Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') in Linux kernel - CVE-2025-71265

CSH
CYBERSECURITY HELP
Sign In REGISTER
 
Main Vulnerability Database Vulnerabilities #VU124210

Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') in Linux kernel - CVE-2025-71265

Published: March 20, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU124210
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 6.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2025-71265
CWE-ID: CWE-835
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a local attacker to cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to an infinite loop in the ntfs3 file system's attr_load_runs_range function when processing inconsistent metadata. A local attacker can provide a malformed NTFS image to cause a denial of service.

The attacker-controlled NTFS image contains inconsistent metadata where an attribute header indicates an empty run list (evcn=-1 with svcn=0), but directory entries reference it as containing data. After a successful but empty run_unpack() call, the runs_tree remains uninitialized, causing subsequent run_lookup_entry() calls to fail and vcn to increment by zero, resulting in an infinite loop.


Affected software

Linux kernel
Debian Linux
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 (Ubuntu package)
linux-intel-iot-realtime (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm-5.15 (Ubuntu package)
linux-intel-iotg (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-5.15 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-fips (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-fde (Ubuntu package)
linux (Debian package)
linux-hwe-6.8 (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws-6.8 (Ubuntu package)
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-fde-6.8 (Ubuntu package)
linux-raspi-realtime (Ubuntu package)

How to mitigate CVE-2025-71265

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.184.155, 5.15.0-184.194, 5.15.0-184.194~20.04.1, 5.15.0.186.166, 5.15.0-186.196, 5.15.0-186.196~20.04.1, 5.15.0.1075.78, 5.15.0-1075.79, 5.15.0.1095.94, 5.15.0-1095.103, 5.15.0.1104.100, 5.15.0-1104.109, 5.15.0.1108.107, 5.15.0-1108.114, 5.15.0.1111.115, 5.15.0-1111.120+fips1, 5.15.0.1112.102, 5.15.0.1112.109, 5.15.0-1112.122, 5.15.0-1112.122+fips1, 6.8.0-134.134, 6.8.0-1057.58~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1058.61+fips1, 6.8.0-1058.61~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1060.61, 6.8.0-1060.63+fips1, 6.8.0-1060.63~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1063.69, 6.8.0-1063.69+fips1, 6.8.1-1055.56, 6.8.1-1055.56~22.04.1
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.186.109, 5.15.0-186.196+fips1, 5.15.0.1106.103, 5.15.0-1106.110, 5.15.0.1107.107, 5.15.0-1107.108, 5.15.0.1112.108, 5.15.0.1112.115, 5.15.0-1112.119, 5.15.0-1112.119+fips1, 5.15.0-1112.119~20.04.1
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1053.53, 5.15.0.1053.55, 5.15.0.1064.64, 5.15.0-1064.66, 6.8.0-1029.30
linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1064.66~20.04.1
linux-intel-iot-realtime (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1104.106, 5.15.0.1104.108, 5.15.0-1107.113~20.04.1
linux-ibm-5.15 (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1106.110~20.04.1
linux-intel-iotg (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.1107.106, 5.15.0-1107.113
linux-azure (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.1109.105, 5.15.0-1109.115, 5.15.0.1117.115, 5.15.0-1117.126, 6.8.0-1063.71, 6.8.0-1063.71~22.04.1
linux-azure-5.15 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1109.115~20.04.1, 5.15.0-1117.126~20.04.1, 5.15.0-1117.126~20.04.2
linux-azure-fips (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.1117.102, 5.15.0-1117.126+fips1, 6.8.0-134.134+fips1, 6.8.0-1062.69+fips1
linux-azure-fde (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1117.126, 6.8.0-1062.69
linux (Debian package) - addressed in versions 6.1.170-1, 6.12.85-1
linux-hwe-6.8 (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-136.136~22.04.1
linux-aws-6.8 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 6.8.0-1045.48, 6.8.0-1057.58~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1058.61.1, 6.8.0-1058.64, 6.8.0-1060.61~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1060.63~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1063.69~22.04.1
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1060.64
linux-azure-fde-6.8 (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1062.69~22.04.1
linux-raspi-realtime (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-2049.50

External References

Related Security Bulletins