[PATCH 1/2] hfs: bound the partition-table hop in hfs_mdb_get()

From: Matthias Goergens

Date: Sat Sep 26 2026 - 04:40:25 EST


hfs_mdb_get() loops "while (1)" around hfs_part_find(), rereading the
volume header wherever the partition table points. A partition entry
with a zero start (pdStart or pmPyPartStart) leaves part_start where it
was, and the loop reads the same blocks forever.

An Apple partition map sits at the start of the raw device: the boot ROM
reads it from block 1 (TN1189), and nothing Apple documents nests one
inside a partition. Follow at most one partition-table hop and fail
with -EIO after that, as for a table that cannot be parsed. A zero
start is caught on the second pass, when the loop comes round again.

Fixes: 1da177e4c3f4 ("Linux-2.6.12-rc2")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Matthias Goergens <matthias.goergens@xxxxxxxxx>
---
A partition entry pointing at its own table hangs the mount forever
without this patch and fails at once with it:

img=hfs-partmap-loop.img
put() { printf "$2" | dd of=$img bs=1 seek=$1 conv=notrunc status=none; }
truncate --size=64K $img
put $((512+0x00)) '\x50\x4d' # pmSig 'PM'
put $((512+0x04)) '\x00\x00\x00\x01' # pmMapBlkCnt 1
put $((512+0x08)) '\x00\x00\x00\x00' # pmPyPartStart 0 (self)
put $((512+0x0c)) '\x00\x00\x00\x64' # pmPartBlkCnt 100
put $((512+0x30)) 'Apple_HFS' # pmPartType
mount -o ro,loop -t hfs $img /mnt
---
fs/hfs/mdb.c | 10 +++++++++-
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/fs/hfs/mdb.c b/fs/hfs/mdb.c
index 277de712f9d4..1704f332e28d 100644
--- a/fs/hfs/mdb.c
+++ b/fs/hfs/mdb.c
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ int hfs_mdb_get(struct super_block *sb)
sector_t part_start, part_size;
loff_t off;
__be16 attrib;
+ bool part_hop_done = false;

/* set the device driver to 512-byte blocks */
size = sb_min_blocksize(sb, HFS_SECTOR_SIZE);
@@ -152,11 +153,18 @@ int hfs_mdb_get(struct super_block *sb)
break;
brelse(bh);

- /* check for a partition block
+ /*
+ * check for a partition block
* (should do this only for cdrom/loop though)
+ *
+ * The partition map is at the start of the device: follow
+ * it once, or an entry pointing at itself loops forever.
*/
+ if (part_hop_done)
+ return -EIO;
if (hfs_part_find(sb, &part_start, &part_size))
return -EIO;
+ part_hop_done = true;
}

HFS_SB(sb)->alloc_blksz = size = be32_to_cpu(mdb->drAlBlkSiz);

base-commit: 6812ce4e4379ffc99c52401ec28f0d7ffbc36206
--
2.55.0