Improper input validation in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72188

 

Improper input validation in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72188

Published: August 16, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU143400
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-2026-72188
CWE-ID: CWE-20
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

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

The vulnerability exists due to improper input validation in ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() when parsing directory index entries from a crafted NTFS image. A local user can supply a specially crafted NTFS image to cause a denial of service.

The issue arises because error-marked MFT references read from on-disk metadata are not validated before being returned to callers, which may then interpret a bogus pseudo-errno value.


Affected software

Linux kernel
openEuler
kernel
bpftool
bpftool-debuginfo
kernel-debuginfo
kernel-debugsource
kernel-devel
kernel-headers
kernel-source
kernel-tools
kernel-tools-debuginfo
kernel-tools-devel
perf
perf-debuginfo
python3-perf
python3-perf-debuginfo

How to mitigate CVE-2026-72188

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
kernel - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
bpftool - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
bpftool-debuginfo - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
kernel-debuginfo - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
kernel-debugsource - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
kernel-devel - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
kernel-headers - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
kernel-source - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
kernel-tools - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
kernel-tools-debuginfo - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
kernel-tools-devel - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
perf - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
perf-debuginfo - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
python3-perf - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232
python3-perf-debuginfo - update to 5.10.0-331.0.0.232

External References

Related Security Bulletins