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CVE-2026-46040

inotify: fix watch count leak when fsnotify_add_inode_mark_locked() fails

Published
Last modified
published
Not listed in CISA KEV
Fix
Fixed in 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.6.140, 6.12.86, and 2 more
None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: inotify: fix watch count leak when fsnotify_add_inode_mark_locked() fails When fsnotify_add_inode_mark_locked() fails in inotify_new_watch(), the error path calls inotify_remove_from_idr() but does not call dec_inotify_watches() to undo the preceding inc_inotify_watches(). This leaks a watch count, and repeated failures can exhaust the max_user_watches limit with -ENOSPC even when no watches are active. Prior to commit 1cce1eea0aff ("inotify: Convert to using per-namespace limits"), the watch count was incremented after fsnotify_add_mark_locked() succeeded, so this path was not affected. The conversion moved inc_inotify_watches() before the mark insertion without adding the corresponding rollback. Add the missing dec_inotify_watches() call in the error path.

Timeline

  1. CVE published
  2. Record last updated

Affected versions

  • Linux Linux

    From 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 · fixed in 3ab58cf42c46bf2366d2f55ae5c59299d5e178b7; From 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 · fixed in 10edf7e0ffdc7faa18e2244b17722c1b882b8273; From 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 · fixed in 3ad9ccea1b25435f6179b57aa891960beb7ce8f9; From 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 · fixed in 8bcc1cd237ab5ccfdd102869fa031c541943cf40; From 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 · fixed in 73ddc8518a32baff6bc17afda4ee1ebae5b4ed12; From 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 · fixed in fdaa42ca370d056428e5e171247c8fdce8dff36a; From 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 · fixed in 9e48844f708eb48bae4e79cb21edc097c966306d; From 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 · fixed in 6a320935fa4293e9e599ec9f85dc9eb3be7029f8

  • Linux Linux

    4.11

  • KernelLinux

    From 4.11.0 · fixed in 5.10.258; From 5.11.0 · fixed in 5.15.209; From 5.16.0 · fixed in 6.1.175; From 6.2.0 · fixed in 6.6.140; From 6.7.0 · fixed in 6.12.86; From 6.13.0 · fixed in 6.18.27; From 6.19.0 · fixed in 7.0.4

References 8

git.kernel.org