# CVE-2021-46989: hfsplus: prevent corruption in shrinking truncate

> A logic error in the Linux kernel HFS+ filesystem causes data corruption and potential denial of service during specific file truncation operations.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 28 Feb 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-46989, GHSA-758g-j8h5-xvgg, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-46989

## What is CVE-2021-46989?

CVE-2021-46989 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 Feb 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official 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.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-46989?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-46989?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2021-46989 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-46989 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-46989 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-46989 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 Feb 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-46989 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-46989/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-46989/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-46989
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-46989
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-46989

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-46989/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.