CVE-2025-71266
MediumCVSS 5.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk2th percentile - higher than 2% of all known CVEs
Summary
In the Linux kernel, a bug in the ntfs3 filesystem causes an infinite loop during lookup operations. A malformed directory entry can hang the kernel and exhaust memory (OOM).
Risk Assessment
An attacker with local access to a mounted ntfs3 filesystem can cause a denial-of-service (DoS) by exhausting system memory.
Recommendation
Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version that includes the fix checking the return value of indx_find().
Original NVD description (English source)
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.