CVE-2026-72188

CRITICALPre-NVD 9.19.1—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 9.1 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2026-08-15. a secondary CVSS source baseline 9.1; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 5 sources updated this week
9.1EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 9.1Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ntfs: sanitize MFT references returned from ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name()

ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() returns MFT references read from directory index entries on disk. These values are untrusted, but the function can currently return an error-marked MFT reference to its callers without validating it.

Callers later decode lookup failures with MREF_ERR(). A crafted NTFS image can set the MREF error bit while leaving the low bits as an arbitrary value, causing callers to consume a bogus pseudo-errno instead of treating the lookup result as corrupted on-disk metadata.

Fix this at the source by normalizing every error-marked MFT reference returned from ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() to ERR_MREF(-EIO). Apply this to all four directory lookup return paths so every caller gets a validated result without needing additional checks or an API change.

This keeps the sanitization in the common lookup helper, which is cleaner than duplicating validation in each caller.

CVSS v3
9.1
EG Score
9.1(high)
EG Risk
46(Track)
EG Risk 46/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity91% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
39%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 15, 2026

Last Modified

August 17, 2026

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Aug 17, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

ntfs: sanitize MFT references returned from ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d97a36bae86a9a4021562ded2987f904e6bcb1d7
generic

ntfs: sanitize MFT references returned from ntfs_lookup_inode_by_name() - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83f396d881c4fd312c7fd5fff2c157fc21104464

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-72188(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 47× in last 7d / 47× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-08-21 07:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-21 03:10 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-08-21 03:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-20 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-20 22:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-20 18:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-08-20 14:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-20 08:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-20 04:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-08-20 00:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-19 19:44 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-08-19 19:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-08-19 15:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-08-19 10:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-08-19 06:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-08-19 02:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-08-18 21:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-08-18 17:25 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-08-18 17:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-08-18 13:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-08-18 08:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-18 04:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 22 more
  1. 2026-08-17 23:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-17 19:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-08-17 15:06 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-08-17 15:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-17 10:43 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-08-17 10:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-17 06:20 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-08-17 06:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-08-17 06:00 UTCEG score recompute▲ 9.10
  11. 2026-08-17 06:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-08-17 05:54 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 9.1 · severity → CRITICAL
  13. 2026-08-17 05:32 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-08-17 05:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-08-17 05:25 UTCMITRE cvelistV5
  16. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-16 02:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-15 06:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-15 06:23 UTCNVD update
  21. 2026-08-15 06:10 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-08-15 06:02 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-72188?
CVE-2026-72188 is a critical vulnerability published on August 15, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ntfs: sanitize MFT references returned from ntfslookupinodebyname() ntfslookupinodebyname() returns MFT references read from directory index entries on disk. These values are untrusted, but the function can currently return an…
When was CVE-2026-72188 disclosed?
CVE-2026-72188 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 15, 2026, with the most recent update on August 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-72188 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-72188 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 61.3% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-72188?
CVE-2026-72188 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.1 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-72188?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-72188, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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