fs: ntfs3: fix infinite loop in attr_load_runs_range on inconsistent metadata (Linux Linux)

CVE-2025-71265
MEDIUM 5.5

At a glance

Source
NVD
EPSS
EPSS 0.13 % · percentile 3 ()
State
PUBLISHED
Published
Updated
Assigner
Linux
NVD status
Modified

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs: ntfs3: fix infinite loop in attr_load_runs_range on inconsistent metadata We found an infinite loop bug in the ntfs3 file system that can lead to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) condition. A malformed NTFS image can cause an infinite loop when an attribute header indicates an empty run list, while directory entries reference it as containing actual data. In NTFS, setting evcn=-1 with svcn=0 is a valid way to represent an empty run list, and run_unpack() correctly handles this by checking if evcn + 1 equals svcn and returning early without parsing any run data. However, this creates a problem when there is metadata inconsistency, where the attribute header claims to be empty (evcn=-1) but the caller expects to read actual data. When run_unpack() immediately returns success upon seeing this condition, it leaves the runs_tree uninitialized with run->runs as a NULL. The calling function attr_load_runs_range() assumes that a successful return means that the runs were loaded and sets clen to 0, expecting the next run_lookup_entry() call to succeed. Because runs_tree remains uninitialized, run_lookup_entry() continues to fail, and the loop increments vcn by zero (vcn += 0), leading to an infinite loop. This patch adds a retry counter to detect when run_lookup_entry() fails consecutively after attr_load_runs_vcn(). If the run is still not found on the second attempt, it indicates corrupted metadata and returns -EINVAL, preventing the Denial-of-Service (DoS) vulnerability.

Weaknesses (CWE)

  • CWE-835 — Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition

References

Scores

VersionScoreVectorScored by
CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.5CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HNVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary)

European references

CERT-FR advisories

Affected configurations (NVD CPE)

Affected products

ProductVersions
Linux · Linuxaffected be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 < 6f07a590616ff5f57f7c041d98e463fad9e9f763 ; affected be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 < a89bc96d5abd8a4a8d5d911884ea347efcdf460b ; affected be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 < af839013c70a24779f9d1afb1575952009312d38 ; affected be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 < 78b61f7eac37a63284774b147f38dd0be6cad43c ; affected be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 < c0b43c45d45f59e7faad48675a50231a210c379b ; affected be71b5cba2e6485e8959da7a9f9a44461a1bb074 < 3c3a6e951b9b53dab2ac460a655313cf04c4a10a
Linux · Linuxaffected 5.15 ; unaffected 0 < 5.15 ; unaffected 5.15.202 ≤ 5.15.* ; unaffected 6.1.165 ≤ 6.1.* ; unaffected 6.6.128 ≤ 6.6.* ; unaffected 6.12.75 ≤ 6.12.*

Sources

SourceLicence
CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5)CVE Program Terms of Use
EPSS (FIRST.org)FIRST — attribution requested
ENISA EUVDENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged
CERT-FR (ANSSI)Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0
NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feedsPublic domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD