From: Mukesh Pilaniya <mpilaniy@redhat.com>
To: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>,
Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>,
Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@arm.com>,
Huacai Chen <chenhuacai@kernel.org>,
WANG Xuerui <kernel@xen0n.name>, Paul Walmsley <pjw@kernel.org>,
Palmer Dabbelt <palmer@dabbelt.com>,
Albert Ou <aou@eecs.berkeley.edu>,
Alexandre Ghiti <alex@ghiti.fr>,
Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
Baoquan He <baoquan.he@linux.dev>,
Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>,
Pasha Tatashin <pasha.tatashin@soleen.com>,
Pratyush Yadav <pratyush@kernel.org>, Tao Liu <ltao@redhat.com>,
Philipp Rudo <prudo@redhat.com>
Cc: linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, loongarch@lists.linux.dev,
linux-riscv@lists.infradead.org, kexec@lists.infradead.org,
Mukesh Pilaniya <mpilaniy@redhat.com>,
Bradley Morgan <include@grrlz.net>
Subject: [PATCH v3 1/2] kexec: return -ENOEXEC from image probe functions on mismatch
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 19:19:57 +0530 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260821-mpilaniy-v3-1-76b355399d2e@redhat.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260821-mpilaniy-v3-0-76b355399d2e@redhat.com>
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 <mpilaniy@redhat.com>
Reviewed-by: Philipp Rudo <prudo@redhat.com>
Reviewed-by: Pratyush Yadav <pratyush@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Bradley Morgan <include@grrlz.net>
---
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;
--
Git-155)
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-08-21 13:50 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-08-21 13:49 [PATCH v3 0/2] kexec: fix probe error codes and error propagation Mukesh Pilaniya
2026-08-21 13:49 ` Mukesh Pilaniya [this message]
2026-08-24 14:07 ` [PATCH v3 1/2] kexec: return -ENOEXEC from image probe functions on mismatch Will Deacon
2026-08-25 5:13 ` Mukesh Pilaniya
2026-08-25 15:14 ` Will Deacon
2026-08-21 13:49 ` [PATCH v3 2/2] kexec: fix error propagation in kexec_image_probe_default() Mukesh Pilaniya
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20260821-mpilaniy-v3-1-76b355399d2e@redhat.com \
--to=mpilaniy@redhat.com \
--cc=akpm@linux-foundation.org \
--cc=alex@ghiti.fr \
--cc=aou@eecs.berkeley.edu \
--cc=baoquan.he@linux.dev \
--cc=catalin.marinas@arm.com \
--cc=chenhuacai@kernel.org \
--cc=include@grrlz.net \
--cc=kernel@xen0n.name \
--cc=kexec@lists.infradead.org \
--cc=linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-riscv@lists.infradead.org \
--cc=loongarch@lists.linux.dev \
--cc=ltao@redhat.com \
--cc=mark.rutland@arm.com \
--cc=palmer@dabbelt.com \
--cc=pasha.tatashin@soleen.com \
--cc=pjw@kernel.org \
--cc=pratyush@kernel.org \
--cc=prudo@redhat.com \
--cc=rppt@kernel.org \
--cc=will@kernel.org \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox