[PATCH v3 1/2] kexec: return -ENOEXEC from image probe functions on mismatch

[Will Deacon]

On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 07:19:57PM +0530, Mukesh Pilaniya wrote:
> 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 at redhat.com>
> Reviewed-by: Philipp Rudo <prudo at redhat.com>
> Reviewed-by: Pratyush Yadav <pratyush at kernel.org>
> Reviewed-by: Bradley Morgan <include at 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(-)

Hmm, so after this patch, are there actually any implementations of .probe()
that return anything other than 0 or -ENOEXEC? I couldn't spot any after
a quick look.

Will