Re: [PATCH v4] hfsplus: fix uninit-value by validating catalog record size

[Viacheslav Dubeyko <Slava.Dubeyko@ibm.com>]

On Sat, 2026-02-14 at 05:51 +0530, Deepanshu Kartikey wrote:
> Syzbot reported a KMSAN uninit-value issue in hfsplus_strcasecmp(). The
> root cause is that hfs_brec_read() doesn't validate that the on-disk
> record size matches the expected size for the record type being read.
> 
> When mounting a corrupted filesystem, hfs_brec_read() may read less data
> than expected. For example, when reading a catalog thread record, the
> debug output showed:
> 
>   HFSPLUS_BREC_READ: rec_len=520, fd->entrylength=26
>   HFSPLUS_BREC_READ: WARNING - entrylength (26) < rec_len (520) - PARTIAL READ!
> 
> hfs_brec_read() only validates that entrylength is not greater than the
> buffer size, but doesn't check if it's less than expected. It successfully
> reads 26 bytes into a 520-byte structure and returns success, leaving 494
> bytes uninitialized.
> 
> This uninitialized data in tmp.thread.nodeName then gets copied by
> hfsplus_cat_build_key_uni() and used by hfsplus_strcasecmp(), triggering
> the KMSAN warning when the uninitialized bytes are used as array indices
> in case_fold().
> 
> Fix by introducing hfsplus_brec_read_cat() wrapper that:
> 1. Calls hfs_brec_read() to read the data
> 2. Validates the record size based on the type field:
>    - Fixed size for folder and file records
>    - Variable size for thread records (depends on string length)
> 3. Returns -EIO if size doesn't match expected
> 
> Also initialize the tmp variable in hfsplus_find_cat() as defensive
> programming to ensure no uninitialized data even if validation is
> bypassed.
> 
> Reported-by: syzbot+d80abb5b890d39261e72@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
> Closes: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__syzkaller.appspot.com_bug-3Fextid-3Dd80abb5b890d39261e72&d=DwIDAg&c=BSDicqBQBDjDI9RkVyTcHQ&r=q5bIm4AXMzc8NJu1_RGmnQ2fMWKq4Y4RAkElvUgSs00&m=HsA3_4uwJKmSS8-Kh_KSSNZDdIJJ37fQg1Qkn8HNVtlvOWTRUotWdX-YU-6BG5Ek&s=ahSiNp09Xtk6fZ4J1HKNVIKGYMyAAB6pB0zSMMLuiDY&e= 
> Fixes: 1da177e4c3f4 ("Linux-2.6.12-rc2")
> Tested-by: syzbot+d80abb5b890d39261e72@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
> Link: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lore.kernel.org_all_20260120051114.1281285-2D1-2Dkartikey406-40gmail.com_&d=DwIDAg&c=BSDicqBQBDjDI9RkVyTcHQ&r=q5bIm4AXMzc8NJu1_RGmnQ2fMWKq4Y4RAkElvUgSs00&m=HsA3_4uwJKmSS8-Kh_KSSNZDdIJJ37fQg1Qkn8HNVtlvOWTRUotWdX-YU-6BG5Ek&s=m5KATSecj_N59jRyckqWwTDHLWsAk-SA4McFiUTpyHg&e=  [v1]
> Link: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lore.kernel.org_all_20260121063109.1830263-2D1-2Dkartikey406-40gmail.com_&d=DwIDAg&c=BSDicqBQBDjDI9RkVyTcHQ&r=q5bIm4AXMzc8NJu1_RGmnQ2fMWKq4Y4RAkElvUgSs00&m=HsA3_4uwJKmSS8-Kh_KSSNZDdIJJ37fQg1Qkn8HNVtlvOWTRUotWdX-YU-6BG5Ek&s=Ktxd-8E848Ko3SKJ-hZ2_Voa5CBICSaYmGY1i9FnL6M&e=  [v2]
