CVE-2026-97906bootconfig: Fix integer overflow in initrd size check

Official description

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.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Affected products (as reported)

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/97be05f33f79342ea65d9b99c9ad07a93b8eef5a
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4d45bc0f8cdf606d5409b5f64a8a6609f6520c03
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8d4343a411eaa182d323ab5b149496416015f27d
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bff9a1579e2c9b2a59fdf3793becc9d7bf5ff1a6
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7812d6dab0698001e50e8c2f901e17da3eb6f429