On 3/1/19 4:47 PM, speck for Thomas Gleixner wrote:
> Provide a inline function with the assembly magic. The argument of the VERW
> instruction must be a memory operand as documented:
> 
>   "MD_CLEAR enumerates that the memory-operand variant of VERW (for
>    example, VERW m16) has been extended to also overwrite buffers affected
>    by MDS. This buffer overwriting functionality is not guaranteed for the
>    register operand variant of VERW."
> 
> Documentation also recommends to use a writable data segment selector:
> 
>   "The buffer overwriting occurs regardless of the result of the VERW
>    permission check, as well as when the selector is null or causes a
>    descriptor load segment violation. However, for lowest latency we
>    recommend using a selector that indicates a valid writable data
>    segment."

Note that we raised this again with Intel last week amid Andrew's
results and they are going to get back to us if this guidance changes as
a result of further measurements on their end. It's a few cycles
difference in the Coffeelake case, but it could always be higher.

Jon.

-- 
Computer Architect | Sent with my Fedora powered laptop