diff --git a/tools/lib/perf/cpumap.c b/tools/lib/perf/cpumap.c
index fcc47214062a..4454a5987570 100644
--- a/tools/lib/perf/cpumap.c
+++ b/tools/lib/perf/cpumap.c
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ struct perf_cpu_map *perf_cpu_map__new(const char *cpu_list)
 	while (isdigit(*cpu_list)) {
 		p = NULL;
 		start_cpu = strtoul(cpu_list, &p, 0);
-		if (start_cpu >= INT_MAX
+		if (start_cpu >= INT16_MAX
 		    || (*p != '\0' && *p != ',' && *p != '-' && *p != '\n'))
 			goto invalid;
 
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ struct perf_cpu_map *perf_cpu_map__new(const char *cpu_list)
 			p = NULL;
 			end_cpu = strtoul(cpu_list, &p, 0);
 
-			if (end_cpu >= INT_MAX || (*p != '\0' && *p != ',' && *p != '\n'))
+			if (end_cpu >= INT16_MAX || (*p != '\0' && *p != ',' && *p != '\n'))
 				goto invalid;
 
 			if (end_cpu < start_cpu)
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ struct perf_cpu_map *perf_cpu_map__new(const char *cpu_list)
 		for (; start_cpu <= end_cpu; start_cpu++) {
 			/* check for duplicates */
 			for (i = 0; i < nr_cpus; i++)
-				if (tmp_cpus[i].cpu == (int)start_cpu)
+				if (tmp_cpus[i].cpu == (int16_t)start_cpu)
 					goto invalid;
 
 			if (nr_cpus == max_entries) {
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ struct perf_cpu_map *perf_cpu_map__new(const char *cpu_list)
 					goto invalid;
 				tmp_cpus = tmp;
 			}
-			tmp_cpus[nr_cpus++].cpu = (int)start_cpu;
+			tmp_cpus[nr_cpus++].cpu = (int16_t)start_cpu;
 		}
 		if (*p)
 			++p;
diff --git a/tools/lib/perf/include/perf/cpumap.h b/tools/lib/perf/include/perf/cpumap.h
index 188a667babc6..8c1ab0f9194e 100644
--- a/tools/lib/perf/include/perf/cpumap.h
+++ b/tools/lib/perf/include/perf/cpumap.h
@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@
 
 #include <perf/core.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
 
 /** A wrapper around a CPU to avoid confusion with the perf_cpu_map's map's indices. */
 struct perf_cpu {
-	int cpu;
+	int16_t cpu;
 };
 
 struct perf_cache {
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/cpumap.c b/tools/perf/util/cpumap.c
index 5c329ad614e9..9bc5e0370234 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/cpumap.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/cpumap.c
@@ -67,19 +67,23 @@ static struct perf_cpu_map *cpu_map__from_entries(const struct perf_record_cpu_m
 	struct perf_cpu_map *map;
 
 	map = perf_cpu_map__empty_new(data->cpus_data.nr);
-	if (map) {
-		unsigned i;
+	if (!map)
+		return NULL;
 
-		for (i = 0; i < data->cpus_data.nr; i++) {
-			/*
-			 * Special treatment for -1, which is not real cpu number,
-			 * and we need to use (int) -1 to initialize map[i],
-			 * otherwise it would become 65535.
-			 */
-			if (data->cpus_data.cpu[i] == (u16) -1)
-				RC_CHK_ACCESS(map)->map[i].cpu = -1;
-			else
-				RC_CHK_ACCESS(map)->map[i].cpu = (int) data->cpus_data.cpu[i];
+	for (unsigned int i = 0; i < data->cpus_data.nr; i++) {
+		/*
+		 * Special treatment for -1, which is not real cpu number,
+		 * and we need to use (int) -1 to initialize map[i],
+		 * otherwise it would become 65535.
+		 */
+		if (data->cpus_data.cpu[i] == (u16) -1) {
+			RC_CHK_ACCESS(map)->map[i].cpu = -1;
+		} else if (data->cpus_data.cpu[i] < INT16_MAX) {
+			RC_CHK_ACCESS(map)->map[i].cpu = (int16_t) data->cpus_data.cpu[i];
+		} else {
+			pr_err("Invalid cpumap entry %u\n", data->cpus_data.cpu[i]);
+			perf_cpu_map__put(map);
+			return NULL;
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -106,8 +110,15 @@ static struct perf_cpu_map *cpu_map__from_mask(const struct perf_record_cpu_map_
 		int cpu;
 
 		perf_record_cpu_map_data__read_one_mask(data, i, local_copy);
-		for_each_set_bit(cpu, local_copy, 64)
-			RC_CHK_ACCESS(map)->map[j++].cpu = cpu + cpus_per_i;
+		for_each_set_bit(cpu, local_copy, 64) {
+			if (cpu + cpus_per_i < INT16_MAX) {
+				RC_CHK_ACCESS(map)->map[j++].cpu = cpu + cpus_per_i;
+			} else {
+				pr_err("Invalid cpumap entry %d\n", cpu + cpus_per_i);
+				perf_cpu_map__put(map);
+				return NULL;
+			}
+		}
 	}
 	return map;
 
@@ -127,8 +138,15 @@ static struct perf_cpu_map *cpu_map__from_range(const struct perf_record_cpu_map
 		RC_CHK_ACCESS(map)->map[i++].cpu = -1;
 
 	for (int cpu = data->range_cpu_data.start_cpu; cpu <= data->range_cpu_data.end_cpu;
-	     i++, cpu++)
-		RC_CHK_ACCESS(map)->map[i].cpu = cpu;
+	     i++, cpu++) {
+		if (cpu < INT16_MAX) {
+			RC_CHK_ACCESS(map)->map[i].cpu = cpu;
+		} else {
+			pr_err("Invalid cpumap entry %d\n", cpu);
+			perf_cpu_map__put(map);
+			return NULL;
+		}
+	}
 
 	return map;
 }
@@ -427,7 +445,7 @@ static void set_max_cpu_num(void)
 {
 	const char *mnt;
 	char path[PATH_MAX];
-	int ret = -1;
+	int max, ret = -1;
 
 	/* set up default */
 	max_cpu_num.cpu = 4096;
@@ -444,10 +462,12 @@ static void set_max_cpu_num(void)
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-	ret = get_max_num(path, &max_cpu_num.cpu);
+	ret = get_max_num(path, &max);
 	if (ret)
 		goto out;
 
+	max_cpu_num.cpu = max;
+
 	/* get the highest present cpu number for a sparse allocation */
 	ret = snprintf(path, PATH_MAX, "%s/devices/system/cpu/present", mnt);
 	if (ret >= PATH_MAX) {
@@ -455,8 +475,14 @@ static void set_max_cpu_num(void)
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-	ret = get_max_num(path, &max_present_cpu_num.cpu);
+	ret = get_max_num(path, &max);
 
+	if (!ret && max > INT16_MAX) {
+		pr_err("Read out of bounds max cpus of %d\n", max);
+		ret = -1;
+	}
+	if (!ret)
+		max_present_cpu_num.cpu = (int16_t)max;
 out:
 	if (ret)
 		pr_err("Failed to read max cpus, using default of %d\n", max_cpu_num.cpu);
@@ -606,7 +632,7 @@ size_t cpu_map__snprint(struct perf_cpu_map *map, char *buf, size_t size)
 #define COMMA first ? "" : ","
 
 	for (i = 0; i < perf_cpu_map__nr(map) + 1; i++) {
-		struct perf_cpu cpu = { .cpu = INT_MAX };
+		struct perf_cpu cpu = { .cpu = INT16_MAX };
 		bool last = i == perf_cpu_map__nr(map);
 
 		if (!last)
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/env.c b/tools/perf/util/env.c
index cae4f6d63318..36411749e007 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/env.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/env.c
@@ -543,7 +543,7 @@ int perf_env__numa_node(struct perf_env *env, struct perf_cpu cpu)
 
 		for (i = 0; i < env->nr_numa_nodes; i++) {
 			nn = &env->numa_nodes[i];
-			nr = max(nr, perf_cpu_map__max(nn->map).cpu);
+			nr = max(nr, (int)perf_cpu_map__max(nn->map).cpu);
 		}
 
 		nr++;