diff --git a/package/Scripts/qemu-run.py b/package/Scripts/qemu-run.py
index 4d82628..54eb81f 100755
--- a/package/Scripts/qemu-run.py
+++ b/package/Scripts/qemu-run.py
@@ -78,14 +78,19 @@ class Qmp:
 
 def ppm_to_png(ppm: Path, png: Path) -> None:
     data = ppm.read_bytes()
-    parts = data.split(maxsplit=4)
-    if parts[0] != b"P6":
-        raise ValueError("not a binary PPM")
-    width, height = int(parts[1]), int(parts[2])
-    # The pixels are the last bytes of the file. Splitting them off the header
-    # would drop leading bytes that happen to be ASCII whitespace (0x09-0x0D,
-    # 0x20), and every channel after them would shift.
-    pixels = data[len(data) - width * height * 3:]
+    # Comments and whitespace separate header tokens, but raster bytes must
+    # never be stripped: every byte value is valid in an RGB channel.
+    separator = rb"(?:[ \t\r\n\v\f]|#[^\r\n]*(?:\r\n|[\r\n]))+"
+    header = re.match(rb"P6" + separator + rb"([0-9]+)" + separator
+                      + rb"([0-9]+)" + separator + rb"([0-9]+)[ \t\r\n\v\f]", data)
+    if header is None:
+        raise ValueError("invalid binary PPM header")
+    width, height, maxval = map(int, header.groups())
+    if width < 1 or height < 1 or maxval != 255:
+        raise ValueError("PPM requires positive dimensions and maxval 255")
+    pixels = data[header.end():]
+    if len(pixels) != width * height * 3:
+        raise ValueError("PPM raster length does not match dimensions")
     raw = b"".join(b"\x00" + pixels[y * width * 3:(y + 1) * width * 3] for y in range(height))
 
     def chunk(tag, body):
diff --git a/scripts/test-qemu-ppm.py b/scripts/test-qemu-ppm.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d2be30f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test-qemu-ppm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Check that ppm_to_png keeps every raster byte and rejects malformed PPM files."""
+import importlib.util
+from pathlib import Path
+import struct
+import sys
+import tempfile
+import zlib
+
+source = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / 'package' / 'Scripts' / 'qemu-run.py'
+spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location('qemu_run', source)
+module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+valid = [
+    (b'P6\n1 1\n255\n', b'\x01\x02\x03', 1, 1),
+    (b'P6\n2 1\n255\n', b'\x09\x0a\x0b\x0c\x0d\x20', 2, 1),
+    (b'P6\n1 1\n255\n', b'#\x00\xff', 1, 1),
+    (b'P6\n# size\n1 1\n255\n', b'abc', 1, 1),
+    (b'P6 # magic\n1 1\n255\n', b'abc', 1, 1),
+    (b'P6\n1 # width\n1\n255\n', b'abc', 1, 1),
+    (b'P6\n1 2\n255\n', b'abcdef', 1, 2),
+]
+invalid = [b'', b'P3\n1 1\n255\nabc', b'P6\n0 1\n255\n',
+           b'P6\n-1 1\n255\nabc', b'P6\n1 1\n65535\nabcdef',
+           b'P6\n1 1\n255\nab', b'P6\n1 1\n255\nabcd']
+passed = rejected = 0
+with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as work:
+    ppm, png = Path(work) / 'in.ppm', Path(work) / 'out.png'
+    for index, (header, pixels, width, height) in enumerate(valid):
+        ppm.write_bytes(header + pixels)
+        try:
+            module.ppm_to_png(ppm, png)
+            data = png.read_bytes()
+            assert data[:8] == b'\x89PNG\r\n\x1a\n'
+            offset, compressed = 8, b''
+            while offset < len(data):
+                size = struct.unpack_from('>I', data, offset)[0]
+                tag = data[offset + 4:offset + 8]
+                body = data[offset + 8:offset + 8 + size]
+                crc = struct.unpack_from('>I', data, offset + 8 + size)[0]
+                assert crc == zlib.crc32(tag + body) & 0xffffffff
+                if tag == b'IHDR':
+                    assert struct.unpack('>IIBBBBB', body) == (width, height, 8, 2, 0, 0, 0)
+                if tag == b'IDAT':
+                    compressed += body
+                offset += size + 12
+            expected = b''.join(b'\0' + pixels[y*width*3:(y+1)*width*3] for y in range(height))
+            assert zlib.decompress(compressed) == expected
+            passed += 1
+        except Exception as error:
+            print('valid case', index + 1, 'FAIL', type(error).__name__)
+    for index, data in enumerate(invalid):
+        ppm.write_bytes(data)
+        try:
+            module.ppm_to_png(ppm, png)
+        except ValueError:
+            rejected += 1
+        except Exception as error:
+            print('invalid case', index + 1, 'wrong error', type(error).__name__)
+    print(f'valid={passed}/{len(valid)} invalid_rejected={rejected}/{len(invalid)}')
+sys.exit(0 if passed == len(valid) and rejected == len(invalid) else 1)