CVE-2026-98139 ntfs: only count successfully cleared runs when freeing clusters

What is CVE-2026-98139?

CVE-2026-98139 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: only count successfully cleared runs when freeing clusters

ntfs_cluster_free_from_rl_nolock() adds a run's length to nr_freed whenever the error bookkeeping condition is false, which includes cases where ntfs_bitmap_clear_run() actually failed - e.g. a second run failing with the same errno as an earlier one, or any failure after a non-ENOMEM error was already recorded. Since a failed ntfs_bitmap_clear_run() rolls back its partial modifications, no bits were cleared for that run, yet its length still inflates vol->free_clusters, corrupting statfs output and the allocator's free space gate.

Only count runs whose bitmap clear succeeded.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98139?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-98139?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-98139 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98139 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98139, GHSA-6rpr-wqmr-68rh, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98139.