EXIT_IO_OUT) or
3726 where kvm expects application code to place the data for the next
3727 KVM_RUN invocation (KVM_EXIT_IO_IN). Data format is a packed array.
3729 /* KVM_EXIT_DEBUG */
3731 struct kvm_debug_exit_arch arch;
3734 If the exit_reason is KVM_EXIT_DEBUG, then a vcpu is processing a debug event
3735 for which architecture specific information is returned.
3745 If exit_reason is KVM_EXIT_MMIO, then the vcpu has
3746 executed a memory-mapped I/O instruction which could not be satisfied
3747 by kvm. The 'data' member contains the written data if 'is_write' is
3748 true, and should be filled by application code otherwise.
3750 The 'data' member contains, in its first 'len' bytes, the value as it would
3751 appear if the VCPU performed a load or store of the appropriate width directly
3754 NOTE: For KVM_EXIT_IO, KVM_EXIT_MMIO, KVM_EXIT_OSI, KVM_EXIT_PAPR and
3755 KVM_EXIT_EPR the corresponding
3756 operations are complete (and guest state is consistent) only after userspace
3757 has re-entered the kernel with KVM_RUN. The kernel side will first finish
3758 incomplete operations and then check for pending signals. Userspace
3759 can re-enter the guest with an unmasked signal pending to complete
3762 /* KVM_EXIT_HYPERCALL */
3771 Unused. This was once used for 'hypercall to userspace'. To implement
3772 such functionality, use KVM_EXIT_IO (x86) or KVM_EXIT_MMIO (all except s390).
3773 Note KVM_EXIT_IO is significantly faster than KVM_EXIT_MMIO.
3775 /* KVM_EXIT_TPR_ACCESS */
3782 To be documented (KVM_TPR_ACCESS_REPORTING).
3784 /* KVM_EXIT_S390_SIEIC */
3787 __u64 mask; /* psw upper half */
3788 __u64 addr; /* psw lower half */
3795 /* KVM_EXIT_S390_RESET */
3796 #define KVM_S390_RESET_POR 1
3797 #define KVM_S390_RESET_CLEAR 2
3798 #define KVM_S390_RESET_SUBSYSTEM 4
3799 #define KVM_S390_RESET_CPU_INIT 8
3800 #define KVM_S390_RESET_IPL 16
3801 __u64 s390_reset_flags;
3805 /* KVM_EXIT_S390_UCONTROL */
3807 __u64 trans_exc_code;
3811 s390 specific. A page fault has occurred for a user controlled virtual
3812 machine (KVM_VM_S390_UNCONTROL) on it's host page table that cannot be
3813 resolved by the kernel.
3814 The program code and the translation exception code that were placed
3815 in the cpu's lowcore are presented here as defined by the z Architecture
3816 Principles of Operation Book in the Chapter for Dynamic Address Translation
3826 Deprecated - was used for 440 KVM.
3833 MOL uses a special hypercall interface it calls 'OSI'. To enable it, we catch
3834 hypercalls and exit with this exit struct that contains all the guest gprs.
3836 If exit_reason is KVM_EXIT_OSI, then the vcpu has triggered such a hypercall.
3837 Userspace can now handle the hypercall and when it's done modify the gprs as
3838 necessary. Upon guest entry all guest GPRs will then be replaced by the values
3841 /* KVM_EXIT_PAPR_HCALL */
3848 This is used on 64-bit PowerPC when emulating a pSeries partition,
3849 e.g. with the 'pseries' machine type in qemu. It occurs when the
3850 guest does a hypercall using the 'sc 1' instruction. The 'nr' field
3851 contains the hypercall number (from the guest R3), and 'args' contains
3852 the arguments (from the guest R4 - R12). Userspace should put the
3853 return code in 'ret' and any extra returned values in args[].
3854 The possible hypercalls are defined in the Power Architecture Platform
3855 Requirements (PAPR) document available from www.power.org (free
3856 developer registration required to access it).
3858 /* KVM_EXIT_S390_TSCH */
3860 __u16 subchannel_id;
3861 __u16 subchannel_nr;
3868 s390 specific. This exit occurs when KVM_CAP_S390_CSS_SUPPORT has been enabled
3869 and TEST SUBCHANNEL was intercepted. If dequeued is set, a pending I/O
3870 interrupt for the target subchannel has been dequeued and subchannel_id,
3871 subchannel_nr, io_int_parm and io_int_word contain the parameters for that
3872 interrupt. ipb is needed for instruction parameter decoding.
