ZDI-26-696: Linux Kernel NTFS3 Journal Heap-based Buffer Overflow Code Execution Vulnerability
ZDI-26-696: Linux Kernel NTFS3 journal heap-based buffer overflow (CVE-2026-72196, CVSS 8.8) enables local arbitrary code execution.
ZDI advisory ZDI-26-696 describes a heap-based buffer overflow in the Linux Kernel NTFS3 journal handling, tracked as CVE-2026-72196 with a CVSS score of 8.8. Exploitation requires the attacker to first execute low-privileged code on the target system. Successful exploitation allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code. No in-the-wild exploitation is mentioned.
- Heap-based buffer overflow in Linux Kernel NTFS3 journal
- CVE-2026-72196 rated CVSS 8.8
- Requires prior low-privileged local code execution
- Results in arbitrary code execution
Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →
| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Flags | Affected | Exposure | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-72196 | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: bound copy_lcns dp->page_lcns[] index in analysis pass In log_replay()'s analysis pass, after find_dp() returns a valid DIR_PAGE_ENTRY for the (target_attr, target_vcn) tuple, the copy_lcns block walks lrh->lcns_follow further entries: t16 = le16_to_cpu(lrh->lcns_follow); for (i = 0; i target_vcn) - le64_to_cpu(dp->vcn)); dp->page_lcns[j + i] = lrh->page_lcns[i]; } find_dp() only validates that target_vcn falls within [dp->vcn, dp->vcn + dp->lcns_follow), i.e., that the FIRST cluster is covered. The walk through the further entries is not bounded against dp->lcns_follow. For a malformed LRH where target_vcn = dp->vcn + dp->lcns_follow - 1 and lrh->lcns_follow > 1, the i > 0 writes overflow the dp's allocated page_lcns[] array. Add the missing j + lrh->lcns_follow lcns_follow guard. Reproduced under UML+KASAN on mainline 8d90b09e6741 as a slab-out-of-bounds write of size 8 from log_replay+0x68d4 on the mount path. This is distinct from Pavitra Jha's 2026-05-02 patch ("fs/ntfs3: validate lcns_follow in log_replay conversion", ) which addresses the separate version-0 dirty-page-table conversion path's memmove(&dp->vcn, ...) call. The two fixes are complementary; both should land. [[email protected]: clang-formatted the changes, fixed conflicts] NVD description · AI analysis pending | 8.4 | <1% | — | — |
This vulnerability allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Linux Kernel. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The ZDI has assigned a CVSS rating of 8.8. The following CVEs are assigned: CVE-2026-72196.
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