Rubin Shrestha
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How to restore a LUKS 2 drive corrupt by improper partition resizing?

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I have a 256 GB (232.88 GiB) M.2 SSD with GPT and a root partition which is a “full-drive” LUKS 2. The drive actually has some unencrypted partitions too – bootloader w/ cryptsetup, recovery & swap. This drive has Pop!_OS 20.04 installed on it.

Recenly I tried to shrink the LUKS 2 encrypted root partition (to allocate mote space to swap) from a live-USB Artix Linux w/ KDE Plasma’s KDE Partition Manager. Here’s the steps I’ve done:

  1. I’ve unencrypted the LUKS 2 partition at /dev/sda3 (which is 224.40 GiB in size, and it had only 158.36 GiB used);
  2. I’ve opened the partition’s mapper device in KDE Partition Manager (in my case it was at path /dev/data_h3LfB);
  3. I’ve shrinked the volume of the root partition “inside” the LUKS container at the tail of it
    (from the right, at the end) to the 208.38 GiB, supposedly freeing 16 GiB;
  4. I’ve saved the changs successfully;
  5. I’ve tried to resize the partition again (because I needed some more space for swap), but the app started to give me an error:
Job: Check file system on partition ‘/dev/data_h3LfB/root’ 
Command: e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/data_h3LfB/root 
Check file system on partition ‘/dev/data_h3LfB/root’: Error

Checking partition ‘/dev/data_h3LfB/root’ before resize/move failed.

Here are some logs and debug info:

# cryptsetup luksDump /dev/sda3

LUKS header information
Version:        2
Epoch:          3
Metadata area:  16384 [bytes]
Keyslots area:  16744448 [bytes]
UUID:           d0d243ca-cced-4759-acc1-4fdb807726d6
Label:          (no label)
Subsystem:      (no subsystem)
Flags:          (no flags)

Data segments:
  0: crypt
    offset: 16777216 [bytes]
    length: (whole device)
    cipher: aes-xts-plain64
    sector: 512 [bytes]

Keyslots:
  0: luks2
    Key:        512 bits
    Priority:   normal
    Cipher:     aes-xts-plain64
    Cipher key: 512 bits
    PBKDF:      argon2i
    Time cost:  4
    Memory:     1048576
    Threads:    4
    Salt:       70 9c 8e 05 5d 36 b2 df cb 25 05 2b d9 98 a9 91 
                dc 0e 2a 39 2f c0 b0 89 50 a4 e4 8c ed 53 d8 ff 
    AF stripes: 4000
    AF hash:    sha256
    Area offset:32768 [bytes]
    Area length:258048 [bytes]
    Digest ID:  0
Tokens:
Digests:
  0: pbkdf2
    Hash:       sha256
    Iterations: 107084
    Salt:       66 e8 02 be 6b f0 b4 b3 7c 51 43 16 95 0d f0 11 
                41 c2 d2 4b c9 72 f4 95 c6 d7 e9 4f 18 aa 8a c7 
    Digest:     b7 45 38 83 7b 94 66 5e 62 a5 c9 46 71 a2 25 4d 
                dc a5 05 6d 23 98 6f fc 4f 5b ae 32 89 ec 5d 32

