# CVE-2026-72198: ntfs: reject non-resident records for resident-only attributes

> Attackers can trigger memory corruption in the Linux kernel NTFS driver by providing malformed non-resident records for resident-only attributes.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-96153, BELL-CVE-2026-72198, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72198, GHSA-v45q-rmh4-rr86, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72198

## What is CVE-2026-72198?

CVE-2026-72198 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

ntfs: reject non-resident records for resident-only attributes

The shared lookup-time attribute validator rejects non-resident
$FILE_NAME and $VOLUME_NAME records because their formats require
resident values and callers handle returned records as resident
attributes. Other resident-only attribute types still pass through the
generic non-resident mapping-pairs checks.

That leaves real resident/non-resident union confusion paths. Inode load
looks up $STANDARD_INFORMATION and then reads data.resident.value_offset
without checking a->non_resident. ntfs_inode_sync_standard_information()
does the same when updating the standard information value.
ntfs_write_volume_flags() also looks up $VOLUME_INFORMATION and reads
data.resident.value_offset directly. $INDEX_ROOT callers in dir.c and
index.c depend on the same lookup contract before consuming the resident
index root value.

Reject non-resident records for all resident-only attribute types in the
shared validator. Keep the existing $FILE_NAME and $VOLUME_NAME behavior,
but factor it through a helper and extend it to
$STANDARD_INFORMATION, $OBJECT_ID, $VOLUME_INFORMATION, $INDEX_ROOT, and
$EA_INFORMATION. For $OBJECT_ID and $EA_INFORMATION this is contract
hardening for resident-only formats; this patch only rejects the
non-resident form and does not add new resident value validation for
those types.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72198?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72198?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72198 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72198 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72198 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72198 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72198 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-2026-72198/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72198/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72198
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72198
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72198

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72198/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.