[PATCH] hpfs: validate external EA record lengths

From: Samuel Moelius

Date: Fri Jun 05 2026 - 14:04:38 EST


HPFS stores the length of the external extended-attribute list in
fnode->ea_size_l, but the external EA walkers only check that four bytes
of header remain before trusting the record's namelen and valuelen
fields.

A crafted image can declare an external EA list of four bytes while the
first record header asks for a much longer name/value area. Reject
records whose computed size does not fit in the declared external EA
list before reading or advancing over the variable-length fields. Also
reject indirect EA headers whose value length is not the required 8-byte
sector/length payload before reading that payload.

Keep the external EA list length unsigned while walking it so the
on-disk u32 length is not narrowed into a signed int before these bounds
checks.

Assisted-by: Codex:gpt-5.5-cyber-preview
Signed-off-by: Samuel Moelius <sam.moelius@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/hpfs/ea.c | 57 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------
1 file changed, 49 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/hpfs/ea.c b/fs/hpfs/ea.c
index 4664f9ab06ee..ecd630604444 100644
--- a/fs/hpfs/ea.c
+++ b/fs/hpfs/ea.c
@@ -9,6 +9,29 @@

#include "hpfs_fn.h"

+static bool hpfs_ea_ext_fits(struct super_block *s, secno a, int ano,
+ unsigned int pos, unsigned int len,
+ unsigned int size)
+{
+ if (pos > len || size > len - pos) {
+ hpfs_error(s, "EA record doesn't fit, %s %08x, pos %08x, len %08x",
+ ano ? "anode" : "sectors", a, pos, len);
+ return false;
+ }
+ return true;
+}
+
+static bool hpfs_ea_indirect_ok(struct super_block *s, secno a, int ano,
+ unsigned int pos, struct extended_attribute *ea)
+{
+ if (ea_indirect(ea) && ea_valuelen(ea) != 8) {
+ hpfs_error(s, "ea_indirect(ea) set while ea->valuelen!=8, %s %08x, pos %08x",
+ ano ? "anode" : "sectors", a, pos);
+ return false;
+ }
+ return true;
+}
+
/* Remove external extended attributes. ano specifies whether a is a
direct sector where eas starts or an anode */

@@ -24,12 +47,12 @@ void hpfs_ea_ext_remove(struct super_block *s, secno a, int ano, unsigned len)
return;
}
if (hpfs_ea_read(s, a, ano, pos, 4, ex)) return;
+ if (!hpfs_ea_ext_fits(s, a, ano, pos, len,
+ 5 + ea->namelen + ea_valuelen(ea)))
+ return;
+ if (!hpfs_ea_indirect_ok(s, a, ano, pos, ea))
+ return;
if (ea_indirect(ea)) {
- if (ea_valuelen(ea) != 8) {
- hpfs_error(s, "ea_indirect(ea) set while ea->valuelen!=8, %s %08x, pos %08x",
- ano ? "anode" : "sectors", a, pos);
- return;
- }
if (hpfs_ea_read(s, a, ano, pos + 4, ea->namelen + 9, ex+4))
return;
hpfs_ea_remove(s, ea_sec(ea), ea_in_anode(ea), ea_len(ea));
@@ -75,7 +98,8 @@ int hpfs_read_ea(struct super_block *s, struct fnode *fnode, char *key,
char *buf, int size)
{
unsigned pos;
- int ano, len;
+ unsigned int len;
+ int ano;
secno a;
char ex[4 + 255 + 1 + 8];
struct extended_attribute *ea;
@@ -102,6 +126,11 @@ int hpfs_read_ea(struct super_block *s, struct fnode *fnode, char *key,
return -EIO;
}
if (hpfs_ea_read(s, a, ano, pos, 4, ex)) return -EIO;
+ if (!hpfs_ea_ext_fits(s, a, ano, pos, len,
+ 5 + ea->namelen + ea_valuelen(ea)))
+ return -EIO;
+ if (!hpfs_ea_indirect_ok(s, a, ano, pos, ea))
+ return -EIO;
if (hpfs_ea_read(s, a, ano, pos + 4, ea->namelen + 1 + (ea_indirect(ea) ? 8 : 0), ex + 4))
return -EIO;
if (!strcmp(ea->name, key)) {
@@ -131,7 +160,8 @@ char *hpfs_get_ea(struct super_block *s, struct fnode *fnode, char *key, int *si
{
char *ret;
unsigned pos;
- int ano, len;
+ unsigned int len;
+ int ano;
secno a;
struct extended_attribute *ea;
struct extended_attribute *ea_end = fnode_end_ea(fnode);
@@ -160,6 +190,11 @@ char *hpfs_get_ea(struct super_block *s, struct fnode *fnode, char *key, int *si
return NULL;
}
if (hpfs_ea_read(s, a, ano, pos, 4, ex)) return NULL;
+ if (!hpfs_ea_ext_fits(s, a, ano, pos, len,
+ 5 + ea->namelen + ea_valuelen(ea)))
+ return NULL;
+ if (!hpfs_ea_indirect_ok(s, a, ano, pos, ea))
+ return NULL;
if (hpfs_ea_read(s, a, ano, pos + 4, ea->namelen + 1 + (ea_indirect(ea) ? 8 : 0), ex + 4))
return NULL;
if (!strcmp(ea->name, key)) {
@@ -193,7 +228,8 @@ void hpfs_set_ea(struct inode *inode, struct fnode *fnode, const char *key,
fnode_secno fno = inode->i_ino;
struct super_block *s = inode->i_sb;
unsigned pos;
- int ano, len;
+ unsigned int len;
+ int ano;
secno a;
unsigned char h[4];
struct extended_attribute *ea;
@@ -221,6 +257,11 @@ void hpfs_set_ea(struct inode *inode, struct fnode *fnode, const char *key,
return;
}
if (hpfs_ea_read(s, a, ano, pos, 4, ex)) return;
+ if (!hpfs_ea_ext_fits(s, a, ano, pos, len,
+ 5 + ea->namelen + ea_valuelen(ea)))
+ return;
+ if (!hpfs_ea_indirect_ok(s, a, ano, pos, ea))
+ return;
if (hpfs_ea_read(s, a, ano, pos + 4, ea->namelen + 1 + (ea_indirect(ea) ? 8 : 0), ex + 4))
return;
if (!strcmp(ea->name, key)) {
--
2.43.0