> Link: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lore.kernel.org_all_20260212014233.2422046-2D1-2Dkartikey406-40gmail.com_&d=DwIDAg&c=BSDicqBQBDjDI9RkVyTcHQ&r=q5bIm4AXMzc8NJu1_RGmnQ2fMWKq4Y4RAkElvUgSs00&m=HsA3_4uwJKmSS8-Kh_KSSNZDdIJJ37fQg1Qkn8HNVtlvOWTRUotWdX-YU-6BG5Ek&s=KcMP_3KY8SuKRFhhCrjaKfUJ9Ce4nbh_WuuYl-4dyvU&e=  [v3]
> Signed-off-by: Deepanshu Kartikey <kartikey406@gmail.com>
> ---
> Changes in v4:
> - Move hfsplus_cat_thread_size() as static inline to header file as
>   suggested by Viacheslav Dubeyko
> 
> Changes in v3:
> - Introduced hfsplus_brec_read_cat() wrapper function for catalog-specific
>   validation instead of modifying generic hfs_brec_read()
> - Added hfsplus_cat_thread_size() helper to calculate variable-size thread
>   record sizes
> - Use exact size match (!=) instead of minimum size check (<)
> - Use sizeof(hfsplus_unichr) instead of hardcoded value 2
> - Updated all catalog record read sites to use new wrapper function
> - Addressed review feedback from Viacheslav Dubeyko
> 
> Changes in v2:
> - Use structure initialization (= {0}) instead of memset()
> - Improved commit message to clarify how uninitialized data is used
> ---
>  fs/hfsplus/bfind.c      | 46 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  fs/hfsplus/catalog.c    |  4 ++--
>  fs/hfsplus/dir.c        |  2 +-
>  fs/hfsplus/hfsplus_fs.h |  9 ++++++++
>  fs/hfsplus/super.c      |  2 +-
>  5 files changed, 59 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/fs/hfsplus/bfind.c b/fs/hfsplus/bfind.c
> index 9b89dce00ee9..4c5fd21585ef 100644
> --- a/fs/hfsplus/bfind.c
> +++ b/fs/hfsplus/bfind.c
> @@ -297,3 +297,49 @@ int hfs_brec_goto(struct hfs_find_data *fd, int cnt)
>  	fd->bnode = bnode;
>  	return res;
>  }
> +
> +/**
> + * hfsplus_brec_read_cat - read and validate a catalog record
> + * @fd: find data structure
> + * @entry: pointer to catalog entry to read into
> + *
> + * Reads a catalog record and validates its size matches the expected
> + * size based on the record type.
> + *
> + * Returns 0 on success, or negative error code on failure.
> + */
> +int hfsplus_brec_read_cat(struct hfs_find_data *fd, hfsplus_cat_entry *entry)
> +{
> +	int res;
> +	u32 expected_size;
> +
> +	res = hfs_brec_read(fd, entry, sizeof(hfsplus_cat_entry));
> +	if (res)
> +		return res;
> +
> +	/* Validate catalog record size based on type */
> +	switch (be16_to_cpu(entry->type)) {
> +	case HFSPLUS_FOLDER:
> +		expected_size = sizeof(struct hfsplus_cat_folder);
> +		break;
> +	case HFSPLUS_FILE:
> +		expected_size = sizeof(struct hfsplus_cat_file);
> +		break;
> +	case HFSPLUS_FOLDER_THREAD:
> +	case HFSPLUS_FILE_THREAD:
> +		expected_size = hfsplus_cat_thread_size(&entry->thread);
> +		break;
> +	default:
> +		pr_err("unknown catalog record type %d\n",
> +		       be16_to_cpu(entry->type));
> +		return -EIO;
> +	}
> +
> +	if (fd->entrylength != expected_size) {
> +		pr_err("catalog record size mismatch (type %d, got %u, expected %u)\n",
> +		       be16_to_cpu(entry->type), fd->entrylength, expected_size);
> +		return -EIO;
> +	}
> +
> +	return 0;
> +}
