Heap-based buffer overflow in NTFS-3G - CVE-2026-46572
Published: November 5, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU159431
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 7.3 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-46572
CWE-ID: CWE-122
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to corrupt heap memory in the SUID-root ntfs-3g binary, potentially causing a denial of service or arbitrary code execution with elevated privileges.
The vulnerability exists due to a heap-based buffer overflow in ntfs_ib_cut_tail() in libntfs-3g/index.c when creating a file in a specially crafted directory. A remote attacker can craft a malicious NTFS image containing such a directory to trigger heap memory corruption when a file is created in it.
Affected software
NTFS-3G
Gentoo Linux
Debian Linux
Fedora
openEuler
Ubuntu
ntfs-3g (Ubuntu package)
libntfs-3g89 (Ubuntu package)
libntfs-3g89t64 (Ubuntu package)
ntfs-3g-help
ntfs-3g
ntfs-3g-debuginfo
ntfs-3g-debugsource
ntfs-3g-devel
sys-fs/ntfs3g
ntfs-3g (Debian package)
Gentoo Linux
Debian Linux
Fedora
openEuler
Ubuntu
ntfs-3g (Ubuntu package)
libntfs-3g89 (Ubuntu package)
libntfs-3g89t64 (Ubuntu package)
ntfs-3g-help
ntfs-3g
ntfs-3g-debuginfo
ntfs-3g-debugsource
ntfs-3g-devel
sys-fs/ntfs3g
ntfs-3g (Debian package)
How to mitigate CVE-2026-46572
Install security update from vendor's website.
NTFS-3G - update to 2026.7.7
ntfs-3g (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 1:2021.8.22-3ubuntu1.4, 1:2022.10.3-1.2ubuntu3.2, 1:2022.10.3-5ubuntu1.1
libntfs-3g89 (Ubuntu package) - update to 1:2021.8.22-3ubuntu1.4
libntfs-3g89t64 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 1:2022.10.3-1.2ubuntu3.2, 1:2022.10.3-5ubuntu1.1
ntfs-3g-help - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g-debuginfo - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g-debugsource - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g-devel - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g - addressed in versions 2022.10.3-11.el9, 2022.10.3-12.el9, 2026.7.7-2.el10_4, 2026.9.18-1.el10_4
sys-fs/ntfs3g - update to 2026.7.7
ntfs-3g (Debian package) - update to 1:2022.10.3-5+deb13u2
ntfs-3g (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 1:2021.8.22-3ubuntu1.4, 1:2022.10.3-1.2ubuntu3.2, 1:2022.10.3-5ubuntu1.1
libntfs-3g89 (Ubuntu package) - update to 1:2021.8.22-3ubuntu1.4
libntfs-3g89t64 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 1:2022.10.3-1.2ubuntu3.2, 1:2022.10.3-5ubuntu1.1
ntfs-3g-help - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g-debuginfo - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g-debugsource - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g-devel - update to 2022.10.3-4
ntfs-3g - addressed in versions 2022.10.3-11.el9, 2022.10.3-12.el9, 2026.7.7-2.el10_4, 2026.9.18-1.el10_4
sys-fs/ntfs3g - update to 2026.7.7
ntfs-3g (Debian package) - update to 1:2022.10.3-5+deb13u2