Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2025-71267: Linux Kernel ntfs3 infinite loop in ntfs_load_attr_list

CVE-2025-71267 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.5 · Published 2026-03-18

Technologies: Linux Kernel. Vendors: Linux.

Executive brief

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's NTFS file system driver can cause the system to hang indefinitely when attempting to mount a specially crafted storage device or disk image. This occurs because the system enters an infinite loop while processing malformed file attributes. An attacker with the ability to mount a malicious NTFS image could trigger a denial-of-service, making the system unresponsive and disrupting operations.

Technical details

A vulnerability exists in the ntfs3 file system driver within the Linux kernel where a malformed NTFS image can trigger an infinite loop in the ntfs_load_attr_list() function. When a resident ATTR_LIST attribute has a data_size of zero, the driver still allocates memory due to al_aligned(0) alignment logic, creating an inconsistent state where the attribute list size is zero but the pointer is non-null. This causes the ni_enum_attr_ex function to incorrectly restart attribute enumeration indefinitely, hanging the kernel thread during mount operations. The issue is resolved by adding validation to ensure data_size is non-zero before memory allocation. Patch availability is confirmed across multiple stable kernel branches.

Affected products

  • Linux Linux Kernel 5.15 to 5.15.202, 5.16 to 6.1.165, 6.2 to 6.6.128, 6.7 to 6.12.75, 6.13 to 6.18.16, 6.19 to 6.19.6

Timeline

  • 2025-12-19: patched: Initial patch committed to mainline kernel tree.
  • 2026-03-18: advisory: CVE-2025-71267 published.

References

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