arch_check_elf(9)

✨ arch_check_elf 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual — this one's arch_check_elf(9), and it's honestly giving "final boss energy" for ELF loading 🎀

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🌸 NAME 🌸

arch_check_elf — check an ELF executable 🦋

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⭐ SYNOPSIS ⭐

int arch_check_elf (struct elfhdr *ehdr , bool has_interp , struct
       elfhdr *interp_ehdr , struct arch_elf_state *state );

like, that's the whole signature, no cap 👑

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💖 ARGUMENTS 💖

• ehdr — the main ELF header 🫶 this is the star of the show, the main character header.
• has_interp — true if the ELF has an interpreter, otherwise false. literal yes/no vibes 🙈
• interp_ehdr — the interpreter's ELF header ✨ (yes, a whole separate header, we love a guest appearance).
• state — the architecture-specific state that gets preserved the entire way through the process of loading the ELF 💜 it's literally carried through the whole journey.

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🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

so here's the tea: this is the final opportunity for architecture code to reject the loading of the ELF and cause an exec syscall to return an error 😭 like, last chance to slam the door, bestie.

timing matters — this is called after all program headers to be checked by arch_elf_pt_proc have been. so the whole header-checking era is already done and dusted by the time this function shows up 💅

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🔥 RETURN 🔥

• Zero — slay, proceed with the ELF load ✅👑
• Non-zero — the ELF load fails, and it fails with that return code specifically 💀 like it uses your number, so choose wisely.

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

• Kernel file ./fs/binfmt_elf.c — load_elf_phdrs(9) 🍓
• struct arch_elf_state(9) 🧚
• arch_elf_pt_proc(9) 💫

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and that's the whole page, bestie, you ate that 🫶 source/version: ./fs — October 2026 — arch_check_elf(9) 💖✨🎀