diff -urN 2.0.38/net/ipv4/ip_output.c 2.0.38-ping-R/net/ipv4/ip_output.c
--- 2.0.38/net/ipv4/ip_output.c	Thu Jun 18 23:48:22 1998
+++ 2.0.38-ping-R/net/ipv4/ip_output.c	Tue Dec 14 23:02:43 1999
@@ -703,7 +703,13 @@
 
 	if (!sk->ip_hdrincl) {
 		length += sizeof(struct iphdr);
-		if(opt) length += opt->optlen;
+		if(opt)
+		{
+			/* make sure to not exceed the max packet size */
+			if (0xffff-length < opt->optlen)
+				return -EMSGSIZE;
+			length += opt->optlen;
+		}
 	}
 
 	if(length <= dev->mtu && !MULTICAST(daddr) && daddr!=0xFFFFFFFF && daddr!=dev->pa_brdaddr)