CVE-2026-98141: ntfs: propagate reparse index insertion failure
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ntfs: propagate reparse index insertion failure
updatereparsedata() ignores the return value of setreparseindex(). When index insertion fails, the code removes the just-written reparse data as cleanup but still returns 0, so symlink(2) (and WSL special file creation) reports success while no reparse data exists on disk. When there was no previous reparse data (oldsize == 0), the failure was likewise silently ignored.
Propagate the error to the caller.
Affected Software
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is affected by this issue in practice?
Systems using the Linux kernel NTFS code path to create symlinks or WSL special files are affected when insertion into the reparse index fails. The visible impact is that the creation operation can report success even though the required reparse data was not persisted.
What condition is required to trigger the incorrect success result?
The failure occurs when set_reparse_index() fails during update_reparse_data(). The cleanup removes newly written reparse data, but the prior behavior returned success instead of propagating the insertion error.
How can an administrator recognize that this may already have occurred?
A symlink(2) or WSL special-file creation operation may have reported success, while no corresponding reparse data exists on disk. The description does not provide a specific log message or detection command.
What is the effect of the fix?
The fix propagates the reparse-index insertion error to the caller. This causes the creating operation to report failure rather than falsely reporting successful creation when the reparse data cannot be indexed.