3879 On FSL BookE PowerPC chips, the interrupt controller has a fast patch
3880 interrupt acknowledge path to the core. When the core successfully
3881 delivers an interrupt, it automatically populates the EPR register with
3882 the interrupt vector number and acknowledges the interrupt inside
3883 the interrupt controller.
3885 In case the interrupt controller lives in user space, we need to do
3886 the interrupt acknowledge cycle through it to fetch the next to be
3887 delivered interrupt vector using this exit.
3889 It gets triggered whenever both KVM_CAP_PPC_EPR are enabled and an
3890 external interrupt has just been delivered into the guest. User space
3891 should put the acknowledged interrupt vector into the 'epr' field.
3893 /* KVM_EXIT_SYSTEM_EVENT */
3895 #define KVM_SYSTEM_EVENT_SHUTDOWN 1
3896 #define KVM_SYSTEM_EVENT_RESET 2
3897 #define KVM_SYSTEM_EVENT_CRASH 3
3902 If exit_reason is KVM_EXIT_SYSTEM_EVENT then the vcpu has triggered
3903 a system-level event using some architecture specific mechanism (hypercall
3904 or some special instruction). In case of ARM/ARM64, this is triggered using
3905 HVC instruction based PSCI call from the vcpu. The 'type' field describes
3906 the system-level event type. The 'flags' field describes architecture
3907 specific flags for the system-level event.
3909 Valid values for 'type' are:
3910 KVM_SYSTEM_EVENT_SHUTDOWN -- the guest has requested a shutdown of the
3911 VM. Userspace is not obliged to honour this, and if it does honour
3912 this does not need to destroy the VM synchronously (ie it may call
3913 KVM_RUN again before shutdown finally occurs).
3914 KVM_SYSTEM_EVENT_RESET -- the guest has requested a reset of the VM.
3915 As with SHUTDOWN, userspace can choose to ignore the request, or
3916 to schedule the reset to occur in the future and may call KVM_RUN again.
3917 KVM_SYSTEM_EVENT_CRASH -- the guest crash occurred and the guest
3918 has requested a crash condition maintenance. Userspace can choose
3919 to ignore the request, or to gather VM memory core dump and/or
3920 reset/shutdown of the VM.
3922 /* KVM_EXIT_IOAPIC_EOI */
3927 Indicates that the VCPU's in-kernel local APIC received an EOI for a
3928 level-triggered IOAPIC interrupt. This exit only triggers when the
3929 IOAPIC is implemented in userspace (i.e. KVM_CAP_SPLIT_IRQCHIP is enabled);
3930 the userspace IOAPIC should process the EOI and retrigger the interrupt if
3931 it is still asserted. Vector is the LAPIC interrupt vector for which the
3934 struct kvm_hyperv_exit {
3935 #define KVM_EXIT_HYPERV_SYNIC 1
3936 #define KVM_EXIT_HYPERV_HCALL 2
3952 /* KVM_EXIT_HYPERV */
3953 struct kvm_hyperv_exit hyperv;
3954 Indicates that the VCPU exits into userspace to process some tasks
3955 related to Hyper-V emulation.
3956 Valid values for 'type' are:
3957 KVM_EXIT_HYPERV_SYNIC -- synchronously notify user-space about
3958 Hyper-V SynIC state change. Notification is used to remap SynIC
3959 event/message pages and to enable/disable SynIC messages/events processing
3962 /* Fix the size of the union. */
3967 * shared registers between kvm and userspace.
3968 * kvm_valid_regs specifies the register classes set by the host
3969 * kvm_dirty_regs specified the register classes dirtied by userspace
3970 * struct kvm_sync_regs is architecture specific, as well as the
3971 * bits for kvm_valid_regs and kvm_dirty_regs
3973 __u64 kvm_valid_regs;
3974 __u64 kvm_dirty_regs;
3976 struct kvm_sync_regs regs;
3977 char padding[SYNC_REGS_SIZE_BYTES];
3980 If KVM_CAP_SYNC_REGS is defined, these fields allow userspace to access
3981 certain guest registers without having to call SET/GET_*REGS. Thus we can
3982 avoid some system call overhead if userspace has to handle the exit.
