GHSA-38g3-xqxq-2v2p · Severity: unknown — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: inotify: fix watch count...
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.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-46040 is rated Low Risk (5.2/100): low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-05-28 | — | 0.02% | — |
Full EPSS history (1 record total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
No CVSS data in dataset for this CVE.
GHSA-38g3-xqxq-2v2p · Severity: unknown — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: inotify: fix watch count...
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2026-46040 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-46040 |
redhat
|
low | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-46040 |
suse
|
medium | — | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-46040/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2026-46040 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 891 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 508, needs-triage 224, ignored 159. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-46040 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| No affected products in dataset. | |||