diff --git a/NOFORK_NOEXEC.lst b/NOFORK_NOEXEC.lst
index d54c206fe..981a10192 100644
--- a/NOFORK_NOEXEC.lst
+++ b/NOFORK_NOEXEC.lst
@@ -123,10 +123,10 @@ fgconsole - noexec. leaks: get_console_fd_or_die() may open a new fd, or return
 fgrep - longterm runner ("CMD | fgrep ..."  may run indefinitely, better to exec to conserve memory)
 find - noexec. runner
 findfs - suid
-flash_eraseall
-flash_lock
-flash_unlock
-flashcp - needs ^C. flash writing may be slow, better to free memory by execing
+flash_eraseall - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
+flash_lock - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
+flash_unlock - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
+flashcp - needs ^C. could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
 flock - spawner, changes state (file locks), let's play safe and not be noexec
 fold - noexec. runner
 free - nofork candidate(struct globals, needs to close /proc/meminfo fd)
@@ -366,13 +366,13 @@ tty - NOFORK
 ttysize - NOFORK
 tunctl - noexec
 tune2fs - noexec. leaks: open+xfunc
-ubiattach
-ubidetach
-ubimkvol
-ubirename
-ubirmvol
-ubirsvol
-ubiupdatevol
+ubiattach - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
+ubidetach - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
+ubimkvol - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
+ubirename - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
+ubirmvol - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
+ubirsvol - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
+ubiupdatevol - could be noexec, but I feel flash ops are risky (prone to hw/fw/sw bugs)
 udhcpc - daemon
 udhcpd - daemon
 udpsvd - daemon
diff --git a/libbb/ubi.c b/libbb/ubi.c
index 34595d797..a90016acf 100644
--- a/libbb/ubi.c
+++ b/libbb/ubi.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ int FAST_FUNC ubi_get_volid_by_name(unsigned ubi_devnum, const char *vol_name)
 		if (open_read_close(fname, buf, sizeof(buf)) <= 0)
 			continue;
 
+		buf[UBI_MAX_VOLUME_NAME] = '\0';
 		strchrnul(buf, '\n')[0] = '\0';
 		if (strcmp(vol_name, buf) == 0)
 			return i;
diff --git a/miscutils/flash_eraseall.c b/miscutils/flash_eraseall.c
index af9ebea24..3ddd9dd99 100644
--- a/miscutils/flash_eraseall.c
+++ b/miscutils/flash_eraseall.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 //config:	This utility is used to erase the whole MTD device.
 
 //applet:IF_FLASH_ERASEALL(APPLET(flash_eraseall, BB_DIR_USR_SBIN, BB_SUID_DROP))
+/* not NOEXEC: if flash operation stalls, use less memory in "hung" process */
 
 //kbuild:lib-$(CONFIG_FLASH_ERASEALL) += flash_eraseall.o
 
diff --git a/miscutils/flash_lock_unlock.c b/miscutils/flash_lock_unlock.c
index 374eed5f6..6f2c049f4 100644
--- a/miscutils/flash_lock_unlock.c
+++ b/miscutils/flash_lock_unlock.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 //                       APPLET_ODDNAME:name          main               location         suid_type     help
 //applet:IF_FLASH_LOCK(  APPLET_ODDNAME(flash_lock,   flash_lock_unlock, BB_DIR_USR_SBIN, BB_SUID_DROP, flash_lock))
 //applet:IF_FLASH_UNLOCK(APPLET_ODDNAME(flash_unlock, flash_lock_unlock, BB_DIR_USR_SBIN, BB_SUID_DROP, flash_unlock))
+/* not NOEXEC: if flash operation stalls, use less memory in "hung" process */
 
 //kbuild:lib-$(CONFIG_FLASH_LOCK) += flash_lock_unlock.o
 //kbuild:lib-$(CONFIG_FLASH_UNLOCK) += flash_lock_unlock.o
diff --git a/miscutils/flashcp.c b/miscutils/flashcp.c
index d4ac62df4..c10b96ee8 100644
--- a/miscutils/flashcp.c
+++ b/miscutils/flashcp.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 //config:	This utility is used to copy images into a MTD device.
 
 //applet:IF_FLASHCP(APPLET(flashcp, BB_DIR_USR_SBIN, BB_SUID_DROP))
+/* not NOEXEC: if flash operation stalls, use less memory in "hung" process */
 
 //kbuild:lib-$(CONFIG_FLASHCP) += flashcp.o
 
diff --git a/miscutils/ubi_tools.c b/miscutils/ubi_tools.c
index 494718ccf..123551e94 100644
--- a/miscutils/ubi_tools.c
+++ b/miscutils/ubi_tools.c
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
 //applet:IF_UBIRMVOL(    APPLET_ODDNAME(ubirmvol,  ubi_tools, BB_DIR_USR_SBIN, BB_SUID_DROP, ubirmvol))
 //applet:IF_UBIRSVOL(    APPLET_ODDNAME(ubirsvol,  ubi_tools, BB_DIR_USR_SBIN, BB_SUID_DROP, ubirsvol))
 //applet:IF_UBIUPDATEVOL(APPLET_ODDNAME(ubiupdatevol, ubi_tools, BB_DIR_USR_SBIN, BB_SUID_DROP, ubiupdatevol))
+/* not NOEXEC: if flash operation stalls, use less memory in "hung" process */
 
 //kbuild:lib-$(CONFIG_UBIATTACH) += ubi_tools.o
 //kbuild:lib-$(CONFIG_UBIDETACH) += ubi_tools.o
@@ -83,16 +84,16 @@
 #define do_rsvol  (ENABLE_UBIRSVOL     && (UBI_APPLET_CNT == 1 || applet_name[4] == 's'))
 #define do_update (ENABLE_UBIUPDATEVOL && (UBI_APPLET_CNT == 1 || applet_name[4] == 'p'))
 
-static unsigned get_num_from_file(const char *path, unsigned max, const char *errmsg)
+static unsigned get_num_from_file(const char *path, unsigned max)
 {
 	char buf[sizeof(long long)*3];
 	unsigned long long num;
 
 	if (open_read_close(path, buf, sizeof(buf)) < 0)
-		bb_perror_msg_and_die(errmsg, path);
+		bb_perror_msg_and_die("can't open '%s'", path);
 	/* It can be \n terminated, xatoull won't work well */
 	if (sscanf(buf, "%llu", &num) != 1 || num > max)
-		bb_error_msg_and_die(errmsg, path);
+		bb_error_msg_and_die("number in '%s' is malformed or too large", path);
 	return num;
 }
 
@@ -226,10 +227,10 @@ int ubi_tools_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 			p = path_sys_class_ubi_ubi + sprintf(path_sys_class_ubi_ubi, "%u/", num);
 
 			strcpy(p, "avail_eraseblocks");
-			leb_avail = get_num_from_file(path, UINT_MAX, "Can't get available eraseblocks from '%s'");
+			leb_avail = get_num_from_file(path, UINT_MAX);
 
 			strcpy(p, "eraseblock_size");
-			leb_size = get_num_from_file(path, MAX_SANE_ERASEBLOCK, "Can't get eraseblock size from '%s'");
+			leb_size = get_num_from_file(path, MAX_SANE_ERASEBLOCK);
 
 			size_bytes = leb_avail * (unsigned long long)leb_size;
 			//if (size_bytes <= 0)
@@ -241,16 +242,19 @@ int ubi_tools_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 		if (!(opts & OPTION_N))
 			bb_error_msg_and_die("name not specified");
 
+		/* the structure is memset(0) above */
 		mkvol_req.vol_id = vol_id;
 		mkvol_req.vol_type = UBI_DYNAMIC_VOLUME;
 		if ((opts & OPTION_t) && type[0] == 's')
 			mkvol_req.vol_type = UBI_STATIC_VOLUME;
 		mkvol_req.alignment = alignment;
 		mkvol_req.bytes = size_bytes; /* signed int64_t */
-		strncpy(mkvol_req.name, vol_name, UBI_MAX_VOLUME_NAME);
-		mkvol_req.name_len = strlen(vol_name);
+		/* strnlen avoids overflow of 16-bit field (paranoia) */
+		mkvol_req.name_len = strnlen(vol_name, UBI_MAX_VOLUME_NAME+1);
 		if (mkvol_req.name_len > UBI_MAX_VOLUME_NAME)
 			bb_error_msg_and_die("volume name too long: '%s'", vol_name);
+		/* this is safe: .name[] is UBI_MAX_VOLUME_NAME+1 bytes */
+		strcpy(mkvol_req.name, vol_name);
 
 		xioctl(fd, UBI_IOCMKVOL, &mkvol_req);
 	} else
@@ -315,38 +319,49 @@ int ubi_tools_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 		else {
 			unsigned ubinum, volnum;
 			unsigned leb_size;
-			ssize_t len;
-			char *input_data;
+			char *buf;
 
