[PATCH v2 1/2] kexec: return -ENOEXEC from image probe functions on mismatch
From: Mukesh Pilaniya <hidden>
Date: 2026-08-19 17:47:47
Also in:
kexec, linux-riscv, lkml, loongarch
Subsystem:
arm64 port (aarch64 architecture), kexec, loongarch, risc-v architecture, the rest · Maintainers:
Catalin Marinas, Will Deacon, Andrew Morton, Baoquan He, Mike Rapoport, Pasha Tatashin, Pratyush Yadav, Huacai Chen, Paul Walmsley, Palmer Dabbelt, Albert Ou, Linus Torvalds
Several kexec_file_load() image probe functions return -EINVAL when they do not recognize the image format. A probe function that rejects an image should return -ENOEXEC to indicate that the image is not a recognized executable format. -EINVAL implies a problem with the syscall parameters, not with image recognition. kexec_image_probe_default() iterates through registered loaders and returns the last probe's error code to the caller. That error propagates as the kexec_file_load() return value to userspace. Returning -EINVAL from a probe when no loader matches is semantically incorrect and misleads userspace about the nature of the failure. Return -ENOEXEC from all probe functions and their helpers when the image format is not recognized. Signed-off-by: Mukesh Pilaniya <redacted> Reviewed-by: Philipp Rudo <redacted> Reviewed-by: Pratyush Yadav <pratyush@kernel.org> --- arch/arm64/kernel/kexec_image.c | 4 ++-- arch/loongarch/kernel/kexec_efi.c | 4 ++-- arch/riscv/kernel/kexec_image.c | 4 ++-- kernel/kexec_elf.c | 4 ++-- 4 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/kexec_image.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/kexec_image.c
index b70f4df15a1a..101259874d44 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/kexec_image.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/kexec_image.c@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ static int image_probe(const char *kernel_buf, unsigned long kernel_len) (const struct arm64_image_header *)(kernel_buf); if (!h || (kernel_len < sizeof(*h))) - return -EINVAL; + return -ENOEXEC; if (memcmp(&h->magic, ARM64_IMAGE_MAGIC, sizeof(h->magic))) - return -EINVAL; + return -ENOEXEC; return 0; }
diff --git a/arch/loongarch/kernel/kexec_efi.c b/arch/loongarch/kernel/kexec_efi.c
index 5ee78ebb1546..28a1d0420ba3 100644
--- a/arch/loongarch/kernel/kexec_efi.c
+++ b/arch/loongarch/kernel/kexec_efi.c@@ -24,12 +24,12 @@ static int efi_kexec_probe(const char *kernel_buf, unsigned long kernel_len) if (!h || (kernel_len < sizeof(*h))) { kexec_dprintk("No LoongArch image header.\n"); - return -EINVAL; + return -ENOEXEC; } if (!loongarch_header_check_dos_sig(h)) { kexec_dprintk("No LoongArch PE image header.\n"); - return -EINVAL; + return -ENOEXEC; } return 0;
diff --git a/arch/riscv/kernel/kexec_image.c b/arch/riscv/kernel/kexec_image.c
index 51dc89259f16..963a25f5b55b 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/kernel/kexec_image.c
+++ b/arch/riscv/kernel/kexec_image.c@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ static int image_probe(const char *kernel_buf, unsigned long kernel_len) const struct riscv_image_header *h = (const struct riscv_image_header *)kernel_buf; if (!h || kernel_len < sizeof(*h)) - return -EINVAL; + return -ENOEXEC; /* According to Documentation/arch/riscv/boot-image-header.rst, * use "magic2" field to check when version >= 0.2.
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ static int image_probe(const char *kernel_buf, unsigned long kernel_len) if (h->version >= RISCV_HEADER_VERSION && memcmp(&h->magic2, RISCV_IMAGE_MAGIC2, sizeof(h->magic2))) - return -EINVAL; + return -ENOEXEC; return 0; }
diff --git a/kernel/kexec_elf.c b/kernel/kexec_elf.c
index 3a5c25b2adc9..89a444a00693 100644
--- a/kernel/kexec_elf.c
+++ b/kernel/kexec_elf.c@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ static int elf_read_ehdr(const char *buf, size_t len, struct elfhdr *ehdr) default: pr_debug("Unknown ELF class.\n"); - return -EINVAL; + return -ENOEXEC; } return elf_is_ehdr_sane(ehdr, len) ? 0 : -ENOEXEC;
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ static int elf_read_phdr(const char *buf, size_t len, default: pr_debug("Unknown ELF class.\n"); - return -EINVAL; + return -ENOEXEC; } return elf_is_phdr_sane(phdr, len) ? 0 : -ENOEXEC;
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