Linux Kernel ntfs ntfs_writepages deadlock

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in Linux Kernel. This affects the function ntfs_writepages of the component ntfs. The manipulation results in deadlock. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2026-72187. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel (unknown version). Affected is the function ntfs_writepages of the component ntfs. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a deadlock vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-833. The product contains multiple threads or executable segments that are waiting for each other to release a necessary lock, resulting in deadlock. This is going to have an impact on availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ntfs: avoid self-deadlock during inode eviction An attribute-list update performed while allocating clusters can drop the last reference to the temporary attribute inode. Evicting that inode drops its reference to the base inode and can invoke ntfs_drop_big_inode() for the base inode from within the base inode's own writeback path. If the base inode is unlinked, ntfs_drop_big_inode() calls truncate_setsize(), which waits for the inode's folio writeback to complete. The same writeback worker is responsible for completing that writeback, so it waits for itself indefinitely. Prevent this self-deadlock by grabbing a reference to the base inode at the beginning of ntfs_writepages() and releasing it at the end of the function. This defers eviction until all bios have been submitted, allowing the wait for folio writeback to complete safely.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-72187 since 08/09/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 08/15/2026). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1499.

Applying the patch 5a5f877c5df7605e9bae524a25ec0df9b9cb8ea8/77dc384207d5fa63ba97c3bf3285fe1215a1cbf6 is able to eliminate this problem.

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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