# CVE-2022-50739: fs/ntfs3: Add null pointer check for inode operations

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash by mounting a specially crafted NTFS image, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-50739, GHSA-9h8x-5g7f-6f2f, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-50739

## What is CVE-2022-50739?

CVE-2022-50739 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fs/ntfs3: Add null pointer check for inode operations

This adds a sanity check for the i_op pointer of the inode which is
returned after reading Root directory MFT record. We should check the
i_op is valid before trying to create the root dentry, otherwise we may
encounter a NPD while mounting a image with a funny Root directory MFT
record.

[  114.484325] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008
[  114.484811] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
[  114.485084] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
[  114.485606] PGD 0 P4D 0
[  114.485975] Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN NOPTI
[  114.486570] CPU: 0 PID: 237 Comm: mount Tainted: G    B              6.0.0-rc4 #28
[  114.486977] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[  114.488169] RIP: 0010:d_flags_for_inode+0xe0/0x110
[  114.488816] Code: 24 f7 ff 49 83 3e 00 74 41 41 83 cd 02 66 44 89 6b 02 eb 92 48 8d 7b 20 e8 6d 24 f7 ff 4c 8b 73 20 49 8d 7e 08 e8 60 241
[  114.490326] RSP: 0018:ffff8880065e7aa8 EFLAGS: 00000296
[  114.490695] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff888008ccd750 RCX: ffffffff84af2aea
[  114.490986] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: ffffffff87abd020
[  114.491364] RBP: ffff8880065e7ac8 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: fffffbfff0f57a05
[  114.491675] R10: ffffffff87abd027 R11: fffffbfff0f57a04 R12: 0000000000000000
[  114.491954] R13: 0000000000000008 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff888008ccd750
[  114.492397] FS:  00007fdc8a627e40(0000) GS:ffff888058200000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[  114.492797] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[  114.493150] CR2: 0000000000000008 CR3: 00000000013ba000 CR4: 00000000000006f0
[  114.493671] Call Trace:
[  114.493890]  <TASK>
[  114.494075]  __d_instantiate+0x24/0x1c0
[  114.494505]  d_instantiate.part.0+0x35/0x50
[  114.494754]  d_make_root+0x53/0x80
[  114.494998]  ntfs_fill_super+0x1232/0x1b50
[  114.495260]  ? put_ntfs+0x1d0/0x1d0
[  114.495499]  ? vsprintf+0x20/0x20
[  114.495723]  ? set_blocksize+0x95/0x150
[  114.495964]  get_tree_bdev+0x232/0x370
[  114.496272]  ? put_ntfs+0x1d0/0x1d0
[  114.496502]  ntfs_fs_get_tree+0x15/0x20
[  114.496859]  vfs_get_tree+0x4c/0x130
[  114.497099]  path_mount+0x654/0xfe0
[  114.497507]  ? putname+0x80/0xa0
[  114.497933]  ? finish_automount+0x2e0/0x2e0
[  114.498362]  ? putname+0x80/0xa0
[  114.498571]  ? kmem_cache_free+0x1c4/0x440
[  114.498819]  ? putname+0x80/0xa0
[  114.499069]  do_mount+0xd6/0xf0
[  114.499343]  ? path_mount+0xfe0/0xfe0
[  114.499683]  ? __kasan_check_write+0x14/0x20
[  114.500133]  __x64_sys_mount+0xca/0x110
[  114.500592]  do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
[  114.500930]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
[  114.501294] RIP: 0033:0x7fdc898e948a
[  114.501542] Code: 48 8b 0d 11 fa 2a 00 f7 d8 64 89 01 48 83 c8 ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 49 89 ca b8 a5 00 00 008
[  114.502716] RSP: 002b:00007ffd793e58f8 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 00000000000000a5
[  114.503175] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000564b2228f060 RCX: 00007fdc898e948a
[  114.503588] RDX: 0000564b2228f260 RSI: 0000564b2228f2e0 RDI: 0000564b22297ce0
[  114.504925] RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000564b2228f280 R09: 0000000000000020
[  114.505484] R10: 00000000c0ed0000 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000564b22297ce0
[  114.505823] R13: 0000564b2228f260 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 00000000ffffffff
[  114.506562]  </TASK>
[  114.506887] Modules linked in:
[  114.507648] CR2: 0000000000000008
[  114.508884] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
[  114.509675] RIP: 0010:d_flags_for_inode+0xe0/0x110
[  114.510140] Code: 24 f7 ff 49 83 3e 00 74 41 41 83 cd 02 66 44 89 6b 02 eb 92 48 8d 7b 20 e8 6d 24 f7 ff 4c 8b 73 20 49 8d 7e 08 e8 60 241
[  114.511762] RSP: 0018:ffff8880065e7aa8 EFLAGS: 00000296
[  114.512401] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff888008ccd750 RCX: ffffffff84af2aea
[  114.51
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-50739?


## How do I fix CVE-2022-50739?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-50739 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50739 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-50739 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-50739 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Dec 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-50739 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50739/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50739/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-50739
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-50739
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-50739

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-50739/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
