Control register

A control register is a processor register which changes or controls the general behavior of a CPU or other digital device. Common tasks performed by control registers include interrupt control, switching the addressing mode, paging control, and coprocessor control.

Control registers in x86 series

CR0

The CR0 register is 32 bits long on the 386 and higher processors. On x86-64 processors in long mode, it (and the other control registers) is 64 bits long. CR0 has various control flags that modify the basic operation of the processor.

BitNameFull NameDescription
0PEProtected Mode EnableIf 1, system is in protected mode, else system is in real mode
1MPMonitor co-processorControls interaction of WAIT/FWAIT instructions with TS flag in CR0
2EMEmulationIf set, no x87 floating point unit present, if clear, x87 FPU present
3TSTask switchedAllows saving x87 task context upon a task switch only after x87 instruction used
4ETExtension typeOn the 386, it allowed to specify whether the external math coprocessor was an 80287 or 80387
5NENumeric errorEnable internal x87 floating point error reporting when set, else enables PC style x87 error detection
16WPWrite protectWhen set, the CPU can't write to read-only pages when privilege level is 0
18AMAlignment maskAlignment check enabled if AM set, AC flag (in EFLAGS register) set, and privilege level is 3
29NWNot-write throughGlobally enables/disable write-through caching
30CDCache disableGlobally enables/disable the memory cache
31PGPagingIf 1, enable paging and use the CR3 register, else disable paging

CR1

Reserved, the CPU will throw a #UD exception when trying to access them.

CR2

Contains a value called Page Fault Linear Address (PFLA). When a page fault occurs, the address the program attempted to access is stored in the CR2 register.

CR3

Typical use of CR3 in address translation with 4 KiB pages

Used when virtual addressing is enabled, hence when the PG bit is set in CR0. CR3 enables the processor to translate linear addresses into physical addresses by locating the page directory and page tables for the current task. Typically, the upper 20 bits of CR3 become the page directory base register (PDBR), which stores the physical address of the first page directory entry. If the PCIDE bit in CR4 is set, the lowest 12 bits are used for the process-context identifier (PCID).[1]

CR4

Used in protected mode to control operations such as virtual-8086 support, enabling I/O breakpoints, page size extension and machine check exceptions.

BitNameFull NameDescription
0VMEVirtual 8086 Mode ExtensionsIf set, enables support for the virtual interrupt flag (VIF) in virtual-8086 mode.
1PVIProtected-mode Virtual InterruptsIf set, enables support for the virtual interrupt flag (VIF) in protected mode.
2TSDTime Stamp DisableIf set, RDTSC instruction can only be executed when in ring 0, otherwise RDTSC can be used at any privilege level.
3DEDebugging ExtensionsIf set, enables debug register based breaks on I/O space access
4PSEPage Size ExtensionIf unset, page size is 4 KiB, else page size is increased to 4 MiB (if PAE is enabled or the processor is in Long Mode this bit is ignored[2]).
5PAEPhysical Address ExtensionIf set, changes page table layout to translate 32-bit virtual addresses into extended 36-bit physical addresses.
6MCEMachine Check ExceptionIf set, enables machine check interrupts to occur.
7PGEPage Global EnabledIf set, address translations (PDE or PTE records) may be shared between address spaces.
8PCEPerformance-Monitoring Counter enableIf set, RDPMC can be executed at any privilege level, else RDPMC can only be used in ring 0.
9OSFXSROperating system support for FXSAVE and FXRSTOR instructionsIf set, enables SSE instructions and fast FPU save & restore
10OSXMMEXCPTOperating System Support for Unmasked SIMD Floating-Point ExceptionsIf set, enables unmasked SSE exceptions.
11UMIPUser-Mode Instruction PreventionIf set, the SGDT, SIDT, SLDT, SMSW and STR instructions cannot be executed if CPL > 0[1].
12LA57(none specified)If set, enables 5-Level Paging[3].
13VMXEVirtual Machine Extensions Enablesee Intel VT-x
14SMXESafer Mode Extensions Enablesee Trusted Execution Technology (TXT)
16FSGSBASEEnables the instructions RDFSBASE, RDGSBASE, WRFSBASE, and WRGSBASE.
17PCIDEPCID EnableIf set, enables process-context identifiers (PCIDs).
18OSXSAVEXSAVE and Processor Extended States Enable
20SMEP[4]Supervisor Mode Execution Protection EnableIf set, execution of code in a higher ring generates a fault
21SMAPSupervisor Mode Access Prevention EnableIf set, access of data in a higher ring generates a fault[5]
22PKEProtection Key EnableSee Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual

CR5-7

Reserved, same case as CR1.