3983 Userspace can query the validity of the structure by checking
3984 kvm_valid_regs for specific bits. These bits are architecture specific
3985 and usually define the validity of a groups of registers. (e.g. one bit
3986 for general purpose registers)
3988 Please note that the kernel is allowed to use the kvm_run structure as the
3989 primary storage for certain register types. Therefore, the kernel may use the
3990 values in kvm_run even if the corresponding bit in kvm_dirty_regs is not set.
3996 6. Capabilities that can be enabled on vCPUs
3997 --------------------------------------------
3999 There are certain capabilities that change the behavior of the virtual CPU or
4000 the virtual machine when enabled. To enable them, please see section 4.37.
4001 Below you can find a list of capabilities and what their effect on the vCPU or
4002 the virtual machine is when enabling them.
4004 The following information is provided along with the description:
4006 Architectures: which instruction set architectures provide this ioctl.
4007 x86 includes both i386 and x86_64.
4009 Target: whether this is a per-vcpu or per-vm capability.
4011 Parameters: what parameters are accepted by the capability.
4013 Returns: the return value. General error numbers (EBADF, ENOMEM, EINVAL)
4014 are not detailed, but errors with specific meanings are.
4022 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
4024 This capability enables interception of OSI hypercalls that otherwise would
4025 be treated as normal system calls to be injected into the guest. OSI hypercalls
4026 were invented by Mac-on-Linux to have a standardized communication mechanism
4027 between the guest and the host.
4029 When this capability is enabled, KVM_EXIT_OSI can occur.
4032 6.2 KVM_CAP_PPC_PAPR
4037 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
4039 This capability enables interception of PAPR hypercalls. PAPR hypercalls are
4040 done using the hypercall instruction "sc 1".
4042 It also sets the guest privilege level to "supervisor" mode. Usually the guest
4043 runs in "hypervisor" privilege mode with a few missing features.
4045 In addition to the above, it changes the semantics of SDR1. In this mode, the
4046 HTAB address part of SDR1 contains an HVA instead of a GPA, as PAPR keeps the
4047 HTAB invisible to the guest.
4049 When this capability is enabled, KVM_EXIT_PAPR_HCALL can occur.
4056 Parameters: args[0] is the address of a struct kvm_config_tlb
4057 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
4059 struct kvm_config_tlb {
4066 Configures the virtual CPU's TLB array, establishing a shared memory area
4067 between userspace and KVM. The "params" and "array" fields are userspace
4068 addresses of mmu-type-specific data structures. The "array_len" field is an
4069 safety mechanism, and should be set to the size in bytes of the memory that
4070 userspace has reserved for the array. It must be at least the size dictated
4071 by "mmu_type" and "params".
4073 While KVM_RUN is active, the shared region is under control of KVM. Its
4074 contents are undefined, and any modification by userspace results in
4075 boundedly undefined behavior.
4077 On return from KVM_RUN, the shared region will reflect the current state of
4078 the guest's TLB. If userspace makes any changes, it must call KVM_DIRTY_TLB
4079 to tell KVM which entries have been changed, prior to calling KVM_RUN again
4082 For mmu types KVM_MMU_FSL_BOOKE_NOHV and KVM_MMU_FSL_BOOKE_HV:
4083 - The "params" field is of type "struct kvm_book3e_206_tlb_params".
4084 - The "array" field points to an array of type "struct
4085 kvm_book3e_206_tlb_entry".
4086 - The array consists of all entries in the first TLB, followed by all
4087 entries in the second TLB.
4088 - Within a TLB, entries are ordered first by increasing set number. Within a
4089 set, entries are ordered by way (increasing ESEL).
4090 - The hash for determining set number in TLB0 is: (MAS2 >> 12) & (num_sets - 1)
4091 where "num_sets" is the tlb_sizes[] value divided by the tlb_ways[] value.
4092 - The tsize field of mas1 shall be set to 4K on TLB0, even though the
4093 hardware ignores this value for TLB0.
4095 6.4 KVM_CAP_S390_CSS_SUPPORT
4100 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
4102 This capability enables support for handling of channel I/O instructions.
4104 TEST PENDING INTERRUPTION and the interrupt portion of TEST SUBCHANNEL are
4105 handled in-kernel, while the other I/O instructions are passed to userspace.
