diff --git a/components/esp_driver_bitscrambler/include/driver/bitscrambler.h b/components/esp_driver_bitscrambler/include/driver/bitscrambler.h
index 00b4841981e..72dfaaf8d45 100644
--- a/components/esp_driver_bitscrambler/include/driver/bitscrambler.h
+++ b/components/esp_driver_bitscrambler/include/driver/bitscrambler.h
@@ -73,6 +73,11 @@ void bitscrambler_free(bitscrambler_handle_t handle);
 /**
  * @brief Load a BitScrambler binary program into BitScrambler memory
  *
+ * @note The program blob is expected to come from a trusted BitScrambler assembler
+ *       output. This API validates the header fields against hardware limits, but it
+ *       does not take an explicit blob length and therefore cannot verify that an
+ *       arbitrary caller-supplied buffer is complete.
+ *
  * @param handle BitScrambler handle
  * @param program Binary program to load
  *
diff --git a/components/esp_driver_bitscrambler/src/bitscrambler.c b/components/esp_driver_bitscrambler/src/bitscrambler.c
index e5ede7cdb5c..c4433673fe9 100644
--- a/components/esp_driver_bitscrambler/src/bitscrambler.c
+++ b/components/esp_driver_bitscrambler/src/bitscrambler.c
@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@ static const char *TAG = "bitscrambler";
 
 #define BITSCRAMBLER_BINARY_VER 1 //max version we're compatible with
 #define BITSCRAMBLER_HW_REV 0
-// LUT index register is 11 bits wide, so the LUT address space is 2048 bytes.
-#define BITSCRAMBLER_LUT_MAX_BYTES (1U << 11)
+#define BITSCRAMBLER_MAX_LUT_WORDS (BITSCRAMBLER_LL_LUT_MAX_BYTES / sizeof(uint32_t))
 
 // After a reset, it can take a few cycles for the BitScrambler to actually be
 // reset. We check this many times for this; if it takes longer the hardware
@@ -58,6 +57,9 @@ typedef struct {
 } bitscrambler_program_hdr_t;
 
 #define INST_LEN_WORDS BITSCRAMBLER_LL_INST_LEN_WORDS
+#define BITSCRAMBLER_V1_HDR_LEN_WORDS (sizeof(bitscrambler_program_hdr_t) / sizeof(uint32_t))
+
+_Static_assert(sizeof(bitscrambler_program_hdr_t) % sizeof(uint32_t) == 0, "bitscrambler program header must be word aligned");
 
 // For now, hardware only has one TX and on RX unit. Need to make this more flexible if we get
 // non-specific and/or more channels.
@@ -193,7 +195,7 @@ esp_err_t bitscrambler_load_program(bitscrambler_handle_t bs, const void *progra
 
     //Parse the program header. There are two versions, V0 is generated by the C assembler while
     //v1 is generated by the Python assembler.
-    int inst_len_bytes = INST_LEN_WORDS * sizeof(uint32_t); //note this is different for v1 and v0
+    size_t inst_len_bytes = INST_LEN_WORDS * sizeof(uint32_t); //note this is different for v1 and v0
     memcpy(&hdr, program_bin, sizeof(bitscrambler_program_hdr_t));
     if (hdr.version != BITSCRAMBLER_BINARY_VER) {
         ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Bitscrambler binary version %d not supported!", hdr.version);
@@ -203,12 +205,29 @@ esp_err_t bitscrambler_load_program(bitscrambler_handle_t bs, const void *progra
         ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Bitscrambler hardware rev %d not supported!", hdr.hw_rev);
         return ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG;
     }
+    if (hdr.hdr_len != BITSCRAMBLER_V1_HDR_LEN_WORDS) {
+        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Bitscrambler header length %d not supported!", hdr.hdr_len);
+        return ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG;
+    }
+    if (hdr.inst_ct > BITSCRAMBLER_LL_MAX_INST) {
+        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Bitscrambler instruction count %d exceeds hardware limit!", hdr.inst_ct);
+        return ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG;
+    }
+    if (hdr.lut_word_ct > BITSCRAMBLER_MAX_LUT_WORDS) {
+        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Bitscrambler LUT size %d words exceeds hardware limit!", hdr.lut_word_ct);
+        return ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG;
+    }
+    if (hdr.lut_width > BITSCRAMBLER_LUT_WIDTH_32BIT) {
+        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Bitscrambler LUT width %d not supported!", hdr.lut_width);
+        return ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG;
+    }
 
     bitscrambler_ll_set_state(bs->hw, bs->cfg.dir, BITSCRAMBLER_SET_STATE_HALT);
 
