diff --git a/fs/smb/client/smb2file.c b/fs/smb/client/smb2file.c
index 5ef919bce52d..f35b6488d810 100644
--- a/fs/smb/client/smb2file.c
+++ b/fs/smb/client/smb2file.c
@@ -30,6 +30,19 @@ static struct smb2_symlink_err_rsp *symlink_data(const struct kvec *iov)
 	u8 *end = (u8 *)err + iov->iov_len;
 	u32 len;
 
+	/*
+	 * Per [MS-SMB2] section 2.2.2, a STATUS_STOPPED_ON_SYMLINK response has to
+	 * carry a Symbolic Link Error Response, so ByteCount cannot be zero.  Some
+	 * servers (e.g. the macOS built-in SMB server) violate this and return an
+	 * empty error response, with both ErrorContextCount and ByteCount set to
+	 * zero, i.e. without the symlink target.  Detect this and return -ENODATA
+	 * so that callers can tell "server did not send the target" apart from a
+	 * malformed response, and retrieve the target with FSCTL_GET_REPARSE_POINT
+	 * instead.
+	 */
+	if (!err->ErrorContextCount && !le32_to_cpu(err->ByteCount))
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENODATA);
+
 	if (err->ErrorContextCount) {
 		struct smb2_error_context_rsp *p;
 
@@ -199,6 +212,14 @@ int smb2_open_file(const unsigned int xid, struct cifs_open_parms *oparms,
 			rc = smb2_parse_symlink_response(oparms->cifs_sb, &err_iov,
 							 oparms->path,
 							 &data->symlink_target);
+			/*
+			 * If smb2_parse_symlink_response returned -ENODATA then the
+			 * symlink_target was not sent. Treat this as if the SMB2_open()
+			 * failed with STATUS_IO_REPARSE_TAG_NOT_HANDLED status, which is
+			 * indicated by the -EIO errno.
+			 */
+			if (rc == -ENODATA)
+				rc = -EIO;
 			if (!rc) {
 				memset(&data->fi, 0, sizeof(data->fi));
 				oparms->create_options |= OPEN_REPARSE_POINT;
diff --git a/fs/smb/client/smb2inode.c b/fs/smb/client/smb2inode.c
index 6c9c229b91f6..213bc298cdf2 100644
--- a/fs/smb/client/smb2inode.c
+++ b/fs/smb/client/smb2inode.c
@@ -792,9 +792,19 @@ static int parse_create_response(struct cifs_open_info_data *data,
 		rc = smb2_parse_symlink_response(cifs_sb, iov,
 						 full_path,
 						 &data->symlink_target);
-		if (rc)
+		if (rc != 0 && rc != -ENODATA)
 			return rc;
-		tag = IO_REPARSE_TAG_SYMLINK;
+		/*
+		 * -ENODATA means that the response was parsed but did not contain
+		 * the symlink target at all (see symlink_data()).  Treat it like
+		 * STATUS_IO_REPARSE_TAG_NOT_HANDLED, which does not contain it
+		 * either: leave the tag unset and clear rc, so that the caller
+		 * retrieves the target with SMB2_OP_GET_REPARSE.
+		 */
+		if (rc == -ENODATA)
+			rc = 0;
+		else
+			tag = IO_REPARSE_TAG_SYMLINK;
 		reparse_point = true;
 		break;
 	case STATUS_SUCCESS:
@@ -987,7 +997,14 @@ int smb2_query_path_info(const unsigned int xid,
 				rc = -EOPNOTSUPP;
 		}
 
-		if (data->reparse.tag == IO_REPARSE_TAG_SYMLINK && !rc) {
+		/*
+		 * If the symlink was already parsed in create response then it is needed to fix
+		 * its type now (after the second call with OPEN_REPARSE_POINT which filled the
+		 * data->fi.Attributes). If the symlink was not parsed in create response then
+		 * the data->symlink_target was not filled yet and then the type will be fixed
+		 * later after data->symlink_target is filled.
+		 */
+		if (data->reparse.tag == IO_REPARSE_TAG_SYMLINK && !rc && data->symlink_target) {
 			bool directory = le32_to_cpu(data->fi.Attributes) & ATTR_DIRECTORY;
 			rc = smb2_fix_symlink_target_type(&data->symlink_target, directory, cifs_sb);
 		}