Description

Out-of-bounds read in Windows NTFS allows an authorized attacker to disclose information locally.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "5.5",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-11T17:18:33.607Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-11T17:18:33.607Z",
  "executiveSummary": "An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists within the Windows NTFS file system driver. This security flaw allows an authenticated local attacker to execute unauthorized read operations, resulting in the disclosure of sensitive information residing in memory. The vulnerability impacts Windows operating systems utilizing the NTFS file system component. Risk implications include the potential exposure of critical kernel memory structures or sensitive data contents, which could be leveraged by an adversary to facilitate subsequent privilege escalation or bypass other defensive security controls. Exploitation of this flaw requires the attacker to possess local access to the target system along with authorization to interact with the file system. No specific network exposure is required, as the attack vector is strictly local. Mitigation relies on applying official vendor-supplied security updates for the affected Windows components as they become available.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is classified as an out-of-bounds read within the Windows NTFS component. The root cause stems from insufficient bounds checking during the parsing and handling of specific disk structures or file system requests within the NTFS kernel driver. When processing crafted or malformed input, the affected function fails to adequately validate input lengths against allocated buffer boundaries, allowing read operations to access memory addresses beyond the intended buffer allocation limits.\nThe attack flow proceeds when a locally authenticated adversary interacts with the vulnerable Windows NTFS driver. The attacker executes a specially crafted operation, system call, or disk access request that triggers the improper bounds validation logic within the driver. Because the input lacks proper validation, the NTFS component reads memory adjacent to the valid allocation boundary. This read operation captures the contents of out-of-bounds memory, which may contain kernel pool data, sensitive cached file contents, or pointers to internal system structures.\nOnce the out-of-bounds memory is accessed, the sensitive data can potentially be returned to user-space or utilized in a manner that allows the attacker to infer the contents of adjacent memory regions. This information disclosure capability undermines kernel-level isolation and memory layout privacy. The vulnerability requires local access and requires the attacker to be authorized to execute code or commands locally on the system. Network exposure is non-existent, as the flaw is confined to local kernel driver execution paths. Post-exploitation impact primarily centers on intelligence gathering, where leaked memory contents assist the attacker in mapping the kernel address space, potentially aiding in the formulation of more complex exploits targeting memory corruption or privilege escalation vulnerabilities."
}