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The Wire · Showcase

BOOTCONFIG NULL POINTER FIX LANDS IN 7.2-RC1

By RepoJournal · Filed · About Linux

Kernel 7.2-rc1 merges a critical bootconfig patch that stops undefined pointer arithmetic from triggering UBSan and FORTIFY_SOURCE build failures.

The fix [1] addresses a real problem in xbc_snprint_cmdline() where the bootconfig subsystem was performing pointer arithmetic on NULL with size 0 during buffer length probing. This isn't a runtime crash waiting to happen - it's an undefined behavior catch that modern toolchains (UBSan, FORTIFY_SOURCE) were already flagging at build time. The patch reworks length tracking to use size_t instead, eliminating the undefined behavior without changing the actual logic. This lands early in the rc cycle, so expect it in stable by final release.

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Action items

References

  1. [1] Merge tag 'bootconfig-fixes-v7.2-rc1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace torvalds/linux

Quick answers

What shipped in Linux on July 2, 2026?
Kernel 7.2-rc1 merges a critical bootconfig patch that stops undefined pointer arithmetic from triggering UBSan and FORTIFY_SOURCE build failures. In total, 1 commits landed.
What were the notable Linux updates?
Merge tag 'bootconfig-fixes-v7.2-rc1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace.

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