[SOLVED] rdpmc in user mode does not work even with PCE set

Issue

Based on the Wikipedia entry as well as the Intel manual, rdpmc should be available to user-mode processes as long as bit 8 of CR4 is set. However, I am still running into general protection error when trying to run rdpmc from userspace even with that bit set.

I am running on an 8-core Intel X3470 on kernel 2.6.32-279.el6.x86_64.

Here is the user-mode program I am trying to execute:

#define _GNU_SOURCE

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <inttypes.h>

#include <sched.h>
#include <assert.h>

uint64_t
read_pmc(int ecx)
{
    unsigned int a, d;
    __asm __volatile("rdpmc" : "=a"(a), "=d"(d) : "c"(ecx));
    return ((uint64_t)a) | (((uint64_t)d) << 32);
}

int main(int ac, char **av)
{
    uint64_t start, end;
    cpu_set_t cpuset;
    unsigned int c;
    int i;

    if (ac != 3) {
        fprintf(stderr, "usage: %s cpu-id pmc-num\n", av[0]);
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    
    i = atoi(av[1]);
    c = atoi(av[2]);
    
    CPU_ZERO(&cpuset);
        CPU_SET(i, &cpuset);
        assert(sched_setaffinity(0, sizeof(cpuset), &cpuset) == 0);

    printf("%lu\n", read_pmc(c));
    return 0;
}

Here is the kernel module which sets the bit and reads out CR4 so I can manually verify that the bit has been set.

/*  
 *  Enable PMC in user mode.
 */
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/kernel.h>



int init_module(void)
{
    typedef long unsigned int uint64_t;
    uint64_t output;
    // Set CR4, Bit 8  to enable PMC
__asm__("push   %rax\n\t"
                "mov    %cr4,%rax;\n\t"
                "or     $(1 << 7),%rax;\n\t"
                "mov    %rax,%cr4;\n\t"
                "wbinvd\n\t"
                "pop    %rax"
    );

    // Read back CR4 to check the bit.
    __asm__("\t mov %%cr4,%0" : "=r"(output));
    printk(KERN_INFO "%lu", output);

    return 0;
}
void cleanup_module(void)
{
__asm__("push   %rax\n\t"
        "push   %rbx\n\t"
                "mov    %cr4,%rax;\n\t"
                "mov  $(1 << 7), %rbx\n\t"
                "not  %rbx\n\t"
                "and   %rbx, %rax;\n\t"
                "mov    %rax,%cr4;\n\t"
                "wbinvd\n\t"
                "pop    %rbx\n\t"
                "pop    %rax\n\t"
    ); 
}

Solution

Apparently, when Intel says Bit 8, they are referring to the 9th bit from the right, since their indexing begins at 0. Replacing $(1 << 7) with $(1 << 8) globally resolves the issue, and allows rdpmc to be called from user mode.

Here is the updated kernel module, also using on_each_cpu to make sure that it is set on every core.

/*  
 *  Read PMC in kernel mode.
 */
#include <linux/module.h>   /* Needed by all modules */
#include <linux/kernel.h>   /* Needed for KERN_INFO */

static void printc4(void) {
    typedef long unsigned int uint64_t;
    uint64_t output;
    // Read back CR4 to check the bit.
    __asm__("\t mov %%cr4,%0" : "=r"(output));
    printk(KERN_INFO "%lu", output);
}

static void setc4b8(void * info) {
    // Set CR4, Bit 8 (9th bit from the right)  to enable
__asm__("push   %rax\n\t"
                "mov    %cr4,%rax;\n\t"
                "or     $(1 << 8),%rax;\n\t"
                "mov    %rax,%cr4;\n\t"
                "wbinvd\n\t"
                "pop    %rax"
    );

    // Check which CPU we are on:
    printk(KERN_INFO "Ran on Processor %d", smp_processor_id());
    printc4();
}

static void clearc4b8(void * info) {
    printc4();
__asm__("push   %rax\n\t"
        "push   %rbx\n\t"
                "mov    %cr4,%rax;\n\t"
                "mov  $(1 << 8), %rbx\n\t"
                "not  %rbx\n\t"
                "and   %rbx, %rax;\n\t"
                "mov    %rax,%cr4;\n\t"
                "wbinvd\n\t"
                "pop    %rbx\n\t"
                "pop    %rax\n\t"
    );
    printk(KERN_INFO "Ran on Processor %d", smp_processor_id());
}



int init_module(void)
{
    on_each_cpu(setc4b8, NULL, 0);
    return 0;
}
void cleanup_module(void)
{
    on_each_cpu(clearc4b8, NULL, 0);
}

Answered By - merlin2011

Answer Checked By - Willingham (WPSolving Volunteer)