4107 When this capability is enabled, KVM_EXIT_S390_TSCH will occur on TEST
4108 SUBCHANNEL intercepts.
4110 Note that even though this capability is enabled per-vcpu, the complete
4111 virtual machine is affected.
4117 Parameters: args[0] defines whether the proxy facility is active
4118 Returns: 0 on success; -1 on error
4120 This capability enables or disables the delivery of interrupts through the
4121 external proxy facility.
4123 When enabled (args[0] != 0), every time the guest gets an external interrupt
4124 delivered, it automatically exits into user space with a KVM_EXIT_EPR exit
4125 to receive the topmost interrupt vector.
4127 When disabled (args[0] == 0), behavior is as if this facility is unsupported.
4129 When this capability is enabled, KVM_EXIT_EPR can occur.
4131 6.6 KVM_CAP_IRQ_MPIC
4134 Parameters: args[0] is the MPIC device fd
4135 args[1] is the MPIC CPU number for this vcpu
4137 This capability connects the vcpu to an in-kernel MPIC device.
4139 6.7 KVM_CAP_IRQ_XICS
4143 Parameters: args[0] is the XICS device fd
4144 args[1] is the XICS CPU number (server ID) for this vcpu
4146 This capability connects the vcpu to an in-kernel XICS device.
4148 6.8 KVM_CAP_S390_IRQCHIP
4154 This capability enables the in-kernel irqchip for s390. Please refer to
4155 "4.24 KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP" for details.
4157 6.9 KVM_CAP_MIPS_FPU
4161 Parameters: args[0] is reserved for future use (should be 0).
4163 This capability allows the use of the host Floating Point Unit by the guest. It
4164 allows the Config1.FP bit to be set to enable the FPU in the guest. Once this is
4165 done the KVM_REG_MIPS_FPR_* and KVM_REG_MIPS_FCR_* registers can be accessed
4166 (depending on the current guest FPU register mode), and the Status.FR,
4167 Config5.FRE bits are accessible via the KVM API and also from the guest,
4168 depending on them being supported by the FPU.
4170 6.10 KVM_CAP_MIPS_MSA
4174 Parameters: args[0] is reserved for future use (should be 0).
4176 This capability allows the use of the MIPS SIMD Architecture (MSA) by the guest.
4177 It allows the Config3.MSAP bit to be set to enable the use of MSA by the guest.
4178 Once this is done the KVM_REG_MIPS_VEC_* and KVM_REG_MIPS_MSA_* registers can be
4179 accessed, and the Config5.MSAEn bit is accessible via the KVM API and also from
4182 6.74 KVM_CAP_SYNC_REGS
4183 Architectures: s390, x86
4184 Target: s390: always enabled, x86: vcpu
4186 Returns: x86: KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION returns a bit-array indicating which register
4187 sets are supported (bitfields defined in arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h).
4189 As described above in the kvm_sync_regs struct info in section 5 (kvm_run):
4190 KVM_CAP_SYNC_REGS "allow[s] userspace to access certain guest registers
4191 without having to call SET/GET_*REGS". This reduces overhead by eliminating
4192 repeated ioctl calls for setting and/or getting register values. This is
4193 particularly important when userspace is making synchronous guest state
4194 modifications, e.g. when emulating and/or intercepting instructions in
4197 For s390 specifics, please refer to the source code.
4200 - the register sets to be copied out to kvm_run are selectable
4201 by userspace (rather that all sets being copied out for every exit).
4202 - vcpu_events are available in addition to regs and sregs.
4204 For x86, the 'kvm_valid_regs' field of struct kvm_run is overloaded to
4205 function as an input bit-array field set by userspace to indicate the
4206 specific register sets to be copied out on the next exit.
4208 To indicate when userspace has modified values that should be copied into
4209 the vCPU, the all architecture bitarray field, 'kvm_dirty_regs' must be set.
4210 This is done using the same bitflags as for the 'kvm_valid_regs' field.
4211 If the dirty bit is not set, then the register set values will not be copied
4212 into the vCPU even if they've been modified.
4214 Unused bitfields in the bitarrays must be set to zero.
4216 struct kvm_sync_regs {
4217 struct kvm_regs regs;
4218 struct kvm_sregs sregs;
4219 struct kvm_vcpu_events events;
4222 7. Capabilities that can be enabled on VMs
4223 ------------------------------------------
4225 There are certain capabilities that change the behavior of the virtual
4226 machine when enabled. To enable them, please see section 4.37. Below
4227 you can find a list of capabilities and what their effect on the VM
4228 is when enabling them.