> diff --git a/fs/hfsplus/catalog.c b/fs/hfsplus/catalog.c
> index 02c1eee4a4b8..6c8380f7208d 100644
> --- a/fs/hfsplus/catalog.c
> +++ b/fs/hfsplus/catalog.c
> @@ -194,12 +194,12 @@ static int hfsplus_fill_cat_thread(struct super_block *sb,
>  int hfsplus_find_cat(struct super_block *sb, u32 cnid,
>  		     struct hfs_find_data *fd)
>  {
> -	hfsplus_cat_entry tmp;
> +	hfsplus_cat_entry tmp = {0};
>  	int err;
>  	u16 type;
>  
>  	hfsplus_cat_build_key_with_cnid(sb, fd->search_key, cnid);
> -	err = hfs_brec_read(fd, &tmp, sizeof(hfsplus_cat_entry));
> +	err = hfsplus_brec_read_cat(fd, &tmp);
>  	if (err)
>  		return err;
>  
> diff --git a/fs/hfsplus/dir.c b/fs/hfsplus/dir.c
> index cadf0b5f9342..d86e2f7b289c 100644
> --- a/fs/hfsplus/dir.c
> +++ b/fs/hfsplus/dir.c
> @@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ static struct dentry *hfsplus_lookup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry,
>  	if (unlikely(err < 0))
>  		goto fail;
>  again:
> -	err = hfs_brec_read(&fd, &entry, sizeof(entry));
> +	err = hfsplus_brec_read_cat(&fd, &entry);
>  	if (err) {
>  		if (err == -ENOENT) {
>  			hfs_find_exit(&fd);
> diff --git a/fs/hfsplus/hfsplus_fs.h b/fs/hfsplus/hfsplus_fs.h
> index 45fe3a12ecba..e811d33861af 100644
> --- a/fs/hfsplus/hfsplus_fs.h
> +++ b/fs/hfsplus/hfsplus_fs.h
> @@ -506,6 +506,15 @@ int hfsplus_submit_bio(struct super_block *sb, sector_t sector, void *buf,
>  		       void **data, blk_opf_t opf);
>  int hfsplus_read_wrapper(struct super_block *sb);
>  
> +static inline u32 hfsplus_cat_thread_size(const struct hfsplus_cat_thread *thread)
> +{
> +	return offsetof(struct hfsplus_cat_thread, nodeName) +
> +	       offsetof(struct hfsplus_unistr, unicode) +
> +	       be16_to_cpu(thread->nodeName.length) * sizeof(hfsplus_unichr);
> +}
> +
> +int hfsplus_brec_read_cat(struct hfs_find_data *fd, hfsplus_cat_entry *entry);
> +
>  /*
>   * time helpers: convert between 1904-base and 1970-base timestamps
>   *
> diff --git a/fs/hfsplus/super.c b/fs/hfsplus/super.c
> index aaffa9e060a0..e59611a664ef 100644
> --- a/fs/hfsplus/super.c
> +++ b/fs/hfsplus/super.c
> @@ -567,7 +567,7 @@ static int hfsplus_fill_super(struct super_block *sb, struct fs_context *fc)
>  	err = hfsplus_cat_build_key(sb, fd.search_key, HFSPLUS_ROOT_CNID, &str);
>  	if (unlikely(err < 0))
>  		goto out_put_root;
> -	if (!hfs_brec_read(&fd, &entry, sizeof(entry))) {
> +	if (!hfsplus_brec_read_cat(&fd, &entry)) {
>  		hfs_find_exit(&fd);
>  		if (entry.type != cpu_to_be16(HFSPLUS_FOLDER)) {
>  			err = -EIO;

The patch looks good. I don't have any remarks. I think that we've received
pretty good suggestion how the patch could be improved. Could you improve the
patch? :)

I assume that we have the same issue for HFS case. Frankly speaking, I am
considering to make the b-tree functionality generic one for HFS/HFS+ because
there are multiple similarities in this logic. Would you like to try to
generalize this b-tree functionality in the form of libhfs or something like
this?

Thanks,
Slava.