CVE-2026-80869 PUBLISHED

ntfs: bound the attribute-list entry in ntfs_read_inode_mount()

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 26.08.2026 Published: 04.09.2026 Updated: 04.09.2026

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

ntfs: bound the attribute-list entry in ntfs_read_inode_mount()

The $MFT attribute-list walk in ntfs_read_inode_mount() validates each entry only with "(u8 )al_entry + 6 > al_end" and "(u8 )al_entry + le16_to_cpu(al_entry->length) > al_end", but then reads al_entry->lowest_vcn (an __le64 at offset 8) and al_entry->mft_reference (offset 16) -- fields beyond the 6 bytes proven in range. al_entry->length is attacker-controlled and only required non-zero, so a short entry (e.g. length 8) placed at the tail passes both checks while the lowest_vcn / mft_reference reads fall past al_end.

al_end is ni->attr_list + attr_list_size (the on-disk size); the buffer is kvzalloc(round_up(attr_list_size, SECTOR_SIZE)), so the sector rounding usually absorbs the over-read -- but when attr_list_size is a multiple of SECTOR_SIZE there is no slack and a crafted $MFT attribute list produces an out-of-bounds read at mount time.

Validate the entry with ntfs_attr_list_entry_is_valid() (added in patch 1/3) before dereferencing it, matching the bound the other attribute-list walks now use. The validator already requires the length to cover the fixed header, which makes the separate "!al_entry->length" check redundant, so drop it too.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 1e9ea7e04472d4e5e12e58c881eaacfb3e49b669 to c7a7e48e71ce915ec4cbd6e9f355590c1ecbc29a (excl.)
  • affected from 1e9ea7e04472d4e5e12e58c881eaacfb3e49b669 to 98634df5b1cb56c26299b7409227025ddb0167d8 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 7.1 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 7.1 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 7.1.5 to 7.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2 to * (incl.)

References