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A patch heading to the mainline Linux kernel enables the IBPB-on-Entry security feature for AMD SEV-SNP guest VMs. Supported by AMD EPYC Zen 5 processors, IBPB-on-Entry forces an Indirect Branch Predictor Barrier when entering a guest VM, helping prevent speculative execution attacks. The feature was previously masked as a reserved bit due to it being added after the initial SNP Zen implementation. The fix is a small code change, targeted at the Linux 7.0 cycle via the x86/urgent branch, and is also marked for back-porting to stable kernel series.

Linux Preps IBPB-On-Entry Feature For AMD SEV-SNP Guest VMs