4230 The following information is provided along with the description:
4232 Architectures: which instruction set architectures provide this ioctl.
4233 x86 includes both i386 and x86_64.
4235 Parameters: what parameters are accepted by the capability.
4237 Returns: the return value. General error numbers (EBADF, ENOMEM, EINVAL)
4238 are not detailed, but errors with specific meanings are.
4241 7.1 KVM_CAP_PPC_ENABLE_HCALL
4244 Parameters: args[0] is the sPAPR hcall number
4245 args[1] is 0 to disable, 1 to enable in-kernel handling
4247 This capability controls whether individual sPAPR hypercalls (hcalls)
4248 get handled by the kernel or not. Enabling or disabling in-kernel
4249 handling of an hcall is effective across the VM. On creation, an
4250 initial set of hcalls are enabled for in-kernel handling, which
4251 consists of those hcalls for which in-kernel handlers were implemented
4252 before this capability was implemented. If disabled, the kernel will
4253 not to attempt to handle the hcall, but will always exit to userspace
4254 to handle it. Note that it may not make sense to enable some and
4255 disable others of a group of related hcalls, but KVM does not prevent
4256 userspace from doing that.
4258 If the hcall number specified is not one that has an in-kernel
4259 implementation, the KVM_ENABLE_CAP ioctl will fail with an EINVAL
4262 7.2 KVM_CAP_S390_USER_SIGP
4267 This capability controls which SIGP orders will be handled completely in user
4268 space. With this capability enabled, all fast orders will be handled completely
4274 - CONDITIONAL EMERGENCY SIGNAL
4276 All other orders will be handled completely in user space.
4278 Only privileged operation exceptions will be checked for in the kernel (or even
4279 in the hardware prior to interception). If this capability is not enabled, the
4280 old way of handling SIGP orders is used (partially in kernel and user space).
4282 7.3 KVM_CAP_S390_VECTOR_REGISTERS
4286 Returns: 0 on success, negative value on error
4288 Allows use of the vector registers introduced with z13 processor, and
4289 provides for the synchronization between host and user space. Will
4290 return -EINVAL if the machine does not support vectors.
4292 7.4 KVM_CAP_S390_USER_STSI
4297 This capability allows post-handlers for the STSI instruction. After
4298 initial handling in the kernel, KVM exits to user space with
4299 KVM_EXIT_S390_STSI to allow user space to insert further data.
4301 Before exiting to userspace, kvm handlers should fill in s390_stsi field of
4312 @addr - guest address of STSI SYSIB
4316 @ar - access register number
4318 KVM handlers should exit to userspace with rc = -EREMOTE.
4320 7.5 KVM_CAP_SPLIT_IRQCHIP
4323 Parameters: args[0] - number of routes reserved for userspace IOAPICs
4324 Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error
4326 Create a local apic for each processor in the kernel. This can be used
4327 instead of KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP if the userspace VMM wishes to emulate the
4328 IOAPIC and PIC (and also the PIT, even though this has to be enabled
4331 This capability also enables in kernel routing of interrupt requests;
4332 when KVM_CAP_SPLIT_IRQCHIP only routes of KVM_IRQ_ROUTING_MSI type are
4333 used in the IRQ routing table. The first args[0] MSI routes are reserved
4334 for the IOAPIC pins. Whenever the LAPIC receives an EOI for these routes,
4335 a KVM_EXIT_IOAPIC_EOI vmexit will be reported to userspace.
4337 Fails if VCPU has already been created, or if the irqchip is already in the
4338 kernel (i.e. KVM_CREATE_IRQCHIP has already been called).
4345 Allows use of runtime-instrumentation introduced with zEC12 processor.
4346 Will return -EINVAL if the machine does not support runtime-instrumentation.
4347 Will return -EBUSY if a VCPU has already been created.
4349 7.7 KVM_CAP_X2APIC_API
4352 Parameters: args[0] - features that should be enabled
4353 Returns: 0 on success, -EINVAL when args[0] contains invalid features
4355 Valid feature flags in args[0] are
4357 #define KVM_X2APIC_API_USE_32BIT_IDS (1ULL << 0)
4358 #define KVM_X2APIC_API_DISABLE_BROADCAST_QUIRK (1ULL << 1)
4360 Enabling KVM_X2APIC_API_USE_32BIT_IDS changes the behavior of
4361 KVM_SET_GSI_ROUTING, KVM_SIGNAL_MSI, KVM_SET_LAPIC, and KVM_GET_LAPIC,
4362 allowing the use of 32-bit APIC IDs. See KVM_CAP_X2APIC_API in their
4363 respective sections.
