Status: UPDATED | Advisory ID: CVE-2026-97438
| CVE | CVE-2026-97438 |
| CVSS Score / Version | 7.1 (High) / CVSS v3.1 |
| Updated | 2026-09-25 |
| CVSS Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H |
| CVSS Prose | attack vector is local; attack complexity is low; privileges required is none; user interaction is required; scope is unchanged; confidentiality impact is high; integrity impact is none; availability impact is high. |
| Affected products | Linux Linux |
| Vendor | Product | Affected Versions | Patch Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux |
| Subsystems | General OT |
| Sectors | Multiple |
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
fs/ntfs3: validate index entry key bounds
[BUG]
A malformed NTFS directory index entry can advertise a key_size larger
than the bytes actually present in its NTFS_DE payload. Directory lookup
then passes that malformed key to cmp_fnames(), which can read past the
end of the kmalloc'ed index buffer.
BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in fname_full_size fs/ntfs3/ntfs.h:590 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in cmp_fnames+0x1ea/0x230 fs/ntfs3/index.c:46
Read of size 1 at addr ffff88801c313018 by task syz.6.3365/9279
Call Trace:
__dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
dump_stack_lvl+0xbe/0x130 lib/dump_stack.c:120
print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline]
print_report+0xd1/0x650 mm/kasan/report.c:482
kasan_report+0xfb/0x140 mm/kasan/report.c:595
__asan_report_load1_noabort+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/report_generic.c:378
fname_full_size fs/ntfs3/ntfs.h:590 [inline]
cmp_fnames+0x1ea/0x230 fs/ntfs3/index.c:46
hdr_find_e.isra.0+0x3ed/0x670 fs/ntfs3/index.c:762
indx_find+0x4b5/0x900 fs/ntfs3/index.c:1186
dir_search_u+0x2c0/0x460 fs/ntfs3/dir.c:254
ntfs_lookup+0x1cc/0x2a0 fs/ntfs3/namei.c:85
__lookup_slow+0x241/0x450 fs/namei.c:1816
lookup_slow fs/namei.c:1833 [inline]
walk_component+0x31c/0x570 fs/namei.c:2151
link_path_walk+0x592/0xd60 fs/namei.c:2519
path_lookupat+0x138/0x660 fs/namei.c:2675
filename_lookup+0x1f3/0x560 fs/namei.c:2705
filename_setxattr+0xad/0x1c0 fs/xattr.c:660
path_setxattrat+0x1d8/0x280 fs/xattr.c:713
__do_sys_lsetxattr fs/xattr.c:754 [inline]
__se_sys_lsetxattr fs/xattr.c:750 [inline]
__x64_sys_lsetxattr+0xd0/0x150 fs/xattr.c:750
...
Allocated by task 9279:
kasan_save_stack+0x39/0x70 mm/kasan/common.c:56
kasan_save_track+0x14/0x40 mm/kasan/common.c:77
kasan_save_alloc_info+0x37/0x60 mm/kasan/generic.c:573
poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:400 [inline]
__kasan_kmalloc+0xc3/0xd0 mm/kasan/common.c:417
kasan_kmalloc include/linux/kasan.h:262 [inline]
__do_kmalloc_node mm/slub.c:5650 [inline]
__kmalloc_noprof+0x2bd/0x900 mm/slub.c:5662
kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:961 [inline]
indx_read+0x41d/0xad0 fs/ntfs3/index.c:1059
indx_find+0x447/0x900 fs/ntfs3/index.c:1179
dir_search_u+0x2c0/0x460 fs/ntfs3/dir.c:254
ntfs_lookup+0x1cc/0x2a0 fs/ntfs3/namei.c:85
__lookup_slow+0x241/0x450 fs/namei.c:1816
lookup_slow fs/namei.c:1833 [inline]
walk_component+0x31c/0x570 fs/namei.c:2151
link_path_walk+0x592/0xd60 fs/namei.c:2519
path_lookupat+0x138/0x660 fs/namei.c:2675
filename_lookup+0x1f3/0x560 fs/namei.c:2705
filename_setxattr+0xad/0x1c0 fs/xattr.c:660
path_setxattrat+0x1d8/0x280 fs/xattr.c:713
__do_sys_lsetxattr fs/xattr.c:754 [inline]
__se_sys_lsetxattr fs/xattr.c:750 [inline]
__x64_sys_lsetxattr+0xd0/0x150 fs/xattr.c:750
...
[CAUSE]
The index-header validators only validated INDEX_HDR-level geometry.
They did not walk each NTFS_DE to verify entry alignment, subnode
layout, or that key_size fit inside the entry payload. They also
allowed a last sentinel entry to carry a non-zero key_size.
[FIX]
Walk every NTFS_DE in ntfs3's index-header validators and reject
entries with invalid layout, mismatched subnode state, oversized
key_size, or non-zero sentinel keys before lookup or log replay can
consume them. (NVD)
Monitor Linux's web page for any future patch releases.
| Source | Reference |
|---|---|
| NVD | https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97438 |
| CVE | https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-97438 |