FKIE_CVE-2026-72188

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-08-15 06:21 - Updated: 2026-08-17 06:18
Severity
9.1 (Critical) - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ntfs: sanitize MFT references returned from ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() returns MFT references read from directory index entries on disk. These values are untrusted, but the function can currently return an error-marked MFT reference to its callers without validating it. Callers later decode lookup failures with MREF_ERR(). A crafted NTFS image can set the MREF error bit while leaving the low bits as an arbitrary value, causing callers to consume a bogus pseudo-errno instead of treating the lookup result as corrupted on-disk metadata. Fix this at the source by normalizing every error-marked MFT reference returned from ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() to ERR_MREF(-EIO). Apply this to all four directory lookup return paths so every caller gets a validated result without needing additional checks or an API change. This keeps the sanitization in the common lookup helper, which is cleaner than duplicating validation in each caller.
References
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83f396d881c4fd312c7fd5fff2c157fc21104464
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d97a36bae86a9a4021562ded2987f904e6bcb1d7
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/ntfs/dir.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "83f396d881c4fd312c7fd5fff2c157fc21104464",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "1e9ea7e04472d4e5e12e58c881eaacfb3e49b669",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "d97a36bae86a9a4021562ded2987f904e6bcb1d7",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "1e9ea7e04472d4e5e12e58c881eaacfb3e49b669",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "fs/ntfs/dir.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "7.1"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "7.1",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.1.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.1.5",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    }
  ],
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nntfs: sanitize MFT references returned from ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name()\n\nntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() returns MFT references read from directory\nindex entries on disk. These values are untrusted, but the function can\ncurrently return an error-marked MFT reference to its callers without\nvalidating it.\n\nCallers later decode lookup failures with MREF_ERR(). A crafted NTFS image\ncan set the MREF error bit while leaving the low bits as an arbitrary\nvalue, causing callers to consume a bogus pseudo-errno instead of treating\nthe lookup result as corrupted on-disk metadata.\n\nFix this at the source by normalizing every error-marked MFT reference\nreturned from ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() to ERR_MREF(-EIO). Apply this to\nall four directory lookup return paths so every caller gets a validated\nresult without needing additional checks or an API change.\n\nThis keeps the sanitization in the common lookup helper, which is cleaner\nthan duplicating validation in each caller."
    }
  ],
  "id": "CVE-2026-72188",
  "lastModified": "2026-08-17T06:18:19.383",
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "cvssData": {
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
          "baseScore": 9.1,
          "baseSeverity": "CRITICAL",
          "confidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H",
          "version": "3.1"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 3.9,
        "impactScore": 5.2,
        "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "type": "Secondary"
      }
    ]
  },
  "published": "2026-08-15T06:21:37.197",
  "references": [
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83f396d881c4fd312c7fd5fff2c157fc21104464"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d97a36bae86a9a4021562ded2987f904e6bcb1d7"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
  "vulnStatus": "Received"
}



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