5.5
MEDIUM
CVE-2021-46989
HPFS+ Truncate Corruption Vulnerability
Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hfsplus: prevent corruption in shrinking truncate I believe there are some issues introduced by commit 31651c607151 ("hfsplus: avoid deadlock on file truncation") HFS+ has extent records which always contains 8 extents. In case the first extent record in catalog file gets full, new ones are allocated from extents overflow file. In case shrinking truncate happens to middle of an extent record which locates in extents overflow file, the logic in hfsplus_file_truncate() was changed so that call to hfs_brec_remove() is not guarded any more. Right action would be just freeing the extents that exceed the new size inside extent record by calling hfsplus_free_extents(), and then check if the whole extent record should be removed. However since the guard (blk_cnt > start) is now after the call to hfs_brec_remove(), this has unfortunate effect that the last matching extent record is removed unconditionally. To reproduce this issue, create a file which has at least 10 extents, and then perform shrinking truncate into middle of the last extent record, so that the number of remaining extents is not under or divisible by 8. This causes the last extent record (8 extents) to be removed totally instead of truncating into middle of it. Thus this causes corruption, and lost data. Fix for this is simply checking if the new truncated end is below the start of this extent record, making it safe to remove the full extent record. However call to hfs_brec_remove() can't be moved to it's previous place since we're dropping ->tree_lock and it can cause a race condition and the cached info being invalidated possibly corrupting the node data. Another issue is related to this one. When entering into the block (blk_cnt > start) we are not holding the ->tree_lock. We break out from the loop not holding the lock, but hfs_find_exit() does unlock it. Not sure if it's possible for someone else to take the lock under our feet, but it can cause hard to debug errors and premature unlocking. Even if there's no real risk of it, the locking should still always be kept in balance. Thus taking the lock now just before the check.

INFO

Published Date :

Feb. 28, 2024, 9:15 a.m.

Last Modified :

March 14, 2025, 7:02 p.m.

Source :

416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Remotely Exploitable :

No

Impact Score :

3.6

Exploitability Score :

1.8
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2021-46989 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Linux linux_kernel

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2021-46989 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2021-46989 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Mar. 14, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CWE NVD-CWE-Other
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 4.20 from (excluding) 5.4.120 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 5.5 from (excluding) 5.10.38 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 5.11 from (excluding) 5.11.22 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 5.12 from (excluding) 5.12.5 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 4.19 from (excluding) 4.19.191
    Added Reference Type CVE: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52dde855663e5db824af51db39b5757d2ef3e28a Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52dde855663e5db824af51db39b5757d2ef3e28a Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type CVE: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/97314e45aa1223a42d60256a62c5d9af54baf446 Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/97314e45aa1223a42d60256a62c5d9af54baf446 Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type CVE: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/adbd8a2a8cc05d9e501f93e5c95c59307874cc99 Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/adbd8a2a8cc05d9e501f93e5c95c59307874cc99 Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type CVE: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3187cf32216313fb316084efac4dab3a8459b1d Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3187cf32216313fb316084efac4dab3a8459b1d Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type CVE: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c451a6bafb5f422197d31536f82116aed132b72c Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c451a6bafb5f422197d31536f82116aed132b72c Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type CVE: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c477f62db1a0c0ecaa60a29713006ceeeb04b685 Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c477f62db1a0c0ecaa60a29713006ceeeb04b685 Types: Patch
  • CVE Modified by af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

    Nov. 21, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52dde855663e5db824af51db39b5757d2ef3e28a
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/97314e45aa1223a42d60256a62c5d9af54baf446
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/adbd8a2a8cc05d9e501f93e5c95c59307874cc99
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3187cf32216313fb316084efac4dab3a8459b1d
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c451a6bafb5f422197d31536f82116aed132b72c
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c477f62db1a0c0ecaa60a29713006ceeeb04b685
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Nov. 04, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 CISA-ADP AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
  • CVE Modified by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    May. 28, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
  • CVE Modified by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    May. 14, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
  • CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Feb. 28, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hfsplus: prevent corruption in shrinking truncate I believe there are some issues introduced by commit 31651c607151 ("hfsplus: avoid deadlock on file truncation") HFS+ has extent records which always contains 8 extents. In case the first extent record in catalog file gets full, new ones are allocated from extents overflow file. In case shrinking truncate happens to middle of an extent record which locates in extents overflow file, the logic in hfsplus_file_truncate() was changed so that call to hfs_brec_remove() is not guarded any more. Right action would be just freeing the extents that exceed the new size inside extent record by calling hfsplus_free_extents(), and then check if the whole extent record should be removed. However since the guard (blk_cnt > start) is now after the call to hfs_brec_remove(), this has unfortunate effect that the last matching extent record is removed unconditionally. To reproduce this issue, create a file which has at least 10 extents, and then perform shrinking truncate into middle of the last extent record, so that the number of remaining extents is not under or divisible by 8. This causes the last extent record (8 extents) to be removed totally instead of truncating into middle of it. Thus this causes corruption, and lost data. Fix for this is simply checking if the new truncated end is below the start of this extent record, making it safe to remove the full extent record. However call to hfs_brec_remove() can't be moved to it's previous place since we're dropping ->tree_lock and it can cause a race condition and the cached info being invalidated possibly corrupting the node data. Another issue is related to this one. When entering into the block (blk_cnt > start) we are not holding the ->tree_lock. We break out from the loop not holding the lock, but hfs_find_exit() does unlock it. Not sure if it's possible for someone else to take the lock under our feet, but it can cause hard to debug errors and premature unlocking. Even if there's no real risk of it, the locking should still always be kept in balance. Thus taking the lock now just before the check.
    Added Reference Linux https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52dde855663e5db824af51db39b5757d2ef3e28a [No types assigned]
    Added Reference Linux https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c451a6bafb5f422197d31536f82116aed132b72c [No types assigned]
    Added Reference Linux https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/adbd8a2a8cc05d9e501f93e5c95c59307874cc99 [No types assigned]
    Added Reference Linux https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c477f62db1a0c0ecaa60a29713006ceeeb04b685 [No types assigned]
    Added Reference Linux https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/97314e45aa1223a42d60256a62c5d9af54baf446 [No types assigned]
    Added Reference Linux https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3187cf32216313fb316084efac4dab3a8459b1d [No types assigned]
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2021-46989 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2021-46989 weaknesses.

CVSS31 - Vulnerability Scoring System
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Latest DB Update: Jul. 02, 2025 23:11