What is CVE-2026-72188?

CVE-2026-72188 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.1 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 7.1 onward and patched in 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72188 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72188?

CVE-2026-72188 has a CVSS score of 9.1 out of 10, rated Critical severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72188?

Yes, CVE-2026-72188 has been patched. Fixed versions include 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 7.1 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2026-72188 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-72188 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2026-72188

Critical

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.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-08-15

Last modified 2026-08-17

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

9.1

out of 10

Critical

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 7.1 and later are affected. Fixed in 7.1.5, 7.2 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 7.1

Fixed in

✓ 7.1.5 7.1.x ✓ 7.2

References

2 total

Details

CVE ID CVE-2026-72188

Severity Critical

CVSS score 9.1 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2026-08-15

Modified 2026-08-17

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72188?

CVE-2026-72188 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.1 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 7.1 onward and has been patched in 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72188 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72188?

CVE-2026-72188 has a CVSS score of 9.1 out of 10, rated Critical severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72188?

Yes. CVE-2026-72188 has been patched. Fixed versions include 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 7.1 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2026-72188 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2026-72188 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.