Linux Kernel up to 7.2.3 ntfs parse_ntfs_boot_sector memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.3. This impacts the function parse_ntfs_boot_sector of the component ntfs. The manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-89612. Local access is required to approach this attack. No exploit exists. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.3 and classified as critical. This issue affects the function parse_ntfs_boot_sector of the component ntfs. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ntfs: reject invalid MFT LCNs from boot sector The NTFS boot sector stores the MFT and MFTMirr locations as unsigned 64-bit LCNs, but parse_ntfs_boot_sector() decoded them into an s64. A crafted high-bit value could therefore become negative and pass the existing upper-bound check. The invalid value then propagated into the MFT zone allocator and could result in an out-of-bounds access to lcn_empty_bits_per_page.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-89612 since 09/11/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. Additional levels of successful authentication are required for exploitation. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/12/2026).

Upgrading to version 7.2.4 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 8f8420b68a6f05ca2b03779d8208814ec539b9e5/cc9d09fef78410bcd37ac05168cbd5f6dd75d3d2 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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