CVE-2026-72201 ntfs: validate index entries on reading
Attackers can exploit missing validation of NTFS index entries to cause memory corruption, potentially leading to code execution or system crashes.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-72201?
CVE-2026-72201 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official 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.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72201?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72201?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-72201 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72201 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72201, GHSA-689w-8rx2-mjx7, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72201.