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CVE-2026-46040

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CVE-2026-46040

Published: May 27, 2026

Modified: Jun 1, 2026

PUBLISHED

Description

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.

VendorProductVersions

Linux

Linux

affected
1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 - < 3ab58cf42c46bf2366d2f55ae5c59299d5e178b7
affected
1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 - < 10edf7e0ffdc7faa18e2244b17722c1b882b8273
affected
1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 - < 3ad9ccea1b25435f6179b57aa891960beb7ce8f9
affected
1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 - < 8bcc1cd237ab5ccfdd102869fa031c541943cf40
affected
1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 - < 73ddc8518a32baff6bc17afda4ee1ebae5b4ed12

+3 more versions

Linux

Linux

affected
4.11
unaffected
0 - < 4.11
unaffected
5.10.258 - <= 5.10.*
unaffected
5.15.209 - <= 5.15.*
unaffected
6.1.175 - <= 6.1.*

+5 more versions

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