CVE-2026-72208: ntfs: add bounds check before accessing EA entries

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: add bounds check before accessing EA entries in ntfs_ea_lookup and ntfs_listxattr, this verifies that there is enough space in the EA entry before accessing the next_entry_offset field of the EA entry.

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/937282f7d15b593d0be765fa2ced164130ec87f7
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9d9925de1d8f233cc60d3dc356e12f232f97c15

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