CVE-2026-72209

CRITICALPre-NVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2026-08-15. a secondary CVSS source baseline 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 5 sources updated this week
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 1%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: 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: validate attribute values on lookup

ntfs_attr_find() and ntfs_external_attr_find() check that generic resident attribute values fit in their attribute records and that fixed-size resident values are large enough. For variable-length resident formats, however, the fixed part is not enough: embedded length fields can still point callers past the resident value.

A crafted image can set a small resident $FILE_NAME value_length while leaving file_name_length large. Callers then trust file_name_length and read past the resident value when converting or comparing the name. This was reproduced with a crafted image under KASAN as a slab-out-of-bounds read from the kmalloc-1k MFT record copy. The stack included ntfs_lookup(), ntfs_iget(), ntfs_read_locked_inode(), ntfs_attr_name_get(), ntfs_ucstonls(), and utf16s_to_utf8s().

Add a shared attribute value validator and use it before a lookup path can return an attribute, including the AT_UNUSED enumeration case where callers inspect returned attributes directly. The helper validates resident value bounds, minimum resident value sizes, variable-length $FILE_NAME fields, and non-resident mapping-pairs metadata that was previously checked separately in both lookup paths.

This also preserves the intended resident @val matching semantics in the external attribute lookup path. The old duplicated validation block overwrote the actual resident value length with the type-specific minimum length before comparing @val, so variable-length resident values could fail to match even when the bytes were identical. Keep the comparison on the actual value length, and make ntfs_attrlist_entry_add() compare resident attributes with lowest_vcn zero instead of reading the non-resident union member after a successful resident match.

Reject non-resident $FILE_NAME records too: the format requires $FILE_NAME to be resident and callers treat returned records as resident.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(high)
EG Risk
49(Track)
EG Risk 49/100SSVC: 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
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation1% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
1%
EPSS %ILE
42%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 15, 2026

Last Modified

August 17, 2026

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-72209(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. 2026-08-20 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-20 20:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-08-20 16:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-20 13:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-08-20 09:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-20 05:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-08-20 01:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-19 22:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-19 18:25 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-08-19 18:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-19 14:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-08-19 10:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-08-19 06:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-08-19 03:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-08-18 23:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-08-18 19:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-08-18 15:57 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-08-18 15:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-08-18 12:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-08-18 08:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-08-18 04:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-18 00:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 22 more
  1. 2026-08-17 21:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-17 17:29 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-08-17 17:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-17 13:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-17 10:03 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-08-17 10:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-17 06:20 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-08-17 06:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-08-17 05:59 UTCEG score recompute 9.80
  11. 2026-08-17 05:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-08-17 05:54 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 9.8 · severity → CRITICAL
  13. 2026-08-17 05:32 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-08-17 05:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-08-17 05:24 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 06:40 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-2026-72209?
CVE-2026-72209 is a critical vulnerability published on August 15, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ntfs: validate attribute values on lookup ntfsattrfind() and ntfsexternalattr_find() check that generic resident attribute values fit in their attribute records and that fixed-size resident values are large enough. For…
When was CVE-2026-72209 disclosed?
CVE-2026-72209 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-2026-72209 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-72209 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 58.2% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-72209?
CVE-2026-72209 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-72209?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-72209, 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.

Dependency Blast Radius

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