[PATCH 3/3] bootconfig: Skip internal tree sanity checks in kernel

From: Masami Hiramatsu (Google)

Date: Wed Sep 09 2026 - 12:37:44 EST


From: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@xxxxxxxxxx>

In xbc_verify_tree(), the loop iterating through all nodes to check that
xbc_nodes[i].next < xbc_node_num and xbc_nodes[i].child < xbc_node_num
is a defensive sanity check against implementation regressions (such
an out-of-bounds index cannot be produced by malformed input).

Running this check in the kernel adds unnecessary boot-time overhead.
Split this check out into xbc_sanity_check_tree() for userspace, so
that it continues to run during userspace bootconfig validation (e.g.
when applying or testing bootconfig with tools/bootconfig), but is
omitted in the kernel to speed up initialization.

Reported-by: Sang-Heon Jeon <ekffu200098@xxxxxxxxx>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260905141637.1547429-1-ekffu200098@xxxxxxxxx/
Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
lib/bootconfig.c | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
1 file changed, 26 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/bootconfig.c b/lib/bootconfig.c
index 0ec2874db9c7..884f186b1989 100644
--- a/lib/bootconfig.c
+++ b/lib/bootconfig.c
@@ -1000,9 +1000,30 @@ static int __init xbc_close_brace(char **k, char *n)
return __xbc_close_brace(n - 1);
}

+#ifndef __KERNEL__
+/* Sanity check for regression: node indices must be within bounds */
+static int __init xbc_sanity_check_tree(void)
+{
+ int i;
+
+ for (i = 0; i < xbc_node_num; i++) {
+ if (xbc_nodes[i].next >= xbc_node_num) {
+ return xbc_parse_error("No closing brace",
+ xbc_node_get_data(xbc_nodes + i));
+ }
+ if (xbc_nodes[i].child >= xbc_node_num) {
+ return xbc_parse_error("Broken child node",
+ xbc_node_get_data(xbc_nodes + i));
+ }
+ }
+
+ return 0;
+}
+#endif
+
static int __init xbc_verify_tree(void)
{
- int i, depth;
+ int depth;
size_t len, wlen;
struct xbc_node *n, *m;

@@ -1019,17 +1040,6 @@ static int __init xbc_verify_tree(void)
return -ENOENT;
}

- for (i = 0; i < xbc_node_num; i++) {
- if (xbc_nodes[i].next >= xbc_node_num) {
- return xbc_parse_error("No closing brace",
- xbc_node_get_data(xbc_nodes + i));
- }
- if (xbc_nodes[i].child >= xbc_node_num) {
- return xbc_parse_error("Broken child node",
- xbc_node_get_data(xbc_nodes + i));
- }
- }
-
/* Key tree limitation check */
n = &xbc_nodes[0];
depth = 1;
@@ -1199,6 +1209,10 @@ int __init xbc_init(const char *data, size_t size, const char **emsg, int *epos)
ret = xbc_parse_tree();
if (!ret)
ret = xbc_verify_tree();
+#ifndef __KERNEL__
+ if (!ret)
+ ret = xbc_sanity_check_tree();
+#endif

if (ret < 0) {
if (epos)