diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-verity-fec.c b/drivers/md/dm-verity-fec.c
index ad10d6d8ed28..b26809a47ca3 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-verity-fec.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-verity-fec.c
@@ -442,6 +442,13 @@ int verity_fec_decode(struct dm_verity *v, struct dm_verity_io *io,
 	if (!verity_fec_is_enabled(v))
 		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
 
+	if (fio->level >= DM_VERITY_FEC_MAX_RECURSION) {
+		DMWARN_LIMIT("%s: FEC: recursion too deep", v->data_dev->name);
+		return -EIO;
+	}
+
+	fio->level++;
+
 	if (type == DM_VERITY_BLOCK_TYPE_METADATA)
 		block += v->data_blocks;
 
@@ -475,7 +482,7 @@ int verity_fec_decode(struct dm_verity *v, struct dm_verity_io *io,
 	if (r < 0) {
 		r = fec_decode_rsb(v, io, fio, rsb, offset, true);
 		if (r < 0)
-			return r;
+			goto done;
 	}
 
 	if (dest)
@@ -485,6 +492,8 @@ int verity_fec_decode(struct dm_verity *v, struct dm_verity_io *io,
 		r = verity_for_bv_block(v, io, iter, fec_bv_copy);
 	}
 
+done:
+	fio->level--;
 	return r;
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-verity-fec.h b/drivers/md/dm-verity-fec.h
index 8c4bee052a73..b8e21cef3ad1 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-verity-fec.h
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-verity-fec.h
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
 #define DM_VERITY_FEC_BUF_MAX \
 	(1 << (PAGE_SHIFT - DM_VERITY_FEC_BUF_RS_BITS))
 
+/* maximum recursion level for verity_fec_decode */
+#define DM_VERITY_FEC_MAX_RECURSION	4
+
 #define DM_VERITY_OPT_FEC_DEV		"use_fec_from_device"
 #define DM_VERITY_OPT_FEC_BLOCKS	"fec_blocks"
 #define DM_VERITY_OPT_FEC_START		"fec_start"
@@ -61,6 +64,7 @@ struct dm_verity_fec_io {
 	unsigned nbufs;		/* number of buffers allocated */
 	u8 *output;		/* buffer for corrected output */
 	size_t output_pos;
+	unsigned level;		/* recursion level */
 };
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_DM_VERITY_FEC