Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-72194

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: add depth limit to indx_find_buffer to prevent stack overflow indx_find_buffer() recursively descends the B+ tree index with no depth limit. A crafted NTFS image with circular index node references causes unbounded recursion, overflowing the kernel stack and panicking the system. This is reachable by mounting a malicious NTFS filesystem (e.g. from a USB drive via desktop automount) and deleting a file whose index entry triggers the rebalancing fallback path in indx_delete_entry(). Add a depth parameter and bail out with -EINVAL when it reaches the fnd->nodes array bound, matching the constraint already enforced by fnd_push() in indx_find(). The related function indx_find() was previously patched for a similar infinite-loop issue (commit 1732053c8a6b), but indx_find_buffer() was missed.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.008 (54.8th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 55th percentile — 54.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-72194: held from 0.008 to 0.008.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.008 · newest: 0.008 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 7.2-rc1, 6.6.145, 82cae269cfa953032fbb8980a7d554d60fb00b17

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72194?
CVE-2026-72194 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-08-15.
How severe is CVE-2026-72194?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.