CVE-2026-72186

Critical

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ntfs: make system files immutable to prevent corruption When a system file such as $Bitmap is exposed via show_sys_files and written from userspace, the volume is corrupted and, because the cluster allocator scans $Bitmap through the same inode's page cache, a write to $Bitmap also deadlocks writeback against the folio it already holds locked. These files are maintained by the driver itself and have no valid reason to be written through the file interface. Mark base metadata files (mft_no < FILE_first_user) as immutable during inode read so the VFS rejects write, mmap, truncate and unlink with -EPERM. Directories are skipped so the root and $Extend remain usable. Internal metadata updates do not go through the VFS write path and are unaffected.

SeverityCritical
CVSS9.1
Exploit probability—
ProductLinux
PublishedAug 15, 2026
First seenAug 15, 2026

How to fix

Update
  • Linux Linux8f313e92522ac41d273ea137db13ea8a8df2beed, f72df3a4c33b64de3418ec74d1ad4f028e09d161 or later

Affected products

ProductAffected versionsFixed in
Linux Linuxaf0db57d4293cc9fe6ce99fb5592dc2652228c9d ≤ v < 8f313e92522ac41d273ea137db13ea8a8df2beed, af0db57d4293cc9fe6ce99fb5592dc2652228c9d ≤ v < f72df3a4c33b64de3418ec74d1ad4f028e09d161, 7.18f313e92522ac41d273ea137db13ea8a8df2beed, f72df3a4c33b64de3418ec74d1ad4f028e09d161

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CVE-2026-72186 · Linux · Dark Radar