Executive brief
A vulnerability was identified in the Linux kernel's NTFS file system driver that could allow an attacker to cause a system crash or denial of service. The issue stems from improper memory management during file name comparisons, which can cause the system to hang or become unresponsive. This affects servers or workstations that mount and interact with NTFS-formatted storage volumes.
Technical details
A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's NTFS3 driver arises because the d_compare() and d_hash() functions were using __getname(), which can block. In the Linux VFS (Virtual File System) layer, these dentry operations are expected to be non-blocking. By using blocking allocation calls in these paths, the kernel could encounter deadlocks or invalid execution states. The fix involves replacing __getname() and names_cachep usage with kmalloc using the GFP_NOWAIT flag to ensure allocations do not sleep. An attacker could potentially trigger this condition through specific filesystem operations, leading to a denial of service (system hang).
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel 6.2 to 6.18.16, 6.19 to 6.19.6
Timeline
- 2026-05-06: disclosed
- 2026-05-06: advisory
- 2026-03-04: patched