CVE-2026-46040

Published: Mag 27, 2026 Last Modified: Mag 27, 2026
ExploitDB:
Other exploit source:
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Description

AI Translation Available

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.

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a320935fa4293e9e599ec9f85dc9eb3be7029f8
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73ddc8518a32baff6bc17afda4ee1ebae5b4ed12
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8bcc1cd237ab5ccfdd102869fa031c541943cf40
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9e48844f708eb48bae4e79cb21edc097c966306d
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fdaa42ca370d056428e5e171247c8fdce8dff36a