A “nasty” NTFS vulnerability in Windows 10 has been highlighted yet again by infosec researcher Jonas L. The vulnerability can be exploited with a single-line command and when exploited, corrupts an NTFS-formatted hard drive. Following the corruption, Windows will prompt a person to restart their computer to fix the issue.
Attackers can hide the line of code inside a ZIP file, folder, or even a Windows shortcut file. If the bug is exploited correctly, it can corrupt a drive without someone even opening the malicious file. BleepingComputer found that once a shortcut file was downloaded to a Windows 10 PC and is viewed within a folder, Windows Explorer will attempt to display the files’ icon. As a result, the attack will take place and an NTFS hard drive will be corrupted.
In layman’s terms, if people look at a certain folder or extract a ZIP file that has a certain piece of code on their PC, it will cause some drives to be corrupted.
Jonas L explained to BleepingComputer that the vulnerability became exploitable with Windows 10 build 1803, also known as the Windows 10 April 2018 Update. The bug persists into newer versions of Windows 10 as well. Jonas L also flagged up the vulnerability in August 2020 and October 2020.
Microsoft responded to The Verge regarding the bug, stating:
We are aware of this issue and will provide an update in a future release. The use of this technique relies on social engineering and as always we encourage our customers to practice good computing habits online, including exercising caution when opening unknown files, or accepting file transfers.
The vulnerability can also be exploited if you paste a certain string of code into the address bar in a browser. Windows 10 will try to automatically repair the drive corruption but vulnerability analyst Will Dormann notes that it could require manual intervention to repair.

These are the biggest PC announcements from CES 2021
CES 2021 was different in that it wasn’t held at a physical location. Instead, companies relied on press kits and virtual presentations to showcase all the new products. We’ve rounded up the best PC-related announcements in case you happened to miss the show.
This post was written by Sean Endicott and was first posted to WindowsCentral
Do you find this article helpful? Your Friend might too. So, please Share it with them using the Share button above.
Will you like to get notified when I post new updates? Then Follow me on any of my social media handles: Google News, Telegram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest.
You can also drop your email address below if you wish to be notified by mail.