Ferdinand went for a scan on his injured thigh on Monday after missing United's opening game against Birmingham City, which they won 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Ferdinand's injury comes at a bad time for United with his defensive partner Nemanja Vidic (calf) also out of the visit to Burnley while reserve defender Jonny Evans limped off after 74 minutes with a groin injury.
Manager Alex Ferguson, whose side are chasing an unprecedented fourth successive English League title, told the club's television channel MUTV that it is not all doom and gloom at Old Trafford.
"Nemanja Vidic is back training and hopefully we'll get him back for next Saturday at Wigan.
"We've had a hard time with injuries in our defence over the last two seasons but we've got capable people to fill in."
Bent's former club Tottenham made their best start to a season for four years with their 2-1 win over Liverpool and will now attempt to build on that by beating Hull, less than three weeks after beating them 3-0 in Beijing to win the Premier League's Asia Cup trophy.
