[PATCH 2/2] hfsplus: bound the wrapper and partition-table hops in hfsplus_read_wrapper()

From: Matthias Goergens

Date: Sat Sep 26 2026 - 04:41:24 EST


hfsplus_read_wrapper() rereads the volume header through a bare "goto
reread", following an HFS wrapper's embedded-volume descriptor or, if
the header matches neither signature, the partition-table fallback it
shares with hfs, with no bound on either. A descriptor or partition
entry with a zero offset leaves part_start where it was, and the mount
loops forever.

TN1150 ("HFS Plus Volume Format") requires a wrapper's embedded volume
to be HFS Plus: "When an HFS Plus volume is embedded, drEmbedSigWord
must be kHFSPlusSigWord ('H+')". So there is at most one wrapper hop,
and Apple's hfs code, GRUB and 7-Zip all follow it once. A partition
map sits at the start of the raw device (previous patch), so a
partition-table hop only makes sense before any wrapper hop. Allow one
of each, in that order, and fail with -EINVAL otherwise. A zero offset
is caught on the second pass.

Fixes: 1da177e4c3f4 ("Linux-2.6.12-rc2")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Matthias Goergens <matthias.goergens@xxxxxxxxx>
---
A wrapper whose embedded-volume descriptor points back at itself
hangs the mount forever without this patch and fails at once with it:

img=hfsplus-wrapper-loop.img
put() { printf "$2" | dd of=$img bs=1 seek=$1 conv=notrunc status=none; }
truncate --size=64K $img
put $((1024 + 0x00)) '\x42\x44' # drSigWord 'BD'
put $((1024 + 0x0a)) '\x82\x00' # drAtrb: SLOCK | SPARED
put $((1024 + 0x14)) '\x00\x00\x02\x00' # drAlBlkSiz 512
put $((1024 + 0x7c)) '\x48\x2b' # drEmbedSigWord 'H+'
put $((1024 + 0x7e)) '\x00\x00\x00\x64' # drEmbedExtent: start 0, count 100
mount -o ro,loop -t hfsplus $img /mnt

The same partition-table entry as the hfs patch hangs an hfsplus mount
the same way:

img=hfsplus-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 hfsplus $img /mnt
---
fs/hfsplus/wrapper.c | 15 +++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 15 insertions(+)

diff --git a/fs/hfsplus/wrapper.c b/fs/hfsplus/wrapper.c
index 30cf4fe78b3d..df8079a4d8f5 100644
--- a/fs/hfsplus/wrapper.c
+++ b/fs/hfsplus/wrapper.c
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ int hfsplus_read_wrapper(struct super_block *sb)
struct hfsplus_wd wd;
sector_t part_start, part_size;
u32 blocksize;
+ bool part_hop_done = false, wrapper_hop_done = false;
int error = 0;

error = -EINVAL;
@@ -172,21 +173,35 @@ int hfsplus_read_wrapper(struct super_block *sb)
case cpu_to_be16(HFSPLUS_VOLHEAD_SIG):
break;
case cpu_to_be16(HFSP_WRAP_MAGIC):
+ /*
+ * The embedded volume must be HFS Plus (TN1150), so a
+ * second wrapper is corrupt; a descriptor pointing at
+ * itself would otherwise loop forever.
+ */
+ if (wrapper_hop_done)
+ goto out_free_backup_vhdr;
if (!hfsplus_read_mdb(sbi->s_vhdr, &wd))
goto out_free_backup_vhdr;
wd.ablk_size >>= HFSPLUS_SECTOR_SHIFT;
part_start += (sector_t)wd.ablk_start +
(sector_t)wd.embed_start * wd.ablk_size;
part_size = (sector_t)wd.embed_count * wd.ablk_size;
+ wrapper_hop_done = true;
goto reread;
default:
/*
* 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 at most once, and not from inside a wrapper.
*/
+ if (part_hop_done || wrapper_hop_done)
+ goto out_free_backup_vhdr;
if (hfs_part_find(sb, &part_start, &part_size))
goto out_free_backup_vhdr;
+ part_hop_done = true;
goto reread;
}

--
2.55.0