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BOOTCONFIG NULL POINTER FIX LANDS IN 7.2-RC1
By RepoJournal · Filed · About Linux · Composed from the cited sources · methodology
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.
Action items
- → Monitor 7.2-rc1 for any bootconfig-related regressions in your build pipeline torvalds/linux [monitor]
References
- [1] Merge tag 'bootconfig-fixes-v7.2-rc1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace torvalds/linux ↗
