Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developers Manual Volume 3B, System Programming Guide Part 2

Table Of Contents
Vol. 3 20-5
VIRTUAL-MACHINE CONTROL STRUCTURES
The base address, segment limit, and access rights compose the “hidden” part
(or “descriptor cache”) of each segment register. These data are included in the
VMCS because it is possible for a segment register’s descriptor cache to be incon-
sistent with the segment descriptor in memory (in the GDT or the LDT)
referenced by the segment register’s selector.
Note that the value of the DPL field for SS is always equal to the logical
processor’s current privilege level (CPL).
1
The following fields for each of the registers GDTR and IDTR:
Base address (64 bits; 32 bits on processors that do not support Intel 64
architecture).
Limit (32 bits). The limit fields contain 32 bits even though these fields are
specified as only 16 bits in the architecture.
The following MSRs:
IA32_DEBUGCTL (64 bits)
IA32_SYSENTER_CS (32 bits)
IA32_SYSENTER_ESP and IA32_SYSENTER_EIP (64 bits; 32 bits on
processors that do not support Intel 64 architecture)
IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_CTRL (64 bits). This field is supported only on logical
processors that support the 1-setting of the “load IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_CTRL
VM-entry control.
7 P — Segment present
11:8 Reserved
12 AVL — Available for use by system software
13 Reserved (except for CS)
L — 64-bit mode active (for CS only)
14 D/B — Default operation size (0 = 16-bit segment; 1 = 32-bit segment)
15 G — Granularity
16 Segment unusable (0 = usable; 1 = unusable)
31:17 Reserved
1. In protected mode, CPL is also associated with the RPL field in the CS selector. However, the RPL
fields are not meaningful in real-address mode or in virtual-8086 mode.
Table 20-2. Format of Access Rights (Contd.)
Bit Position(s) Field