CVE-2026-90118 — Kernel
HIGHCVE-2026-90118 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) remote code execution vulnerability in Kernel. A fix is available for Kernel — see the affected versions and patch details below.
ntfs: fix off-by-one page overflow in ntfs_decompress()
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-90118 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 374,847 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
KernelReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Linux packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ntfs: fix off-by-one page overflow in ntfs_decompress()
The per-token range check in ntfs_decompress() uses
if (cb >= cb_sb_end || dp_addr > dp_sb_end)
break;
so dp_addr == dp_sb_end falls through to the symbol copy
*dp_addr++ = *cb++, writing one byte past the destination page. Since
NTFS_SB_SIZE == PAGE_SIZE the destination is a single page, so the byte
lands in the adjacent page, and *dest_ofs is left one past the sub-block
end (the later *dest_ofs &= ~PAGE_MASK then yields 1, not 0, so the page
is never finalized and later sub-blocks keep writing further past it). A
corrupted compressed $DATA attribute thus produces a bounded run of
out-of-bounds writes when the file is read.
Break as soon as dp_addr reaches dp_sb_end; a full sub-block still completes, as its final copy advances dp_addr to exactly dp_sb_end.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐧Linux | Kernel | ≥ 7.1.0&&< 7.2.6 | 7.2.6 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for Kernel, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update Kernel to 7.2.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-90118 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-90118 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2026-90118. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-90118 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2026-90118 across Linux dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.