# CVE-2026-98137: ntfs: treat any nonzero dio zero-range return as an error

> A flaw in the Linux kernel NTFS driver allows attackers to read stale on-disk data due to ignored zeroing errors during file allocation.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 25 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98137, GHSA-pm9x-9ffx-jrqj, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98137

## What is CVE-2026-98137?

CVE-2026-98137 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Sep 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: treat any nonzero dio zero-range return as an error

ntfs_dio_zero_range() returns either 0 or a negative errno from
blkdev_issue_zeroout(); it never returns a positive value.  The
zeroing failure check in ntfs_attr_fallocate() therefore never fired,
so a failed zeroing operation was silently ignored: the loop kept
going, the newly allocated clusters were folded into initialized_size
and the write could succeed leaving stale on-disk data.

Treat any nonzero return as an error and abort the allocation.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98137?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-98137?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98137 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98137 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98137 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98137 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Sep 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-2026-98137 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. 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-2026-98137/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98137/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98137
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98137
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98137

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98137/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.