FKIE_CVE-2026-46040

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-05-27 14:17 - Updated: 2026-05-27 14:48
Severity
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.
References
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a320935fa4293e9e599ec9f85dc9eb3be7029f8
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73ddc8518a32baff6bc17afda4ee1ebae5b4ed12
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8bcc1cd237ab5ccfdd102869fa031c541943cf40
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9e48844f708eb48bae4e79cb21edc097c966306d
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fdaa42ca370d056428e5e171247c8fdce8dff36a
Impacted products
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{
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\ninotify: fix watch count leak when fsnotify_add_inode_mark_locked() fails\n\nWhen fsnotify_add_inode_mark_locked() fails in inotify_new_watch(),\nthe error path calls inotify_remove_from_idr() but does not call\ndec_inotify_watches() to undo the preceding inc_inotify_watches().\nThis leaks a watch count, and repeated failures can exhaust the\nmax_user_watches limit with -ENOSPC even when no watches are active.\n\nPrior to commit 1cce1eea0aff (\"inotify: Convert to using per-namespace\nlimits\"), the watch count was incremented after fsnotify_add_mark_locked()\nsucceeded, so this path was not affected. The conversion moved\ninc_inotify_watches() before the mark insertion without adding the\ncorresponding rollback.\n\nAdd the missing dec_inotify_watches() call in the error path."
    }
  ],
  "id": "CVE-2026-46040",
  "lastModified": "2026-05-27T14:48:03.013",
  "metrics": {},
  "published": "2026-05-27T14:17:23.387",
  "references": [
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a320935fa4293e9e599ec9f85dc9eb3be7029f8"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73ddc8518a32baff6bc17afda4ee1ebae5b4ed12"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8bcc1cd237ab5ccfdd102869fa031c541943cf40"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9e48844f708eb48bae4e79cb21edc097c966306d"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fdaa42ca370d056428e5e171247c8fdce8dff36a"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
  "vulnStatus": "Awaiting Analysis"
}


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