CVE-2026-72201: ntfs: validate index entries on reading

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-15 · updated 2026-08-18

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ntfs: validate index entries on reading Validate index entries immediately after reading an index root or index block from disk. This eliminates repeated checks in lookup and readdir, and reduce the risk of missing checks in those paths.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 7.1 — fixed in 7.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2221b691d7b2e17f08153f95848dacaa5d87e21d
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e2b95d3adb558ddd5685f9e072ec8661d57ee3a9

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