Copyright © 2012 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved. Moderate 2026-08-15T00:00:00 kernel: ntfs: grow index root value before reparent header update 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H CWE-130

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ntfs: grow index root value before reparent header update ntfs_ir_reparent() moves the resident index root entries into an index block and leaves a small root stub containing the child VCN. That root stub can be larger than the existing resident value. For example, an empty root with value_length 48 has an index area of 32 bytes, while the large-index root stub needs index_length and allocated_size of 40 bytes. The current code publishes the larger index.index_length and index.allocated_size before resizing the resident value. If the resize returns -ENOSPC, the recovery path can call ntfs_inode_add_attrlist(), which looks attributes up again while the root header says allocated_size 40 but the resident value still only provides 32 bytes of index area. Lookup-time $INDEX_ROOT validation then correctly rejects that transient layout as corrupt. This reproduces as a generic/013 failure under qemu. In the failing run, the transient root had value_len=48, index_size=32, index_length=40, and allocated_size=40, and ntfsprogs-plus ntfsck reported "Corrupt index root in MFT record 1177". When the root stub grows, resize the resident value before publishing the larger root header. If the resize fails, the old root remains valid for recovery lookups. Keep the existing header-before-resize ordering for shrink or same-size cases so the resident value never temporarily exposes an allocated_size beyond its bounds.

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's NTFS file system driver. When the driver attempts to reparent an index root, it can update metadata to reflect a larger size before the actual data structure is resized. If this resize operation fails, the file system can enter an inconsistent state. This inconsistency can lead to file system corruption, potentially resulting in a denial of service or data integrity issues for a local user.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Not affected kernel-rt Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Not affected kernel-rt Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Not affected kernel-rt https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72211 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72211 https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081545-CVE-2026-72211-5ce4@gregkh/T