4365 KVM_X2APIC_API_DISABLE_BROADCAST_QUIRK must be enabled for x2APIC to work
4366 in logical mode or with more than 255 VCPUs. Otherwise, KVM treats 0xff
4367 as a broadcast even in x2APIC mode in order to support physical x2APIC
4368 without interrupt remapping. This is undesirable in logical mode,
4369 where 0xff represents CPUs 0-7 in cluster 0.
4371 7.8 KVM_CAP_S390_USER_INSTR0
4376 With this capability enabled, all illegal instructions 0x0000 (2 bytes) will
4377 be intercepted and forwarded to user space. User space can use this
4378 mechanism e.g. to realize 2-byte software breakpoints. The kernel will
4379 not inject an operating exception for these instructions, user space has
4380 to take care of that.
4382 This capability can be enabled dynamically even if VCPUs were already
4383 created and are running.
4389 Returns: 0 on success; -EINVAL if the machine does not support
4390 guarded storage; -EBUSY if a VCPU has already been created.
4392 Allows use of guarded storage for the KVM guest.
4394 7.10 KVM_CAP_S390_AIS
4399 Allow use of adapter-interruption suppression.
4400 Returns: 0 on success; -EBUSY if a VCPU has already been created.
4402 7.11 KVM_CAP_PPC_SMT
4405 Parameters: vsmt_mode, flags
4407 Enabling this capability on a VM provides userspace with a way to set
4408 the desired virtual SMT mode (i.e. the number of virtual CPUs per
4409 virtual core). The virtual SMT mode, vsmt_mode, must be a power of 2
4410 between 1 and 8. On POWER8, vsmt_mode must also be no greater than
4411 the number of threads per subcore for the host. Currently flags must
4412 be 0. A successful call to enable this capability will result in
4413 vsmt_mode being returned when the KVM_CAP_PPC_SMT capability is
4414 subsequently queried for the VM. This capability is only supported by
4415 HV KVM, and can only be set before any VCPUs have been created.
4416 The KVM_CAP_PPC_SMT_POSSIBLE capability indicates which virtual SMT
4417 modes are available.
4419 7.12 KVM_CAP_PPC_FWNMI
4424 With this capability a machine check exception in the guest address
4425 space will cause KVM to exit the guest with NMI exit reason. This
4426 enables QEMU to build error log and branch to guest kernel registered
4427 machine check handling routine. Without this capability KVM will
4428 branch to guests' 0x200 interrupt vector.
4430 7.13 KVM_CAP_X86_DISABLE_EXITS
4433 Parameters: args[0] defines which exits are disabled
4434 Returns: 0 on success, -EINVAL when args[0] contains invalid exits
4436 Valid bits in args[0] are
4438 #define KVM_X86_DISABLE_EXITS_MWAIT (1 << 0)
4439 #define KVM_X86_DISABLE_EXITS_HLT (1 << 1)
4441 Enabling this capability on a VM provides userspace with a way to no
4442 longer intercept some instructions for improved latency in some
4443 workloads, and is suggested when vCPUs are associated to dedicated
4444 physical CPUs. More bits can be added in the future; userspace can
4445 just pass the KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION result to KVM_ENABLE_CAP to disable
4448 Do not enable KVM_FEATURE_PV_UNHALT if you disable HLT exits.
4450 7.14 KVM_CAP_S390_HPAGE_1M
4454 Returns: 0 on success, -EINVAL if hpage module parameter was not set
4457 With this capability the KVM support for memory backing with 1m pages
4458 through hugetlbfs can be enabled for a VM. After the capability is
4459 enabled, cmma can't be enabled anymore and pfmfi and the storage key
4460 interpretation are disabled. If cmma has already been enabled or the
4461 hpage module parameter is not set to 1, -EINVAL is returned.
4463 While it is generally possible to create a huge page backed VM without
4464 this capability, the VM will not be able to run.
4466 8. Other capabilities.
4467 ----------------------
4469 This section lists capabilities that give information about other
4470 features of the KVM implementation.
