CVE-2026-45960 — hfsplus: return error when node already exists in hfs_bnode_create

Affected: Linux

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

hfsplus: return error when node already exists in hfs_bnode_create

When hfs_bnode_create() finds that a node is already hashed (which should not happen in normal operation), it currently returns the existing node without incrementing its reference count. This causes a reference count inconsistency that leads to a kernel panic when the node is later freed in hfs_bnode_put():

kernel BUG at fs/hfsplus/bnode.c:676! BUG_ON(!atomic_read(&node->refcnt))

This scenario can occur when hfs_bmap_alloc() attempts to allocate a node that is already in use (e.g., when node 0's bitmap bit is incorrectly unset), or due to filesystem corruption.

Returning an existing node from a create path is not normal operation.

Fix this by returning ERR_PTR(-EEXIST) instead of the node when it's already hashed. This properly signals the error condition to callers, which already check for IS_ERR() return values.

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CVE-2026-45960 — hfsplus: return error when node already exists in hfs_bnode_create