CVE-2026-46040

Inotify exhaustion via leaked watch counts

Published May 27, 2026 · Updated May 27, 2026

Resource exhaustion in the Linux Kernel allows local users to exhaust inotify watch capacity through repeated inode-mark failures. The inotify_new_watch() failure path removes the mark from the IDR but omits dec_inotify_watches() after an earlier count increment. Low-privileged local access is required; successful abuse leaves max_user_watches exhausted and makes new inotify watch requests fail with ENOSPC.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.13%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Resource exhaustion in the Linux Kernel allows local users to exhaust inotify watch capacity through repeated inode-mark failures. The inotify_new_watch() failure path removes the mark from the IDR but omits dec_inotify_watches() after an earlier count increment. Low-privileged local access is required; successful abuse leaves max_user_watches exhausted and makes new inotify watch requests fail with ENOSPC.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-46040
Published
May 27, 2026
Updated
May 27, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux Kernel
Classifications
T1499.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 27, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 27, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <6a320935fa4293e9e599ec9f85dc9eb3be7029f8
  2. Affected versionversion=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <73ddc8518a32baff6bc17afda4ee1ebae5b4ed12
  3. Affected versionversion=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <8bcc1cd237ab5ccfdd102869fa031c541943cf40
  4. Affected versionversion=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <9e48844f708eb48bae4e79cb21edc097c966306d
  5. Affected versionversion=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <fdaa42ca370d056428e5e171247c8fdce8dff36a
  6. Affected versionversion=4.11

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linux Kernelversion=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <6a320935fa4293e9e599ec9f85dc9eb3be7029f8; version=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <73ddc8518a32baff6bc17afda4ee1ebae5b4ed12; version=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <8bcc1cd237ab5ccfdd102869fa031c541943cf40; version=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <9e48844f708eb48bae4e79cb21edc097c966306d; version=1cce1eea0aff51201753fcaca421df825b0813b6 <fdaa42ca370d056428e5e171247c8fdce8dff36a; version=4.11

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499.001Endpoint Denial of Service: OS Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo