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+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+TSX Async Abort (TAA) mitigation
+================================
+
+.. _tsx_async_abort:
+
+Overview
+--------
+
+TSX Async Abort (TAA) is a side channel attack on internal buffers in some
+Intel processors similar to Microachitectural Data Sampling (MDS). In this
+case certain loads may speculatively pass invalid data to dependent operations
+when an asynchronous abort condition is pending in a Transactional
+Synchronization Extensions (TSX) transaction. This includes loads with no
+fault or assist condition. Such loads may speculatively expose stale data from
+the same uarch data structures as in MDS, with same scope of exposure i.e.
+same-thread and cross-thread. This issue affects all current processors that
+support TSX.
+
+Mitigation strategy
+-------------------
+
+a) TSX disable - one of the mitigations is to disable TSX. A new MSR
+IA32_TSX_CTRL will be available in future and current processors after
+microcode update which can be used to disable TSX. In addition, it
+controls the enumeration of the TSX feature bits (RTM and HLE) in CPUID.
+
+b) Clear CPU buffers - similar to MDS, clearing the CPU buffers mitigates this
+vulnerability. More details on this approach can be found in
+:ref:`Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/mds.rst <mds>`.
+
+Kernel internal mitigation modes
+--------------------------------
+
+ ============= ============================================================
+ off Mitigation is disabled. Either the CPU is not affected or
+ tsx_async_abort=off is supplied on the kernel command line.
+
+ tsx disabled Mitigation is enabled. TSX feature is disabled by default at
+ bootup on processors that support TSX control.
+
+ verw Mitigation is enabled. CPU is affected and MD_CLEAR is
+ advertised in CPUID.
+
+ ucode needed Mitigation is enabled. CPU is affected and MD_CLEAR is not
+ advertised in CPUID. That is mainly for virtualization
+ scenarios where the host has the updated microcode but the
+ hypervisor does not expose MD_CLEAR in CPUID. It's a best
+ effort approach without guarantee.
+ ============= ============================================================
+
+If the CPU is affected and the "tsx_async_abort" kernel command line parameter is
+not provided then the kernel selects an appropriate mitigation depending on the
+status of RTM and MD_CLEAR CPUID bits.
+
+Below tables indicate the impact of tsx=on|off|auto cmdline options on state of
+TAA mitigation, VERW behavior and TSX feature for various combinations of
+MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES bits.
+
+1. "tsx=off"
+
+========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ======================
+MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES bits Result with cmdline tsx=off
+---------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+TAA_NO MDS_NO TSX_CTRL_MSR TSX state VERW can clear TAA mitigation TAA mitigation
+ after bootup CPU buffers tsx_async_abort=off tsx_async_abort=full
+========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ======================
+ 0 0 0 HW default Yes Same as MDS Same as MDS
+ 0 0 1 Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case
+ 0 1 0 HW default No Need ucode update Need ucode update
+ 0 1 1 Disabled Yes TSX disabled TSX disabled
+ 1 X 1 Disabled X None needed None needed
+========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ======================
+
+2. "tsx=on"
+
+========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ======================
+MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES bits Result with cmdline tsx=on
+---------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+TAA_NO MDS_NO TSX_CTRL_MSR TSX state VERW can clear TAA mitigation TAA mitigation
+ after bootup CPU buffers tsx_async_abort=off tsx_async_abort=full
+========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ======================
+ 0 0 0 HW default Yes Same as MDS Same as MDS
+ 0 0 1 Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case
+ 0 1 0 HW default No Need ucode update Need ucode update
+ 0 1 1 Enabled Yes None Same as MDS
+ 1 X 1 Enabled X None needed None needed
+========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ======================
+
+3. "tsx=auto"
+
+========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ======================
+MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES bits Result with cmdline tsx=auto
+---------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+TAA_NO MDS_NO TSX_CTRL_MSR TSX state VERW can clear TAA mitigation TAA mitigation
+ after bootup CPU buffers tsx_async_abort=off tsx_async_abort=full
+========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ======================
+ 0 0 0 HW default Yes Same as MDS Same as MDS
+ 0 0 1 Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case
+ 0 1 0 HW default No Need ucode update Need ucode update
+ 0 1 1 Disabled Yes TSX disabled TSX disabled
+ 1 X 1 Enabled X None needed None needed
+========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ======================
+
+In the tables, TSX_CTRL_MSR is a new bit in MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES that
+indicates whether MSR_IA32_TSX_CTRL is supported.
+
+There are two control bits in IA32_TSX_CTRL MSR:
+
+ Bit 0: When set it disables the Restricted Transactional Memory (RTM)
+ sub-feature of TSX (will force all transactions to abort on the
+ XBEGIN instruction).
+
+ Bit 1: When set it disables the enumeration of the RTM and HLE feature
+ (i.e. it will make CPUID(EAX=7).EBX{bit4} and
+ CPUID(EAX=7).EBX{bit11} read as 0).