CVE-2025-71267: fs: ntfs3: fix infinite loop triggered by zero-sized ATTR_LIST

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-03-18 · updated 2026-10-15
Weakness: CWE-835

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs: ntfs3: fix infinite loop triggered by zero-sized ATTR_LIST We found an infinite loop bug in the ntfs3 file system that can lead to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) condition. A malformed NTFS image can cause an infinite loop when an ATTR_LIST attribute indicates a zero data size while the driver allocates memory for it. When ntfs_load_attr_list() processes a resident ATTR_LIST with data_size set to zero, it still allocates memory because of al_aligned(0). This creates an inconsistent state where ni->attr_list.size is zero, but ni->attr_list.le is non-null. This causes ni_enum_attr_ex to incorrectly assume that no attribute list exists and enumerates only the primary MFT record. When it finds ATTR_LIST, the code reloads it and restarts the enumeration, repeating indefinitely. The mount operation never completes, hanging the kernel thread. This patch adds validation to ensure that data_size is non-zero before memory allocation. When a zero-sized ATTR_LIST is detected, the function returns -EINVAL, preventing a DoS vulnerability.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 5.15 before 5.15.202; from 5.16 before 6.1.165; from 6.2 before 6.6.128; from 6.7 before 6.12.75; from 6.13 before 6.18.16; from 6.19 before 6.19.6 — fixed in 5.15.202, 6.1.165, 6.12.75, 6.18.16, 6.19.6, 6.6.128

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.15.202, 6.1.165, 6.12.75, 6.18.16. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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