[INFO] Virtualbox issue on linux kernels >= 6

[zhc95]

Hi,

I've been having some issues loading virtual machines in Virtualbox. Whenever I try to start any virtual machine, I get to 20% loaded, it gets stuck and you'd have to manually kill the virtualbox processes. Sometimes you also end up with an un-killable process "VBoxSVC" which messes up with shutdown as well.

A solution that seemed to work for me was found on here https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=277500 after a couple days of on and off searching for similar issues. As far as I can tell, the fix concerned Grub and so I had to add

Code: Select all

ibt=off

as kernel parameter to

Code: Select all

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT

in the Grub config. Then update grub and reboot and then all was working for me.

Like the rest of the thread, I'm trying to understand what ibt=off actually does and why it somehow fixes the system. Had a brief look on the ArchWiki and trying to trace bugs (e.g. https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/74891) but can't seem to find an explanation as to what this is. Would therefore appreciate if anyone here was able to enlighten me.

[erikdubois]

Tell people what version of VB you are on and whether you are on Mac, Windows or Linux.

[zhc95]

My setup:

Virtualbox version: 7.0.6 r155176
Host OS: ArcoLinux
Kernel: 6.1.14-1-lts

[erikdubois]

If you do not mind sharing a probe url since it is going to come down to hardware.

if you type "probe" in a terminal you get an url.

From that url the users can read what hardware you have and then deduce they have the same or similar hardware.

[fennec]

Hi,

I've been having some issues loading virtual machines in Virtualbox. Whenever I try to start any virtual machine, I get to 20% loaded, it gets stuck and you'd have to manually kill the virtualbox processes. Sometimes you also end up with an un-killable process "VBoxSVC" which messes up with shutdown as well.

A solution that seemed to work for me was found on here https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=277500 after a couple days of on and off searching for similar issues. As far as I can tell, the fix concerned Grub and so I had to add

Code: Select all

ibt=off

as kernel parameter to

Code: Select all

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT

in the Grub config. Then update grub and reboot and then all was working for me.

Like the rest of the thread, I'm trying to understand what ibt=off actually does and why it somehow fixes the system. Had a brief look on the ArchWiki and trying to trace bugs (e.g. https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/74891) but can't seem to find an explanation as to what this is. Would therefore appreciate if anyone here was able to enlighten me.

Code: Select all

ibt=off

See the 1st note section on https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA
It is an extra kernel parameter added to disable Indirect Branch Tracking (IBT).
At a very high level IBT is a security measure put in place to protect against unauthorized access to the kernel.
Maybe AMD has something similar but In this case protection is available for Intel Tigerlake CPUs or newer.

Further in depth details are available from:

- https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/i ... e-threats/
- https://lwn.net/Articles/889475/

Also see the Release notes page on the latest NVIDIA driver page, currently in BETA.

https://www.nvidia.com/download/driverR ... 985/en-us/

Added compatibility for Linux kernels with Indirect Branch Tracking IBT).

[zhc95]

See the 1st note section on https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA
It is an extra kernel parameter added to disable Indirect Branch Tracking (IBT).
At a very high level IBT is a security measure put in place to protect against unauthorized access to the kernel.
Maybe AMD has something similar but In this case protection is available for Intel Tigerlake CPUs or newer.

Further in depth details are available from:

- https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/i ... e-threats/
- https://lwn.net/Articles/889475/

Thanks for this! An interesting read as to when IBT support was added since kernel 5.18. My computer is indeed running Intel Tigerlake so I see how this directly impacts.