4472 8.1 KVM_CAP_PPC_HWRNG
4476 This capability, if KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION indicates that it is
4477 available, means that that the kernel has an implementation of the
4478 H_RANDOM hypercall backed by a hardware random-number generator.
4479 If present, the kernel H_RANDOM handler can be enabled for guest use
4480 with the KVM_CAP_PPC_ENABLE_HCALL capability.
4482 8.2 KVM_CAP_HYPERV_SYNIC
4485 This capability, if KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION indicates that it is
4486 available, means that that the kernel has an implementation of the
4487 Hyper-V Synthetic interrupt controller(SynIC). Hyper-V SynIC is
4488 used to support Windows Hyper-V based guest paravirt drivers(VMBus).
4490 In order to use SynIC, it has to be activated by setting this
4491 capability via KVM_ENABLE_CAP ioctl on the vcpu fd. Note that this
4492 will disable the use of APIC hardware virtualization even if supported
4493 by the CPU, as it's incompatible with SynIC auto-EOI behavior.
4495 8.3 KVM_CAP_PPC_RADIX_MMU
4499 This capability, if KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION indicates that it is
4500 available, means that that the kernel can support guests using the
4501 radix MMU defined in Power ISA V3.00 (as implemented in the POWER9
4504 8.4 KVM_CAP_PPC_HASH_MMU_V3
4508 This capability, if KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION indicates that it is
4509 available, means that that the kernel can support guests using the
4510 hashed page table MMU defined in Power ISA V3.00 (as implemented in
4511 the POWER9 processor), including in-memory segment tables.
4517 This capability, if KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION on the main kvm handle indicates that
4518 it is available, means that full hardware assisted virtualization capabilities
4519 of the hardware are available for use through KVM. An appropriate
4520 KVM_VM_MIPS_* type must be passed to KVM_CREATE_VM to create a VM which
4523 If KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION on a kvm VM handle indicates that this capability is
4524 available, it means that the VM is using full hardware assisted virtualization
4525 capabilities of the hardware. This is useful to check after creating a VM with
4526 KVM_VM_MIPS_DEFAULT.
4528 The value returned by KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION should be compared against known
4529 values (see below). All other values are reserved. This is to allow for the
4530 possibility of other hardware assisted virtualization implementations which
4531 may be incompatible with the MIPS VZ ASE.
4533 0: The trap & emulate implementation is in use to run guest code in user
4534 mode. Guest virtual memory segments are rearranged to fit the guest in the
4535 user mode address space.
4537 1: The MIPS VZ ASE is in use, providing full hardware assisted
4538 virtualization, including standard guest virtual memory segments.
4544 This capability, if KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION on the main kvm handle indicates that
4545 it is available, means that the trap & emulate implementation is available to
4546 run guest code in user mode, even if KVM_CAP_MIPS_VZ indicates that hardware
4547 assisted virtualisation is also available. KVM_VM_MIPS_TE (0) must be passed
4548 to KVM_CREATE_VM to create a VM which utilises it.
4550 If KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION on a kvm VM handle indicates that this capability is
4551 available, it means that the VM is using trap & emulate.
4553 8.7 KVM_CAP_MIPS_64BIT
4557 This capability indicates the supported architecture type of the guest, i.e. the
4558 supported register and address width.
4560 The values returned when this capability is checked by KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION on a
4561 kvm VM handle correspond roughly to the CP0_Config.AT register field, and should
4562 be checked specifically against known values (see below). All other values are
4565 0: MIPS32 or microMIPS32.
4566 Both registers and addresses are 32-bits wide.
4567 It will only be possible to run 32-bit guest code.
4569 1: MIPS64 or microMIPS64 with access only to 32-bit compatibility segments.
4570 Registers are 64-bits wide, but addresses are 32-bits wide.
4571 64-bit guest code may run but cannot access MIPS64 memory segments.
4572 It will also be possible to run 32-bit guest code.
4574 2: MIPS64 or microMIPS64 with access to all address segments.
4575 Both registers and addresses are 64-bits wide.
4576 It will be possible to run 64-bit or 32-bit guest code.
4578 8.9 KVM_CAP_ARM_USER_IRQ
4580 Architectures: arm, arm64
4581 This capability, if KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION indicates that it is available, means
4582 that if userspace creates a VM without an in-kernel interrupt controller, it
4583 will be notified of changes to the output level of in-kernel emulated devices,
4584 which can generate virtual interrupts, presented to the VM.