hexdump -C -n 16416 /dev/sda3

00000000  4c 55 4b 53 ba be 00 02  00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00  |LUKS..........@.|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000020  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  73 68 61 32 35 36 00 00  |........sha256..|
00000050  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000060  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  cd 12 ab c1 70 ae f1 f0  |............p...|
00000070  ea a9 85 7b dc 3f f8 33  3e 89 b6 38 a0 06 f1 19  |...{.?.3>..8....|
00000080  cc 93 ba 84 e6 a5 55 72  10 6a cc 8d 16 f7 59 10  |......Ur.j....Y.|
00000090  b8 cd 5f 7e 65 75 57 9a  69 b2 87 aa 94 75 7e 98  |.._~euW.i....u~.|
000000a0  a1 2a f8 60 1f 3c 04 17  64 30 64 32 34 33 63 61  |.*.`.<..d0d243ca|
000000b0  2d 63 63 65 64 2d 34 37  35 39 2d 61 63 63 31 2d  |-cced-4759-acc1-|
000000c0  34 66 64 62 38 30 37 37  32 36 64 36 00 00 00 00  |4fdb807726d6....|
000000d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
000001c0  49 8c be 50 d4 2d 5b e4  f1 b8 44 6d 11 be 4f 80  |I..P.-[...Dm..O.|
000001d0  a8 85 1e a0 d5 e3 99 8e  57 a2 78 59 a3 b4 29 76  |........W.xY..)v|
000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00001000  7b 22 6b 65 79 73 6c 6f  74 73 22 3a 7b 22 30 22  |{"keyslots":{"0"|
00001010  3a 7b 22 74 79 70 65 22  3a 22 6c 75 6b 73 32 22  |:{"type":"luks2"|
00001020  2c 22 6b 65 79 5f 73 69  7a 65 22 3a 36 34 2c 22  |,"key_size":64,"|
00001030  61 66 22 3a 7b 22 74 79  70 65 22 3a 22 6c 75 6b  |af":{"type":"luk|
00001040  73 31 22 2c 22 73 74 72  69 70 65 73 22 3a 34 30  |s1","stripes":40|
00001050  30 30 2c 22 68 61 73 68  22 3a 22 73 68 61 32 35  |00,"hash":"sha25|
00001060  36 22 7d 2c 22 61 72 65  61 22 3a 7b 22 74 79 70  |6"},"area":{"typ|
00001070  65 22 3a 22 72 61 77 22  2c 22 6f 66 66 73 65 74  |e":"raw","offset|
00001080  22 3a 22 33 32 37 36 38  22 2c 22 73 69 7a 65 22  |":"32768","size"|
00001090  3a 22 32 35 38 30 34 38  22 2c 22 65 6e 63 72 79  |:"258048","encry|
000010a0  70 74 69 6f 6e 22 3a 22  61 65 73 2d 78 74 73 2d  |ption":"aes-xts-|
000010b0  70 6c 61 69 6e 36 34 22  2c 22 6b 65 79 5f 73 69  |plain64","key_si|
000010c0  7a 65 22 3a 36 34 7d 2c  22 6b 64 66 22 3a 7b 22  |ze":64},"kdf":{"|
000010d0  74 79 70 65 22 3a 22 61  72 67 6f 6e 32 69 22 2c  |type":"argon2i",|
000010e0  22 74 69 6d 65 22 3a 34  2c 22 6d 65 6d 6f 72 79  |"time":4,"memory|
000010f0  22 3a 31 30 34 38 35 37  36 2c 22 63 70 75 73 22  |":1048576,"cpus"|
00001100  3a 34 2c 22 73 61 6c 74  22 3a 22 63 4a 79 4f 42  |:4,"salt":"cJyOB|
00001110  56 30 32 73 74 2f 4c 4a  51 55 72 32 5a 69 70 6b  |V02st/LJQUr2Zipk|
00001120  64 77 4f 4b 6a 6b 76 77  4c 43 4a 55 4b 54 6b 6a  |dwOKjkvwLCJUKTkj|
00001130  4f 31 54 32 50 38 3d 22  7d 7d 7d 2c 22 74 6f 6b  |O1T2P8="}}},"tok|
00001140  65 6e 73 22 3a 7b 7d 2c  22 73 65 67 6d 65 6e 74  |ens":{},"segment|
00001150  73 22 3a 7b 22 30 22 3a  7b 22 74 79 70 65 22 3a  |s":{"0":{"type":|
00001160  22 63 72 79 70 74 22 2c  22 6f 66 66 73 65 74 22  |"crypt","offset"|