Additional Control registers in x86-64 series

EFER

Extended Feature Enable Register (EFER) is a model-specific register added in the AMD K6 processor, to allow enabling the SYSCALL/SYSRET instruction, and later for entering and exiting long mode. This register becomes architectural in AMD64 and has been adopted by Intel. Its MSR number is 0xC0000080.

Bit Purpose
0 SCE (System Call Extensions)
1–7 Reserved
8 LME (Long Mode Enable)
9 Reserved
10 LMA (Long Mode Active)
11 NXE (No-Execute Enable)
12 SVME (Secure Virtual Machine Enable)
13 LMSLE (Long Mode Segment Limit Enable)
14 FFXSR (Fast FXSAVE/FXRSTOR)
15 TCE (Translation Cache Extension)
16–63 Reserved

CR8

CR8 is a new register accessible in 64-bit mode using the REX prefix. CR8 is used to prioritize external interrupts and is referred to as the task-priority register (TPR).[2]

The AMD64 architecture allows software to define up to 15 external interrupt-priority classes. Priority classes are numbered from 1 to 15, with priority-class 1 being the lowest and priority-class 15 the highest. CR8 uses the four low-order bits for specifying a task priority and the remaining 60 bits are reserved and must be written with zeros.

System software can use the TPR register to temporarily block low-priority interrupts from interrupting a high-priority task. This is accomplished by loading TPR with a value corresponding to the highest-priority interrupt that is to be blocked. For example, loading TPR with a value of 9 (1001b) blocks all interrupts with a priority class of 9 or less, while allowing all interrupts with a priority class of 10 or more to be recognized. Loading TPR with 0 enables all external interrupts. Loading TPR with 15 (1111b) disables all external interrupts.

The TPR is cleared to 0 on reset.

XCR0

XCR0, or Extended Control Register 0, is a special "extended" control register that is used for managing (enabling/disabling) individual classes of features.

Bit Purpose
0 X87 (x87 FPU/MMX State, note, must be '1')
1 SSE (XSAVE feature set enable for MXCSR and XMM regs)
2 AVX (AVX enable, and XSAVE feature set can be used to manage YMM regs)
3 BNDREG (MPX enable, and XSAVE feature set can be used for BND regs)
4 BNDCSR (MPX enable, and XSAVE feature set can be used for BNDCFGU and BNDSTATUS regs)
5 opmask (AVX-512 enable, and XSAVE feature set can be used for AVX opmask, AKA k-mask, regs)
6 ZMM_hi256 (AVX-512 enable, and XSAVE feature set can be used for upper-halves of the lower ZMM regs)
7 Hi16_ZMM (AVX-512 enable, and XSAVE feature set can be used for the upper ZMM regs)
8 Reserved
9 PKRU (XSAVE feature set can be used fro PKRU register)
10-63 Reserved (must be '0')

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Intel Corporation (2016). "4.10.1 Process-Context Identifiers (PCIDs)". Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual (PDF). Volume 3A: System Programming Guide, Part 1.
  2. 1 2 "AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual Volume 2: System Programming" (PDF). AMD. September 2012. p. 127 & 130. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
  3. ↑ "5-Level Paging and 5-Level EPT" (PDF). Intel. May 2017. p. 16. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  4. ↑ Fischer, Stephen (2011-09-21). "Supervisor Mode Execution Protection" (PDF). NSA Trusted Computing Conference 2011. National Conference Services, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
  5. ↑ Anvin, H. Peter (2012-09-21). "x86: Supervisor Mode Access Prevention". LWN.net. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
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