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Subject: Re: [syzbot] [hfsplus?] general protection fault in __hfsplus_setxattr
Author: tristmd@gmail.com

#syz test: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git master

>From 732ab5800c0f9d429f4896ababfb1bf33cc9abed Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tristan Madani <tristan@talencesecurity.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2026 22:40:42 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 3/3] hfsplus: fix null pointer dereference in
 hfsplus_create_attributes_file

hfsplus_create_attributes_file() calls hfsplus_mark_inode_dirty() with
HFSPLUS_ATTR_TREE_I(sb) before sbi->attr_tree has been set by
hfs_btree_open().  HFSPLUS_ATTR_TREE_I dereferences sbi->attr_tree to
reach ->inode, causing a null pointer dereference when attr_tree is
still NULL.

Move the mark_dirty call to after hfs_btree_open() and guard it with a
NULL check on sbi->attr_tree.

Reported-by: syzbot+bc70a12e438dadba4fb4@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Fixes: ee8422d00b7c ("hfsplus: fix potential Allocation File corruption after fsync")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Tristan Madani <tristan@talencesecurity.com>
---
 fs/hfsplus/xattr.c | 3 ++-
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/fs/hfsplus/xattr.c b/fs/hfsplus/xattr.c
index 452a1f9becb2d..1ea9f313368c5 100644
--- a/fs/hfsplus/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/hfsplus/xattr.c
@@ -317,12 +317,13 @@ static int hfsplus_create_attributes_file(struct super_block *sb)
 		next_node++;
 	}
 
-	hfsplus_mark_inode_dirty(HFSPLUS_ATTR_TREE_I(sb), HFSPLUS_I_ATTR_DIRTY);
 	hfsplus_mark_inode_dirty(attr_file, HFSPLUS_I_ATTR_DIRTY);
 
 	sbi->attr_tree = hfs_btree_open(sb, HFSPLUS_ATTR_CNID);
 	if (!sbi->attr_tree)
 		pr_err("failed to load attributes file\n");
+	else
+		hfsplus_mark_inode_dirty(HFSPLUS_ATTR_TREE_I(sb), HFSPLUS_I_ATTR_DIRTY);
 
 failed_header_node_init:
 	kfree(buf);
-- 
2.47.3