But you miss it. The "point of no return" is the call to de_thread. Or aguably anything in flush_old_exec. Once anything in the current task is modified you can't return an error. It very much does not have anything to do with brpm. It has everything to do with current. > diff --git a/fs/exec.c b/fs/exec.c > index 904199086490..7842ae661e34 100644 > --- a/fs/exec.c > +++ b/fs/exec.c > @@ -1285,7 +1285,14 @@ int flush_old_exec(struct linux_binprm * bprm) > if (retval) > goto out; > > - bprm->mm = NULL; /* We're using it now */ > + /* > + * After clearing bprm->mm (to mark that current is using the > + * prepared mm now), we are at the point of no return. If > + * anything from here on returns an error, the check in > + * search_binary_handler() will kill current (since the mm has > + * been replaced). > + */ > + bprm->mm = NULL; > > set_fs(USER_DS); > current->flags &= ~(PF_RANDOMIZE | PF_FORKNOEXEC | PF_KTHREAD | Eric