00001170  3a 22 31 36 37 37 37 32  31 36 22 2c 22 73 69 7a  |:"16777216","siz|
00001180  65 22 3a 22 64 79 6e 61  6d 69 63 22 2c 22 69 76  |e":"dynamic","iv|
00001190  5f 74 77 65 61 6b 22 3a  22 30 22 2c 22 65 6e 63  |_tweak":"0","enc|
000011a0  72 79 70 74 69 6f 6e 22  3a 22 61 65 73 2d 78 74  |ryption":"aes-xt|
000011b0  73 2d 70 6c 61 69 6e 36  34 22 2c 22 73 65 63 74  |s-plain64","sect|
000011c0  6f 72 5f 73 69 7a 65 22  3a 35 31 32 7d 7d 2c 22  |or_size":512}},"|
000011d0  64 69 67 65 73 74 73 22  3a 7b 22 30 22 3a 7b 22  |digests":{"0":{"|
000011e0  74 79 70 65 22 3a 22 70  62 6b 64 66 32 22 2c 22  |type":"pbkdf2","|
000011f0  6b 65 79 73 6c 6f 74 73  22 3a 5b 22 30 22 5d 2c  |keyslots":["0"],|
00001200  22 73 65 67 6d 65 6e 74  73 22 3a 5b 22 30 22 5d  |"segments":["0"]|
00001210  2c 22 68 61 73 68 22 3a  22 73 68 61 32 35 36 22  |,"hash":"sha256"|
00001220  2c 22 69 74 65 72 61 74  69 6f 6e 73 22 3a 31 30  |,"iterations":10|
00001230  37 30 38 34 2c 22 73 61  6c 74 22 3a 22 5a 75 67  |7084,"salt":"Zug|
00001240  43 76 6d 76 77 74 4c 4e  38 55 55 4d 57 6c 51 33  |CvmvwtLN8UUMWlQ3|
00001250  77 45 55 48 43 30 6b 76  4a 63 76 53 56 78 74 66  |wEUHC0kvJcvSVxtf|
00001260  70 54 78 69 71 69 73 63  3d 22 2c 22 64 69 67 65  |pTxiqisc=","dige|
00001270  73 74 22 3a 22 74 30 55  34 67 33 75 55 5a 6c 35  |st":"t0U4g3uUZl5|
00001280  69 70 63 6c 47 63 61 49  6c 54 64 79 6c 42 57 30  |ipclGcaIlTdylBW0|
00001290  6a 6d 47 2f 38 54 31 75  75 4d 6f 6e 73 58 54 49  |jmG/8T1uuMonsXTI|
000012a0  3d 22 7d 7d 2c 22 63 6f  6e 66 69 67 22 3a 7b 22  |="}},"config":{"|
000012b0  6a 73 6f 6e 5f 73 69 7a  65 22 3a 22 31 32 32 38  |json_size":"1228|
000012c0  38 22 2c 22 6b 65 79 73  6c 6f 74 73 5f 73 69 7a  |8","keyslots_siz|
000012d0  65 22 3a 22 31 36 37 34  34 34 34 38 22 7d 7d 00  |e":"16744448"}}.|
000012e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00004000  53 4b 55 4c ba be 00 02  00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00  |SKUL..........@.|
00004010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00004020  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|

dmesg

[ 6703.195671] EXT4-fs (dm-1): bad geometry: block count 58819584 exceeds size of device (54624256 blocks)

# gdisk

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.9

Type device filename, or press <Enter> to exit: /dev/data_h3LfB/root
Partition table scan:
  MBR: not present
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present

Creating new GPT entries in memory.

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/data_h3LfB/root: 436994048 sectors, 208.4 GiB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 27F0C8A2-A959-4875-BC02-5E7234CBB5C3
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 436994014
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 436993981 sectors (208.4 GiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name

Is data lost or still recoverable? How do I restore it?

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