     //Load the program
     const uint8_t *p = (const uint8_t*)program_bin;
-    p += hdr.hdr_len * sizeof(uint32_t); //skip header
+    size_t header_size_bytes = hdr.hdr_len * sizeof(uint32_t);
+    p += header_size_bytes; //skip header
     uint32_t instr[INST_LEN_WORDS];
     for (int inst = 0; inst < hdr.inst_ct; inst++) {
         //v0 doesn't have the words 32-bit aligned, so memcpy to work around that
@@ -222,9 +241,10 @@ esp_err_t bitscrambler_load_program(bitscrambler_handle_t bs, const void *progra
     ESP_LOGD(TAG, "Loaded %d instructions", hdr.inst_ct);
     //Load the LUT.
     bitscrambler_ll_set_lut_width(bs->hw, bs->cfg.dir, BITSCRAMBLER_LUT_WIDTH_32BIT);
-    uint32_t *lut = (uint32_t*)p;
     for (int w = 0; w < hdr.lut_word_ct; w++) {
-        bitscrambler_ll_lutmem_write(bs->hw, bs->cfg.dir, w, lut[w]);
+        uint32_t lut_word;
+        memcpy(&lut_word, p + (w * sizeof(lut_word)), sizeof(lut_word));
+        bitscrambler_ll_lutmem_write(bs->hw, bs->cfg.dir, w, lut_word);
     }
 
     //Set options from header
@@ -249,7 +269,7 @@ esp_err_t bitscrambler_load_lut(bitscrambler_handle_t handle, void *lut, size_t
     if (!handle || !lut) {
         return ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG;
     }
-    if (size_bytes > BITSCRAMBLER_LUT_MAX_BYTES) {
+    if (size_bytes > BITSCRAMBLER_LL_LUT_MAX_BYTES) {
         return ESP_ERR_INVALID_SIZE;
     }
     const uint8_t *lut_bytes = (const uint8_t *)lut;
diff --git a/components/hal/esp32c5/include/hal/bitscrambler_ll.h b/components/hal/esp32c5/include/hal/bitscrambler_ll.h
index 7c8706a776d..e9c1b6347e5 100644
--- a/components/hal/esp32c5/include/hal/bitscrambler_ll.h
+++ b/components/hal/esp32c5/include/hal/bitscrambler_ll.h
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ extern "C" {
 #define BITSCRAMBLER_LL_GET_HW(num)      (((num) == 0) ? (&BITSCRAMBLER) : NULL)
 
 #define BITSCRAMBLER_LL_INST_LEN_WORDS   9 //length of one instruction in 32-bit words as defined by HW
+// LUT index register is 11 bits wide, so the LUT address space is 2048 bytes.
+#define BITSCRAMBLER_LL_LUT_MAX_BYTES    (1U << 11)
+#define BITSCRAMBLER_LL_MAX_INST         8
 
 /**
  * @brief Select peripheral BitScrambler is attached to
diff --git a/components/hal/esp32p4/include/hal/bitscrambler_ll.h b/components/hal/esp32p4/include/hal/bitscrambler_ll.h
index ae0cd2fb998..0ec0298d850 100644
--- a/components/hal/esp32p4/include/hal/bitscrambler_ll.h
+++ b/components/hal/esp32p4/include/hal/bitscrambler_ll.h
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ extern "C" {
 #define BITSCRAMBLER_LL_GET_HW(num)      (((num) == 0) ? (&BITSCRAMBLER) : NULL)
 
 #define BITSCRAMBLER_LL_INST_LEN_WORDS   9 //length of one instruction in 32-bit words as defined by HW
+// LUT index register is 11 bits wide, so the LUT address space is 2048 bytes.
+#define BITSCRAMBLER_LL_LUT_MAX_BYTES    (1U << 11)
+#define BITSCRAMBLER_LL_MAX_INST         8
 
 /**
  * @brief Select peripheral BitScrambler is attached to