{"id":"CVE-2026-72208","state":"PUBLISHED","title":"ntfs: add bounds check before accessing EA entries","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nntfs: add bounds check before accessing EA entries\n\nin ntfs_ea_lookup and ntfs_listxattr, this verifies that there is enough\nspace in the EA entry before accessing the next_entry_offset field of\nthe EA entry.","publishedAt":"2026-08-15T05:54:04.022Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-18T06:56:28.443Z","severity":{"score":9.8,"label":"Critical","version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","source":"Linux"},"assigner":"Linux","products":["Linux Linux"],"affected":[{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"c451d34ae14201c2bb40652bf74072a79ff82f7d","status":"affected","lessThan":"d9d9925de1d8f233cc60d3dc356e12f232f97c15","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c451d34ae14201c2bb40652bf74072a79ff82f7d","status":"affected","lessThan":"937282f7d15b593d0be765fa2ced164130ec87f7","versionType":"git"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/ntfs/ea.c"]},{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","versions":[{"version":"7.1","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","status":"unaffected","lessThan":"7.1","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.1.5","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"7.1.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.2","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"*","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/ntfs/ea.c"]}],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9d9925de1d8f233cc60d3dc356e12f232f97c15","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/937282f7d15b593d0be765fa2ced164130ec87f7"],"weaknesses":[],"ingestedAt":"2026-10-29T20:12:58.252Z","source":{"repository":"CVEProject/cvelistV5","path":"cves/2026/72xxx/CVE-2026-72208.json","commit":"556c9d3a8cd17e218bb8e452ba7cd619a384ff47"},"raw":{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2026-72208","state":"PUBLISHED","datePublished":"2026-08-15T05:54:04.022Z","dateUpdated":"2026-08-18T06:56:28.443Z","assignerShortName":"Linux","assignerOrgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","dateReserved":"2026-08-09T03:40:39.912Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"title":"ntfs: add bounds check before accessing EA entries","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nntfs: add bounds check before accessing EA entries\n\nin ntfs_ea_lookup and ntfs_listxattr, this verifies that there is enough\nspace in the EA entry before accessing the next_entry_offset field of\nthe EA entry."}],"affected":[{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"c451d34ae14201c2bb40652bf74072a79ff82f7d","status":"affected","lessThan":"d9d9925de1d8f233cc60d3dc356e12f232f97c15","versionType":"git"},{"version":"c451d34ae14201c2bb40652bf74072a79ff82f7d","status":"affected","lessThan":"937282f7d15b593d0be765fa2ced164130ec87f7","versionType":"git"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/ntfs/ea.c"]},{"vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","versions":[{"version":"7.1","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","status":"unaffected","lessThan":"7.1","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.1.5","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"7.1.*","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"7.2","status":"unaffected","lessThanOrEqual":"*","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["fs/ntfs/ea.c"]}],"references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9d9925de1d8f233cc60d3dc356e12f232f97c15"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/937282f7d15b593d0be765fa2ced164130ec87f7"}],"metrics":[{"cvssV3_1":{"version":"3.1","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","baseScore":9.8,"baseSeverity":"CRITICAL"},"scenarios":[{"lang":"en","value":"AV:N - NTFS registers NFS export ops and is commonly served via nfsd/ksmbd; remote SMB/NFS OPEN, GETXATTR, or LISTXATTRS on an exported NTFS volume reaches ntfs_ea_lookup/ntfs_listxattr on the server without local login.\nAC:L - Triggering is deterministic once a crafted $EA/$EA_INFORMATION chain is on disk; the attacker controls next_entry_offset values to land with fewer than sizeof(struct ea_attr) bytes left, forcing the out-of-bounds read every time.\nPR:N - Exploitation needs only permission to access files on an exported NTFS share (e.g., guest/anonymous SMB or world-readable NFS); no root, CAP_SYS_ADMIN, or init-namespace privileges are required on the server to hit the parser.\nUI:N - After the NTFS volume is mounted server-side, a remote client can trigger parsing automatically via normal file open or xattr RPCs; no additional victim interaction is needed per attack.\nS:U - Impact is confined to kernel memory and privileges on the host parsing the NTFS image; it does not cross a VM, container, or IOMMU security boundary by itself.\nC:H - The bug reads struct ea_attr fields past the bounded EA query length before validation, causing an out-of-bounds kernel heap read that can disclose adjacent slab memory and feed attacker-influenced values into further EA parsing.\nI:H - Malformed next_entry_offset chaining drives additional unchecked memcmp/memcpy over attacker-chosen offsets inside the EA buffer, providing standard kernel heap grooming primitives that can be developed into arbitrary memory corruption and code execution.\nA:H - Reading EA headers beyond the allocated or mapped buffer can provoke a kernel oops or panic; even failed exploitation still corrupts kernel parsing state and can crash the affected host on repeated access."}]}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"Linux","orgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","dateUpdated":"2026-08-18T06:56:28.443Z"},"cpeApplicability":[{"nodes":[{"operator":"OR","negate":false,"cpeMatch":[{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"7.1","versionEndExcluding":"7.1.5"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"7.1","versionEndExcluding":"7.2"}]}]}],"x_generator":{"engine":"bippy-1.2.0"}}}}}