4585 For such VMs, on every return to userspace, the kernel
4586 updates the vcpu's run->s.regs.device_irq_level field to represent the actual
4587 output level of the device.
4589 Whenever kvm detects a change in the device output level, kvm guarantees at
4590 least one return to userspace before running the VM. This exit could either
4591 be a KVM_EXIT_INTR or any other exit event, like KVM_EXIT_MMIO. This way,
4592 userspace can always sample the device output level and re-compute the state of
4593 the userspace interrupt controller. Userspace should always check the state
4594 of run->s.regs.device_irq_level on every kvm exit.
4595 The value in run->s.regs.device_irq_level can represent both level and edge
4596 triggered interrupt signals, depending on the device. Edge triggered interrupt
4597 signals will exit to userspace with the bit in run->s.regs.device_irq_level
4598 set exactly once per edge signal.
4600 The field run->s.regs.device_irq_level is available independent of
4601 run->kvm_valid_regs or run->kvm_dirty_regs bits.
4603 If KVM_CAP_ARM_USER_IRQ is supported, the KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION ioctl returns a
4604 number larger than 0 indicating the version of this capability is implemented
4605 and thereby which bits in in run->s.regs.device_irq_level can signal values.
4607 Currently the following bits are defined for the device_irq_level bitmap:
4609 KVM_CAP_ARM_USER_IRQ >= 1:
4611 KVM_ARM_DEV_EL1_VTIMER - EL1 virtual timer
4612 KVM_ARM_DEV_EL1_PTIMER - EL1 physical timer
4613 KVM_ARM_DEV_PMU - ARM PMU overflow interrupt signal
4615 Future versions of kvm may implement additional events. These will get
4616 indicated by returning a higher number from KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION and will be
4619 8.10 KVM_CAP_PPC_SMT_POSSIBLE
4623 Querying this capability returns a bitmap indicating the possible
4624 virtual SMT modes that can be set using KVM_CAP_PPC_SMT. If bit N
4625 (counting from the right) is set, then a virtual SMT mode of 2^N is
4628 8.11 KVM_CAP_HYPERV_SYNIC2
4632 This capability enables a newer version of Hyper-V Synthetic interrupt
4633 controller (SynIC). The only difference with KVM_CAP_HYPERV_SYNIC is that KVM
4634 doesn't clear SynIC message and event flags pages when they are enabled by
4635 writing to the respective MSRs.
4637 8.12 KVM_CAP_HYPERV_VP_INDEX
4641 This capability indicates that userspace can load HV_X64_MSR_VP_INDEX msr. Its
4642 value is used to denote the target vcpu for a SynIC interrupt. For
4643 compatibilty, KVM initializes this msr to KVM's internal vcpu index. When this
4644 capability is absent, userspace can still query this msr's value.
4646 8.13 KVM_CAP_S390_AIS_MIGRATION
4651 This capability indicates if the flic device will be able to get/set the
4652 AIS states for migration via the KVM_DEV_FLIC_AISM_ALL attribute and allows
4653 to discover this without having to create a flic device.
4655 8.14 KVM_CAP_S390_PSW
4659 This capability indicates that the PSW is exposed via the kvm_run structure.
4661 8.15 KVM_CAP_S390_GMAP
4665 This capability indicates that the user space memory used as guest mapping can
4666 be anywhere in the user memory address space, as long as the memory slots are
4667 aligned and sized to a segment (1MB) boundary.
4669 8.16 KVM_CAP_S390_COW
4673 This capability indicates that the user space memory used as guest mapping can
4674 use copy-on-write semantics as well as dirty pages tracking via read-only page
4677 8.17 KVM_CAP_S390_BPB
4681 This capability indicates that kvm will implement the interfaces to handle
4682 reset, migration and nested KVM for branch prediction blocking. The stfle
4683 facility 82 should not be provided to the guest without this capability.
4685 8.18 KVM_CAP_HYPERV_TLBFLUSH
4689 This capability indicates that KVM supports paravirtualized Hyper-V TLB Flush
4691 HvFlushVirtualAddressSpace, HvFlushVirtualAddressSpaceEx,
4692 HvFlushVirtualAddressList, HvFlushVirtualAddressListEx.