CVE-2025-71266CWE-835

CVE-2025-71266

Medium · published March 18, 2026

CVSS v3.1
5.5
EPSS
0%
Percentile
2.3
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

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.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
5.5 · MEDIUM
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00129 · 2.3th percentile
Weakness
CWE-835 · Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')
Published
2026-03-18T15:16Z
Affected products (7)
ProductVersionsFixed in
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.15.1, < 5.15.2025.15.202
linux/linux_kernel≥ 5.16, < 6.1.1656.1.165
linux/linux_kernel≥ 6.2, < 6.6.1286.6.128
linux/linux_kernel≥ 6.7, < 6.12.756.12.75
linux/linux_kernel≥ 6.13, < 6.18.166.18.16
linux/linux_kernel≥ 6.19, < 6.19.66.19.6
linux/linux_kernelall versions—
References (10)
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 18 MAR 10:05Z
    fs: ntfs3: check return value of indx_find to avoid infinite loop
    cvelistv5