CVE-2026-46040 PUBLISHED

inotify: fix watch count leak when fsnotify_add_inode_mark_locked() fails

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 13.05.2026 Published: 27.05.2026 Updated: 27.05.2026

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.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 to 8bcc1cd237ab5ccfdd102869fa031c541943cf40 (excl.)
  • affected from 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 to 73ddc8518a32baff6bc17afda4ee1ebae5b4ed12 (excl.)
  • affected from 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 to fdaa42ca370d056428e5e171247c8fdce8dff36a (excl.)
  • affected from 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 to 9e48844f708eb48bae4e79cb21edc097c966306d (excl.)
  • affected from 1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 to 6a320935fa4293e9e599ec9f85dc9eb3be7029f8 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 4.11 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 4.11 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.140 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.86 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.27 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.0.4 to 7.0.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.1-rc1 to * (incl.)

References