CVE-2026-42616
Description
A flaw was found in NTFS-3G. An attacker can trigger a heap buffer overflow in the ntfscat utility by providing a specially crafted NTFS filesystem image. When the utility attempts to read a file from the malicious image, heap memory is corrupted, which can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) crash or potentially allow arbitrary code execution.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Important because successful exploitation could allow an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution or crash the application with the privileges of the executing user. While the blast radius is severe, exploitation requires a local user or automated process to process an untrusted NTFS volume with the standalone ntfscat command-line tool. Standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations are not affected by default, as the ntfs-3g component is not included in core channels and is only available through the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity
Technical Impact: Modify Memory; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
Write operations could cause memory corruption. In some cases, an adversary can modify control data such as return addresses in order to execute unexpected code.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
Attempting to access out-of-range, invalid, or unauthorized memory could cause the product to crash.
Other
Technical Impact: Unexpected State
Subsequent write operations can produce undefined or unexpected results.
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