Extensions
Forms
1 (1 Legacy)
Data
Intel XED v2026.08.23

Forms

Every encoding of PVALIDATE that Intel XED knows, one row per XED instruction form (iform). How to read the notation.
InstructionEncodingRequires
PVALIDATE RAX, ECX, EDX PVALIDATE_RAX_ECX_EDXF2 0F 01 FFSNP

Operation

What the forms do, in pseudocode that our tests run against results recorded on real processors. How to read.

if CPL > 0:                      # (#UD first on a processor without
    fault(GP, 0)                 # SEV-SNP; Zen 5 has it, though its
                                 # KVM guests' CPUID says not)
va = addr.read() & ~0xFFF        # RAX: the page's virtual address
big = size.read() & 1            # ECX bit 0: a 2-MB page
v = valid.read() & 1             # EDX bit 0: the new Validated
if not snp_active:
    eax = 0                      # SUCCESS outside an SNP-active
    cf = 1                       # guest, which changes nothing
elif vmpl > 0:
    fault(GP, 0)                 # VMPL 0 alone validates pages
elif big and va >> 12 & 0x1FF:
    eax = 1                      # FAIL_INPUT: off a 2-MB boundary
    cf = UNDEFINED
else:
    gpa = guest_pa(va)           # the guest's page tables, then the
    spa = system_pa(gpa)         # nested ones
    if not in_rmp(spa):
        vm_exit(0x400)           # #VMEXIT(NPF): no RMP entry
    r = rmp(spa)
    g = r >> 96 & 0xFFFFFFFF     # its ASID, and 2-MB page size
    s2m = r >> 72 & 1
    bad = r >> 80 & 1 or not r >> 64 & 1
    if low(r, 64) != gpa or g != asid:
        bad = 1                  # another guest's page, or another
                                 # address in it
    if s2m != npt_large(gpa):
        bad = 1                  # not the nested page's size
    if s2m and not big:
        bad = 1                  # 4 KB of a 2-MB page
    if bad:
        vm_exit(0x400)           # #VMEXIT(NPF)
    if big and not s2m:
        eax = 6                  # FAIL_SIZEMISMATCH: a 2-MB page
        cf = UNDEFINED           # that the RMP has in 4-KB pages
    else:
        cf = r >> 128 & 1 == v   # 1: Validated was so already
        r = r & ~(1 << 128)
        set_rmp(spa, r | v << 128)
        eax = 0                  # SUCCESS
of = zf = af = pf = sf = UNDEFINED

Run on AMD Zen 5 (EPYC 9645): 2 cases. Its cases ran where CPUID reported no SEV-SNP, and every one raised an exception.

Operands

What each form reads and writes, as Intel XED records it: the operands of its syntax, in order, and the implicit ones that the syntax does not name. How to read.
OperandKindAction
PVALIDATE RAX, ECX, EDX
RAXexplicitread, write
ECXexplicitread
EDXexplicitread
RFLAGSimplicitwrite

Flags

M modified; blank: not affected. How to read.
OFSFZFAFPFCF
All forms
MMMMMM

Attributes

What else XED records about the forms. How to read.

All forms
privileged: CPL 0 only

CPUID and processors

Each form belongs to an XED ISA set. A form can be used when the processor reports every CPUID bit of one of its ISA set's alternatives.

CPUID requirements and processors of the XED ISA sets above. Alternatives are separated by “or”; processors follow XED’s chip model, whose AMD processors end with Zen 2, and the CPU data of this site for Zen 3 to Zen 6.
ISA setCPUIDProcessors
SNP

SNP
CPUID.8000001FH:EAX[4] SNP

Zen 3, Zen 4, Zen 5, Zen 6

Note: Only the EPYC server processors have SEV-SNP: AMD's references for the Ryzen processors of Zen 3, Zen 4 and Zen 5 leave CPUID_Fn8000001F_EAX[SNP] (bit 4) clear.

More SEV-SNP instructions

Sources

  1. Intel XED v2026.08.23 (commit 0bcb6237345c): forms, encodings, operands, flags, exception classes, attributes, ISA sets, CPUID bits and chip model.
  2. The CPU data of x86-64.net: Zen 3 to Zen 6, from GCC’s -march feature sets and AMD’s Processor Programming References, which the page of each processor cites.
  3. AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual, Volume 3: General-Purpose and System Instructions (24594, rev. 3.36, March 2024), Wayback Machine copy of AMD's PDF
  4. AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual, Volume 2: System Programming (24593, rev. 3.42, March 2024), Wayback Machine copy of AMD's PDF

The tables are derived from Intel XED, Copyright Intel Corporation, licensed under the Apache License 2.0; x86-64.net converted and reformatted them. The text is our own.