CVE-2026-72185 (GCVE-0-2026-72185)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-08-15 05:53
Modified
2026-08-17 05:41
Severity ?
VLAI Severity ?
EPSS score ?
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ntfs: fix WARN_ON for resident attribute in ntfs_map_runlist_nolock()
When ntfs_map_runlist_nolock() needs to look up the attribute extent
containing a target VCN (ctx_needs_reset == true), it calls
ntfs_attr_lookup() and then expects the result to be a non-resident
attribute, since only non-resident attributes have a mapping pairs
array to decompress.
A crafted NTFS image can place a resident attribute where a non-resident
one is expected, causing ntfs_attr_lookup() to succeed but return a
resident attribute record. Previously this was caught only by a
WARN_ON(), which does not stop execution. The code then falls through to
read a->data.non_resident.highest_vcn from what is actually a resident
attribute, accessing the wrong union member and corrupting the VCN range
check.
The caller path triggering this warning during mount is:
ntfs_map_runlist_nolock
ntfs_empty_logfile
load_system_files
ntfs_fill_super
In this path ctx is NULL, so ntfs_map_runlist_nolock() allocates a
temporary search context internally and sets ctx_needs_reset = true.
The existing resident-attribute guard in the ctx != NULL branch already
returns -EIO silently for the same condition; make the ctx_needs_reset
path consistent by replacing the WARN_ON() with the same -EIO error
return.
This causes the crafted image to be rejected with a mount error instead
of triggering a kernel warning.
References
Impacted products
{
"containers": {
"cna": {
"affected": [
{
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"fs/ntfs/attrib.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"lessThan": "b397b1238a217264bb02f963a1a1eadf71906375",
"status": "affected",
"version": "495e90fa334828d4119061e2726af51d0a0fb4ed",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
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"status": "affected",
"version": "495e90fa334828d4119061e2726af51d0a0fb4ed",
"versionType": "git"
}
]
},
{
"defaultStatus": "affected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"fs/ntfs/attrib.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"
}
]
}
],
"cpeApplicability": [
{
"nodes": [
{
"cpeMatch": [
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"versionEndExcluding": "7.1.5",
"versionStartIncluding": "7.1",
"vulnerable": true
},
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"versionEndExcluding": "7.2",
"versionStartIncluding": "7.1",
"vulnerable": true
}
],
"negate": false,
"operator": "OR"
}
]
}
],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nntfs: fix WARN_ON for resident attribute in ntfs_map_runlist_nolock()\n\nWhen ntfs_map_runlist_nolock() needs to look up the attribute extent\ncontaining a target VCN (ctx_needs_reset == true), it calls\nntfs_attr_lookup() and then expects the result to be a non-resident\nattribute, since only non-resident attributes have a mapping pairs\narray to decompress.\n\nA crafted NTFS image can place a resident attribute where a non-resident\none is expected, causing ntfs_attr_lookup() to succeed but return a\nresident attribute record. Previously this was caught only by a\nWARN_ON(), which does not stop execution. The code then falls through to\nread a-\u003edata.non_resident.highest_vcn from what is actually a resident\nattribute, accessing the wrong union member and corrupting the VCN range\ncheck.\n\nThe caller path triggering this warning during mount is:\n\n ntfs_map_runlist_nolock\n ntfs_empty_logfile\n load_system_files\n ntfs_fill_super\n\nIn this path ctx is NULL, so ntfs_map_runlist_nolock() allocates a\ntemporary search context internally and sets ctx_needs_reset = true.\nThe existing resident-attribute guard in the ctx != NULL branch already\nreturns -EIO silently for the same condition; make the ctx_needs_reset\npath consistent by replacing the WARN_ON() with the same -EIO error\nreturn.\n\nThis causes the crafted image to be rejected with a mount error instead\nof triggering a kernel warning."
}
],
"metrics": [
{
"cvssV3_1": {
"baseScore": 9.8,
"baseSeverity": "CRITICAL",
"vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"version": "3.1"
},
"scenarios": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "AV:N - The bug is in fs/ntfs runlist mapping reached from ntfs_fill_super\u2192ntfs_empty_logfile on mount and from VFS read/iomap paths (ntfs_attr_vcn_to_rl\u2192ntfs_map_runlist_nolock); when a classic NTFS volume is exported via ksmbd or nfsd, a remote client read triggers the same mapping code on the server without local shell access.\nAC:L - An attacker fully controls the crafted NTFS image: placing a resident $DATA extent where a non-resident one is expected makes ntfs_attr_lookup() succeed, bypasses the old WARN_ON-only guard, and deterministically drives the wrong union reads and mapping-pairs decompression with no races or victim-specific memory layout.\nPR:N - Exploitation needs only a malicious NTFS image and access to have it parsed\u2014no root on the target\u2014via udev/systemd automount of attacker USB media, CAP_SYS_ADMIN mount of a loop image, or a remote ksmbd/nfsd client with guest/anonymous read (or write) on an already-exported NTFS share.\nUI:N - Once the crafted volume is mounted (automounter, admin, or server export), a single attacker-initiated mount or remote file read that maps an affected non-resident extent triggers the bug; no further victim clicks, prompts, or confirmation are required beyond supplying the image.\nS:U - Union confusion and forged runlist handling corrupt kernel heap metadata and can issue attacker-influenced block-device writes within the same host OS security domain; impact is local privilege escalation or disk corruption, not VM/hypervisor, IOMMU, or container sandbox escape.\nC:H - WARN_ON does not stop execution; the code reads non_resident.highest_vcn and mapping_pairs_offset from a resident attribute union, then ntfs_mapping_pairs_decompress() scans attacker-controlled bytes as mapping pairs, yielding out-of-bounds kernel reads and disclosure/corruption primitives beyond a simple warning.\nI:H - Successful decompression installs an attacker-forged runlist; on rw mount ntfs_empty_logfile() uses those LCNs to write 0xff-filled clusters via ntfs_bdev_write() to arbitrary disk offsets, and heap runlist allocation from forged mapping pairs enables arbitrary kernel memory corruption and potential control-flow hijack.\nA:H - The vulnerable path continues after WARN_ON instead of returning -EIO, so malformed mapping-pair decompression and use of a corrupted runlist can provoke kernel warnings, I/O errors, oops, or panic during mount or subsequent NTFS I/O, causing high availability impact even when full exploitation is not attempted."
}
]
}
],
"providerMetadata": {
"dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:41:15.234Z",
"orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"shortName": "Linux"
},
"references": [
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b397b1238a217264bb02f963a1a1eadf71906375"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b8d6c528e9d57d263fee1a648409f84a68b2561d"
}
],
"title": "ntfs: fix WARN_ON for resident attribute in ntfs_map_runlist_nolock()",
"x_generator": {
"engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
}
}
},
"cveMetadata": {
"assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"assignerShortName": "Linux",
"cveId": "CVE-2026-72185",
"datePublished": "2026-08-15T05:53:47.388Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-08-09T03:40:39.911Z",
"dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:41:15.234Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
"dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
"dataVersion": "5.2"
}
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Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
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