Improper resource shutdown or release in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-46040
Published: May 28, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU132448
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-46040
CWE-ID: CWE-404
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: Linux Foundation
Affected software:
Linux kernel
Linux kernel
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to improper resource shutdown or release in inotify_new_watch() when handling a failure from fsnotify_add_inode_mark_locked(). A local user can repeatedly trigger watch creation failures to cause a denial of service.
The issue can exhaust the max_user_watches limit with -ENOSPC even when no watches are active.
How to mitigate CVE-2026-46040
Install security update from vendor's repository.
Sources
- 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