CVE-2026-72209: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

CRITICAL
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-mc37-vg5j-fcfg
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CVSS 9.8
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-72209 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8) security vulnerability vulnerability (General Security Weakness) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2026-72209 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-72209
GHSA Identifier GHSA-mc37-vg5j-fcfg
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.8
CWE Classification General Security Weakness
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 9.8

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2026-72209

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2026-72209, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under General Security Weakness. In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

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.

References

NVD — CVE-2026-72209 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72209
git.kernel.org/stable/c/d5803e3345... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d5803e3345dae9c6470bb61869885236276b9a35
git.kernel.org/stable/c/e4c36dfac5... WEB
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e4c36dfac57a7261e9aeb0f3a7f30944a8aefb56

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-72209?
CVE-2026-72209 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under General Security Weakness.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2026-72209?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-72209?
CVE-2026-72209 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-72209?
CVE-2026-72209 is classified under General Security Weakness.
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2026-72209?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
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  "published" : "2026-08-15T06:32:16Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-72209" ],
  "details" : "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nntfs: validate attribute values on lookup\n\nntfs_attr_find() and ntfs_external_attr_find() check that generic\nresident attribute values fit in their attribute records and that\nfixed-size resident values are large enough. For variable-length resident\nformats, however, the fixed part is not enough: embedded length fields\ncan still point callers past the resident value.\n\nA crafted image can set a small resident $FILE_NAME value_length while\nleaving file_name_length large. Callers then trust file_name_length and\nread past the resident value when converting or comparing the name. This\nwas reproduced with a crafted image under KASAN as a slab-out-of-bounds\nread from the kmalloc-1k MFT record copy. The stack included\nntfs_lookup(), ntfs_iget(), ntfs_read_locked_inode(), ntfs_attr_name_get(),\nntfs_ucstonls(), and utf16s_to_utf8s().\n\nAdd a shared attribute value validator and use it before a lookup path\ncan return an attribute, including the AT_UNUSED enumeration case where\ncallers inspect returned attributes directly. The helper validates\nresident value bounds, minimum resident value sizes, variable-length\n$FILE_NAME fields, and non-resident mapping-pairs metadata that was\npreviously checked separately in both lookup paths.\n\nThis also preserves the intended resident @val matching semantics in the\nexternal attribute lookup path. The old duplicated validation block\noverwrote the actual resident value length with the type-specific minimum\nlength before comparing @val, so variable-length resident values could\nfail to match even when the bytes were identical. Keep the comparison on\nthe actual value length, and make ntfs_attrlist_entry_add() compare\nresident attributes with lowest_vcn zero instead of reading the\nnon-resident union member after a successful resident match.\n\nReject non-resident $FILE_NAME records too: the format requires\n$FILE_NAME to be resident and callers treat returned records as resident.",
  "severity" : [ {
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