diff --git a/senbei-crypto/src/primitives.rs b/senbei-crypto/src/primitives.rs
index 236f137..99b0774 100644
--- a/senbei-crypto/src/primitives.rs
+++ b/senbei-crypto/src/primitives.rs
@@ -382,11 +382,28 @@ pub fn calculate_checksum(d: &[u8], pos: u32) -> u32 {
 
 /// CRC32 chained checksum. The (offset, length) descriptor at `pos` is read
 /// from `d`; the bytes themselves are read from the separate `clean` buffer
-/// (the original file image). `start` is the initial CRC accumulator.
-pub fn calculate_checksum2(d: &[u8], clean: &[u8], pos: u32, start: u32) -> u32 {
+/// (the original file image). `start` is the initial CRC accumulator. Returns
+/// a range error instead of panicking when a descriptor points past `clean`.
+pub fn calculate_checksum2(
+    d: &[u8],
+    clean: &[u8],
+    pos: u32,
+    start: u32,
+) -> Result<u32, crate::Error> {
     let offset = get_u32(d, pos);
     let length = get_u32(d, pos.wrapping_add(4));
-    crc32::append(start, &clean[offset as usize..(offset + length) as usize])
+    let data_start = offset as usize;
+    let size = length as usize;
+    let end = data_start.checked_add(size);
+    let Some(end) = end.filter(|&end| end <= clean.len()) else {
+        return Err(crate::Error::BufferRangeOutOfBounds {
+            operation: crate::BufferOperation::Read,
+            offset: data_start,
+            size,
+            buffer_len: clean.len(),
+        });
+    };
+    Ok(crc32::append(start, &clean[data_start..end]))
 }
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -1095,4 +1112,22 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(decompress(&mut d, 0x40, 0x80, 0, 4, 3));
         assert_eq!(&d[0x80..0x83], &[0x5A, 0x5A, 0x5A]);
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn checksum2_rejects_source_range_outside_clean_image() {
+        let mut descriptor = [0u8; 8];
+        descriptor[0..4].copy_from_slice(&448u32.to_le_bytes());
+        descriptor[4..8].copy_from_slice(&634_432u32.to_le_bytes());
+        let clean = vec![0u8; 590_896];
+        let error = calculate_checksum2(&descriptor, &clean, 0, 0).expect_err("range must fail");
+        assert!(matches!(
+            error,
+            crate::Error::BufferRangeOutOfBounds {
+                operation: crate::BufferOperation::Read,
+                offset: 448,
+                size: 634_432,
+                buffer_len: 590_896,
+            }
+        ));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/senbei-pe/src/engine/error.rs b/senbei-pe/src/engine/error.rs
index 3e7cfa6..11ef75c 100644
--- a/senbei-pe/src/engine/error.rs
+++ b/senbei-pe/src/engine/error.rs
@@ -149,6 +149,16 @@ pub enum UnpackError {
         buffer_len: usize,
     },
 
+    #[error(
+        "EXE checksum descriptor at 0x{descriptor:08X} points outside input (offset {offset}, size {size}, input length {image_len})"
+    )]
+    ExeChecksumRangeOutOfBounds {
+        descriptor: u32,
+        offset: usize,
+        size: usize,
+        image_len: usize,
+    },
+
     #[error(
         "{table} descriptor out of bounds (offset {offset}, size 16, image length {image_len})"
     )]
diff --git a/senbei-pe/src/engine/exe/pipeline.rs b/senbei-pe/src/engine/exe/pipeline.rs
index ffcb61f..fbbf5d5 100644
--- a/senbei-pe/src/engine/exe/pipeline.rs
+++ b/senbei-pe/src/engine/exe/pipeline.rs
@@ -73,8 +73,22 @@ impl<'a> Unpacker<'a> {
     }
 
     // Strategy (a): delegate to primitives::calculate_checksum2
-    fn calculate_checksum2(&self, pos: u32, start: u32) -> u32 {
-        primitives::calculate_checksum2(&self.decompressed, self.file_data, pos, start)
+    fn calculate_checksum2(&self, pos: u32, start: u32) -> Result<u32, UnpackError> {
+        primitives::calculate_checksum2(&self.decompressed, self.file_data, pos, start).map_err(
+            |error| match error {
+                senbei_crypto::Error::BufferRangeOutOfBounds {
+                    offset,
+                    size,
+                    buffer_len,
+                    ..
+                } => UnpackError::ExeChecksumRangeOutOfBounds {
+                    descriptor: pos,
+                    offset,
+                    size,
+                    image_len: buffer_len,
+                },
+            },
+        )
     }
 
     // Strategy (a): delegate to primitives::decrypt_data1
@@ -1018,7 +1032,19 @@ impl<'a> Unpacker<'a> {
                 let n = get_u32(&u.decompressed, p.wrapping_add(4));
                 walk3 = walk3.wrapping_add(16);
                 if n != 0 {
-                    chain_crc = u.calculate_checksum2(walk3.wrapping_sub(16), chain_crc);
+                    match u.calculate_checksum2(walk3.wrapping_sub(16), chain_crc) {
+                        Ok(next) => chain_crc = next,
+                        Err(UnpackError::ExeChecksumRangeOutOfBounds { .. }) => {
+                            if verbose {
+                                println!(
+                                    "  checksum chain terminates at 0x{:08X}: descriptor payload is outside protected input",
+                                    walk3.wrapping_sub(16)
+                                );
+                            }
+                            break;
+                        }
+                        Err(error) => return Err(error),
+                    }
                 }
                 if get_u32(&u.decompressed, walk3.wrapping_sub(16).wrapping_add(4)) == 0 {
                     break;