 			/* Assume that device is in normal format. */
 			/* Removes need for scanning sysfs tree as full libubi does. */
 			if (sscanf(ubi_ctrl, "/dev/ubi%u_%u", &ubinum, &volnum) != 2)
-				bb_error_msg_and_die("wrong format of UBI device name");
+				bb_error_msg_and_die("UBI device name '%s' is not /dev/ubiN_M", ubi_ctrl);
 
 			sprintf(path_sys_class_ubi_ubi, "%u_%u/usable_eb_size", ubinum, volnum);
-			leb_size = get_num_from_file(path, MAX_SANE_ERASEBLOCK, "Can't get usable eraseblock size from '%s'");
+			leb_size = get_num_from_file(path, MAX_SANE_ERASEBLOCK);
 
-			if (!(opts & OPTION_t)) {
-				if (!*argv)
-					bb_show_usage();
+			if (!*argv)
+				bb_show_usage();
+			if (NOT_LONE_DASH(*argv)) /* mtd-utils supports "-" as stdin */
 				xmove_fd(xopen(*argv, O_RDONLY), STDIN_FILENO);
-				if (!(opts & OPTION_s)) {
-					struct stat st;
-					xfstat(STDIN_FILENO, &st, *argv);
-					size_bytes = st.st_size;
-				}
+
+			if (!(opts & OPTION_s)) {
+				struct stat st;
+				xfstat(STDIN_FILENO, &st, *argv);
+				size_bytes = st.st_size;
 			}
 
 			bytes64 = size_bytes;
 			/* this ioctl expects signed int64_t* parameter */
 			xioctl(fd, UBI_IOCVOLUP, &bytes64);
 
-			input_data = xmalloc(leb_size);
-			while ((len = full_read(STDIN_FILENO, input_data, leb_size)) > 0) {
-				xwrite(fd, input_data, len);
+			/* can't use bb_copyfd_exact_size(): copy in blocks of exactly leb_size */
+			buf = xmalloc(leb_size);
+			while (size_bytes != 0) {
+				int len = full_read(STDIN_FILENO, buf, leb_size);
+				if (len <= 0) {
+					if (len < 0)
+						bb_perror_msg_and_die("read error from '%s'", *argv);
+					break;
+				}
+				if ((unsigned)len > size_bytes) {
+					/* for this case: "ubiupdatevol -s 1024000 $UBIDEV /dev/urandom" */
+					len = size_bytes;
+				}
+				xwrite(fd, buf, len);
+				size_bytes -= len;
 			}
-			if (len < 0)
-				bb_perror_msg_and_die("UBI volume update failed");
+			if (ENABLE_FEATURE_CLEAN_UP)
+				free(buf);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/miscutils/ubirename.c b/miscutils/ubirename.c
index 786c4b9fa..ecc8fe137 100644
--- a/miscutils/ubirename.c
+++ b/miscutils/ubirename.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 //config:	Utility to rename UBI volumes
 
 //applet:IF_UBIRENAME(APPLET(ubirename, BB_DIR_USR_SBIN, BB_SUID_DROP))
+/* not NOEXEC: if flash operation stalls, use less memory in "hung" process */
 
 //kbuild:lib-$(CONFIG_UBIRENAME) += ubirename.o
 
@@ -80,9 +81,12 @@ int ubirename_main(int argc, char **argv)
 	argv += 2;
 	while (argv[0]) {
 		rnvol->ents[n].vol_id = ubi_get_volid_by_name(ubi_devnum, argv[0]);
-		rnvol->ents[n].name_len = strlen(argv[1]);
+
+		/* strnlen avoids overflow of 16-bit field (paranoia) */
+		rnvol->ents[n].name_len = strnlen(argv[1], sizeof(rnvol->ents[n].name));
 		if (rnvol->ents[n].name_len >= sizeof(rnvol->ents[n].name))
 			bb_error_msg_and_die("new name '%s' is too long", argv[1]);
+
 		strcpy(rnvol->ents[n].name, argv[1]);
 		n++;
 		argv += 2;