diff --git a/init/initramfs.c b/init/initramfs.c
index bf9664fdd8fe..20a18fcda48e 100644
--- a/init/initramfs.c
+++ b/init/initramfs.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include <linux/fcntl.h>
 #include <linux/file.h>
 #include <linux/fs.h>
+#include <linux/hex.h>
 #include <linux/init.h>
 #include <linux/init_syscalls.h>
 #include <linux/kstrtox.h>
@@ -21,6 +22,8 @@
 #include <linux/umh.h>
 #include <linux/utime.h>
 
+#include <asm/byteorder.h>
+
 #include "do_mounts.h"
 #include "initramfs_internal.h"
 
@@ -190,26 +193,30 @@ static __initdata gid_t gid;
 static __initdata unsigned rdev;
 static __initdata u32 hdr_csum;
 
-static void __init parse_header(char *s)
+static int __init parse_header(char *s)
 {
-	unsigned long parsed[13];
-	int i;
+	__be32 header[13];
+	int ret;
 
-	for (i = 0, s += 6; i < 13; i++, s += 8)
-		parsed[i] = simple_strntoul(s, NULL, 16, 8);
+	ret = hex2bin((u8 *)header, s + 6, sizeof(header));
+	if (ret) {
+		error("damaged header");
+		return ret;
+	}
 
-	ino = parsed[0];
-	mode = parsed[1];
-	uid = parsed[2];
-	gid = parsed[3];
-	nlink = parsed[4];
-	mtime = parsed[5]; /* breaks in y2106 */
-	body_len = parsed[6];
-	major = parsed[7];
-	minor = parsed[8];
-	rdev = new_encode_dev(MKDEV(parsed[9], parsed[10]));
-	name_len = parsed[11];
-	hdr_csum = parsed[12];
+	ino = be32_to_cpu(header[0]);
+	mode = be32_to_cpu(header[1]);
+	uid = be32_to_cpu(header[2]);
+	gid = be32_to_cpu(header[3]);
+	nlink = be32_to_cpu(header[4]);
+	mtime = be32_to_cpu(header[5]); /* breaks in y2106 */
+	body_len = be32_to_cpu(header[6]);
+	major = be32_to_cpu(header[7]);
+	minor = be32_to_cpu(header[8]);
+	rdev = new_encode_dev(MKDEV(be32_to_cpu(header[9]), be32_to_cpu(header[10])));
+	name_len = be32_to_cpu(header[11]);
+	hdr_csum = be32_to_cpu(header[12]);
+	return 0;
 }
 
 /* Finite-state machine */
@@ -289,7 +296,8 @@ static int __init do_header(void)
 			error("no cpio magic");
 		return 1;
 	}
-	parse_header(collected);
+	if (parse_header(collected))
+		return 1;
 	next_header = this_header + N_ALIGN(name_len) + body_len;
 	next_header = (next_header + 3) & ~3;
 	state = SkipIt;
diff --git a/init/initramfs_test.c b/init/initramfs_test.c
index b9f83dc194aa..8a0ddc2db2c0 100644
--- a/init/initramfs_test.c
+++ b/init/initramfs_test.c
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ struct initramfs_test_cpio {
 #define CPIO_HDR_FMT "%s%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%s"
 /*
  * Bogus newc header with "0x" prefixes on the uid, gid, and namesize values.
- * parse_header()/simple_str[n]toul() accept this, contrary to the initramfs
- * specification.
+ * parse_header()/simple_str[n]toul() accepted this, contrary to the initramfs
+ * specification. hex2bin() now fails.
  */
 #define CPIO_HDR_OX_INJECT \
 	"%s%08x%08x0x%06x0X%06x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x0x%06x%08x%s"
@@ -508,8 +508,7 @@ static void __init initramfs_test_hdr_hex(struct kunit *test)
 {
 	char *err;
 	size_t len;
-	struct kstat st0 = {}, st1 = {};
-	char fdata[] = "this file data will be unpacked";
+	char fdata[] = "this file data will not be unpacked";
 	struct initramfs_test_bufs {
 		char cpio_src[(CPIO_HDRLEN + PATH_MAX + 3 + sizeof(fdata)) * 2];
 	} *tbufs = kzalloc(sizeof(struct initramfs_test_bufs), GFP_KERNEL);
@@ -539,22 +538,7 @@ static void __init initramfs_test_hdr_hex(struct kunit *test)
 	len = fill_cpio(c, ARRAY_SIZE(c), true, tbufs->cpio_src);
 
 	err = unpack_to_rootfs(tbufs->cpio_src, len);
-	KUNIT_EXPECT_NULL(test, err);
-
-	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, init_stat(c[0].fname, &st0, 0), 0);
-	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, init_stat(c[1].fname, &st1, 0), 0);
-
-	KUNIT_EXPECT_TRUE(test,
-		uid_eq(st0.uid, make_kuid(current_user_ns(), (uid_t)0x123456)));
-	KUNIT_EXPECT_TRUE(test,
-		gid_eq(st0.gid, make_kgid(current_user_ns(), (gid_t)0x123457)));
-	KUNIT_EXPECT_TRUE(test,
-		uid_eq(st1.uid, make_kuid(current_user_ns(), (uid_t)0x56)));
-	KUNIT_EXPECT_TRUE(test,
-		gid_eq(st1.gid, make_kgid(current_user_ns(), (gid_t)0x57)));
-
-	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, init_unlink(c[0].fname), 0);
-	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, init_rmdir(c[1].fname), 0);
+	KUNIT_EXPECT_NOT_NULL(test, err);
 
 	kfree(tbufs);
 }