In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bootconfig: Fix integer overflow in initrd size check Sashiko reported that in get_boot_config_from_initrd(), a crafted initrd with a huge bootconfig size (such as 0xF…

Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bootconfig: Fix integer overflow in initrd size check

Sashiko reported that in get_boot_config_from_initrd(), a crafted initrd with a huge bootconfig size (such as 0xFFFFFFFF) can cause the pointer arithmetic:

data = ((void *)hdr) - size;

to wrap around on 32-bit systems (or when pointer subtraction overflows). Because data wraps around, the subsequent bounds check:

if ((unsigned long)data < initrd_start)

evaluates to false, bypassing the check. The kernel then calls xbc_calc_checksum(data, size), which attempts to read 4GB of memory, hitting unmapped pages and triggering a fatal kernel page fault during early boot. Furthermore, on 64-bit systems with an initrd > 4.29 GB, an unbounded 32-bit size can similarly bypass the initrd_start check.

Fix this by:

1. Ensuring the initrd is at least large enough to contain the bootconfig footer and verifying hdr is within the initrd bounds.
2. Checking that size does not exceed XBC_DATA_MAX and does not exceed the available space between initrd_start and hdr before performing pointer subtraction.

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

Vendor advisories

• Red Hat VEX · Low · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · updated 2026-10-17 · vex