CVE-2026-72189

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's NTFS file system. During the process of shutting down a file system, a specific internal condition can arise where the system attempts to update an attribute list while an associated inode is being evicted. This can lead to a self-deadlock within the kernel's inode management, causing the system to become unresponsive. The primary consequence of this vulnerability is a Denial of Service (DoS), where the affected system ceases to function.

A moderate severity denial-of-service flaw was found in the Linux kernel's NTFS file system driver. During file system shutdown, when eviction of the fake inode backing a base inode's unnamed $ATTRIBUTE_LIST attribute triggers synchronous writeback of the base inode, the writeback path may attempt to update the attribute list and look up the same fake inode while it is still being evicted. This causes a self-deadlock in the kernel's inode management, leaving the system unresponsive. Exploitation requires local access to a system running the vulnerable NTFS code, and the primary consequence is a denial of service. Red Hat rated this flaw as Moderate severity (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H). All Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS kernel streams are listed as not affected because the vulnerable NTFS code is not present in the shipped Red Hat kernels; this issue affects the upstream kernel code only.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.