CVE-2026-72207 ntfs: not change 0-byte $DATA attribute to non-resident
A flaw in the Linux kernel NTFS driver causes filesystem corruption when resizing zero-byte attributes, leading to denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-72207?
CVE-2026-72207 is a critical denial of service 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: not change 0-byte $DATA attribute to non-resident
When ntfs_resident_attr_resize() cannot grow a resident attribute in place, it retries after converting other resident attributes to non-resident to free space in the MFT recrord.
Do not select zero-length resident $DATA attributes for this conversion. fsck treats 0-byte non-resident $DATA attribute as corruptions.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72207?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72207?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-72207 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72207 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72207, GHSA-vqw4-mmgx-m8xp, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72207.