virtual: 0.956
graphic: 0.952
kernel: 0.951
boot: 0.918
performance: 0.916
files: 0.904
device: 0.903
architecture: 0.902
arm: 0.876
ppc: 0.873
vnc: 0.871
peripherals: 0.853
PID: 0.847
network: 0.832
VMM: 0.829
x86: 0.814
TCG: 0.805
risc-v: 0.782
permissions: 0.772
user-level: 0.765
semantic: 0.752
socket: 0.734
hypervisor: 0.728
assembly: 0.694
register: 0.684
mistranslation: 0.673
KVM: 0.645
debug: 0.581
i386: 0.422

kernel panic using hvf with CPU passthrough

Host Details
QEMU 5.1 (Homebrew)
macOS 10.15.6 Catalina
Late 2014 model
i5-4690 @ 3.5 GHz
8 GB RAM

Guest Details
Ubuntu Desktop 20.04.1 Installer ISO

Problem
Whenever I boot with "-accel hvf -cpu host", the Ubuntu desktop installer will immediately crash with a kernel panic after the initial splash screen.
See the attached picture of the kernel panic for more details.

Steps to recreate
From https://www.jwillikers.com/posts/virtualize_ubuntu_desktop_on_macos_with_qemu/

1. Install QEMU with Homebrew.
$ brew install qemu

2. Create a qcow2 disk image to which to install.
$ qemu-img create -f qcow2 ubuntu2004.qcow2 60G

3. Download the ISO.
$ curl -L -o ubuntu-20.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04/ubuntu-20.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso

4. Run the installer in QEMU.
$ qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -accel hvf \
  -cpu host \
  -smp 2 \
  -m 4G \
  -usb \
  -device usb-tablet \
  -vga virtio \
  -display default,show-cursor=on \
  -device virtio-net,netdev=vmnic -netdev user,id=vmnic \
  -audiodev coreaudio,id=snd0 \
  -device ich9-intel-hda -device hda-output,audiodev=snd0 \
  -cdrom ubuntu-20.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso \
  -drive file=ubuntu2004.qcow2,if=virtio

Workaround
Emulating the CPU with "-cpu qemu64" does not result in a kernel panic.



0f 01 f9 is RDTSCP; use -cpu host,-rdtscp to mask out the feature. KVM couldn't pass the feature through for a while, and HVF currently can't, though HVF should be modified to automatically hide the feature until it can emulate it.

Thanks for the response Jessica! The option you provided fixes the problem and everything works flawlessly now. Thank you!!

Fixed in commit 65baabca22366e5246955474228908d6a8354881