diff --git a/src/loader/x86_64/elf/mod.rs b/src/loader/x86_64/elf/mod.rs
index 0a7c29f9..4c193902 100644
--- a/src/loader/x86_64/elf/mod.rs
+++ b/src/loader/x86_64/elf/mod.rs
@@ -236,10 +236,11 @@ impl KernelLoader for Elf {
                 .read_exact_from(mem_offset, kernel_image, phdr.p_filesz as usize)
                 .map_err(|_| Error::ReadKernelImage)?;
 
-            loader_result.kernel_end = mem_offset
+            let kernel_end = mem_offset
                 .raw_value()
                 .checked_add(phdr.p_memsz as GuestUsize)
                 .ok_or(KernelLoaderError::MemoryOverflow)?;
+            loader_result.kernel_end = std::cmp::max(loader_result.kernel_end, kernel_end);
         }
 
         // elf image has no setup_header which is defined for bzImage
@@ -291,7 +292,7 @@ where
             kernel_image
                 .read_exact(&mut buf)
                 .map_err(|_| Error::ReadNoteHeader)?;
-            if buf == [b'x', b'e', b'n', b'\0'] {
+            if buf == [b'X', b'e', b'n', b'\0'] {
                 break;
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/loader/x86_64/elf/test_badnote.bin b/src/loader/x86_64/elf/test_badnote.bin
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index cbe4cb59..99013dd5
Binary files a/src/loader/x86_64/elf/test_badnote.bin and b/src/loader/x86_64/elf/test_badnote.bin differ
diff --git a/src/loader/x86_64/elf/test_elfnote.bin b/src/loader/x86_64/elf/test_elfnote.bin
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index 36efd2d3..e2fc7faa
Binary files a/src/loader/x86_64/elf/test_elfnote.bin and b/src/loader/x86_64/elf/test_elfnote.bin differ