PT-2026-26043 · Linux · Linux

Published 2026-03-18 · Updated 2026-03-18 · CVE-2025-71266

NVD

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fs: ntfs3: check return value of indx find to avoid infinite loop

We found an infinite loop bug in the ntfs3 file system that can lead to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) condition.

A malformed dentry in the ntfs3 filesystem can cause the kernel to hang during the lookup operations. By setting the HAS SUB NODE flag in an INDEX ENTRY within a directory's INDEX ALLOCATION block and manipulating the VCN pointer, an attacker can cause the indx find() function to repeatedly read the same block, allocating 4 KB of memory each time. The kernel lacks VCN loop detection and depth limits, causing memory exhaustion and an OOM crash.

This patch adds a return value check for fnd push() to prevent a memory exhaustion vulnerability caused by infinite loops. When the index exceeds the size of the fnd->nodes array, fnd push() returns -EINVAL. The indx find() function checks this return value and stops processing, preventing further memory allocation.

Related Identifiers

CVE-2025-71266

Affected Products

Linux

References · 8

• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-71266 · Security Note
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/68e32694be231c1cdb99b7637a657314e88e1a96 · Note
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/435d34719db0e130f6f0c621d67ed524cc1a7d10 · Note
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0ad7a1be44479503dbe5c699759861ef5b8bd70c · Note
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1732053c8a6b360e2d5afb1b34fe9779398b072c · Note
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/14c3188afbedfd5178bbabb8002487ea14b37b56 · Note
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b0ea441f44ce64fa514a415d4a9e6e2b06e7946c · Note
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/398e768d1accd1f5645492ab996005d7aa84a5b0 · Note