[PATCH 3/4] kconfig: check for hex and int mismatches

From: Julian Braha

Date: Sat Aug 29 2026 - 13:20:55 EST


Using a numeric option of one type (e.g. 'int') to determine the value of
a different numeric type (e.g. 'hex') currently fails silently in various
ways if attempted, because the underlying string representation is naively
reused.

Example 1:

config I
int
default -1

config HEX_DEFAULT_INT
hex
default I

Here, HEX_DEFAULT_INT actually gets set to '0x-1', which is of course not
a valid hex value.

Example 2:

config H
hex
default A

config INT_DEFAULT_HEX
int
default H

Here, INT_DEFAULT_HEX actually gets set to 'A', without even converting
into the base-10 equivalent of 10. This value, 'A', is otherwise a
rejected int value if entered in the frontend, or read in from an existing
.config file.

These int-hex mismatches currently do not appear anywhere in the tree, so
it is already safe to make these error out.

Assisted-by: Codex:gpt-5.6-sol
Signed-off-by: Julian Braha <julianbraha@xxxxxxxxx>
---
scripts/kconfig/menu.c | 2 +-
.../kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/Kconfig | 38 +++++++++++++++++++
.../tests/err_num_mismatch/__init__.py | 9 +++++
.../tests/err_num_mismatch/expected_stderr | 4 ++
4 files changed, 52 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/Kconfig
create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/__init__.py
create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/expected_stderr

diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/menu.c b/scripts/kconfig/menu.c
index ede791a2fe1b..2d8b0c65ce1e 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/menu.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/menu.c
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ static int menu_validate_number(struct symbol *sym, struct symbol *sym2,
if (sym->type != S_INT && sym->type != S_HEX)
return 0;

- if (sym2->type == S_INT || sym2->type == S_HEX)
+ if (sym2->type == sym->type)
return 0;

if (sym2->type != S_UNKNOWN ||
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/Kconfig b/scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/Kconfig
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8406f3bb6419
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/Kconfig
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+# Test 'int' and 'hex' symbols that reference each other
+
+config INT_SOURCE
+ int
+
+config HEX_SOURCE
+ hex
+
+# 'hex' reference from 'int'
+
+config INT_DEFAULT_HEX
+ int
+ default HEX_SOURCE
+
+config INT_RANGE_HEX
+ int
+ range HEX_SOURCE 1
+
+# A hex symbol must not reference an int symbol
+
+config HEX_DEFAULT_INT
+ hex
+ default INT_SOURCE
+
+config HEX_RANGE_INT
+ hex
+ range INT_SOURCE 0x1
+
+# Referencing the same type is valid
+
+config INT_FROM_INT
+ int
+ default INT_SOURCE
+
+config HEX_FROM_HEX
+ hex
+ range 0 HEX_SOURCE
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/__init__.py b/scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..275f2a6e9a5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+"""
+Reject direct references ('default' or 'range') between int and hex options.
+"""
+
+
+def test(conf):
+ assert conf.olddefconfig() == 1
+ assert conf.stderr_matches('expected_stderr')
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/expected_stderr b/scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/expected_stderr
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..587c34467ae6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/tests/err_num_mismatch/expected_stderr
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Kconfig:14: error: 'HEX_SOURCE' is an invalid value for 'integer'
+Kconfig:18: error: 'HEX_SOURCE' is an invalid value for 'integer'
+Kconfig:24: error: 'INT_SOURCE' is an invalid value for 'hex'
+Kconfig:28: error: 'INT_SOURCE' is an invalid value for 'hex'
--
2.55.0