Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fsnotify: do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events on child for special files

inotify/fanotify do not allow users with no read access to a file to
subscribe to events (e.g. IN_ACCESS/IN_MODIFY), but they do allow the
same user to subscribe for watching events on children when the user
has access to the parent directory (e.g. /dev).

Users with no read access to a file but with read access to its parent
directory can still stat the file and see if it was accessed/modified
via atime/mtime change.

The same is not true for special files (e.g. /dev/null). Users will not
generally observe atime/mtime changes when other users read/write to
special files, only when someone sets atime/mtime via utimensat().

Align fsnotify events with this stat behavior and do not generate
ACCESS/MODIFY events to parent watchers on read/write of special files.
The events are still generated to parent watchers on utimensat(). This
closes some side-channels that could be possibly used for information
exfiltration [1].

[1] https://snee.la/pdf/pubs/file-notification-attacks.pdf
Published: 2026-01-13
Score: 5.5 Medium
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

Analysis and contextual insights are available on OpenCVE Cloud.

Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

Additional remediation guidance may be available on OpenCVE Cloud.

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories
Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4475-1 linux security update
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4476-1 linux-6.1 security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6126-1 linux security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6127-1 linux security update
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8096-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8096-2 Linux kernel (FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8096-3 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8096-4 Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8096-5 Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra IGX) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8116-1 Linux kernel (Intel IoTG Real-time) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8141-1 Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8163-1 Linux kernel (Azure FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8163-2 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8177-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8179-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8177-2 Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8183-1 Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8184-1 Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8179-2 Linux kernel (FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8185-1 Linux kernel (NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8179-3 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8183-2 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8203-1 Linux kernel (Oracle) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8204-1 Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi Real-time) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8185-2 Linux kernel (Low Latency NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8179-4 Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8243-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8245-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8257-1 Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8258-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8260-1 Linux kernel (Azure FIPS) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8261-1 Linux kernel (Xilinx) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8265-1 Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra) vulnerabilities
History

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 12:45:00 +0000


Thu, 15 Jan 2026 12:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Low


Tue, 13 Jan 2026 15:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fsnotify: do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events on child for special files inotify/fanotify do not allow users with no read access to a file to subscribe to events (e.g. IN_ACCESS/IN_MODIFY), but they do allow the same user to subscribe for watching events on children when the user has access to the parent directory (e.g. /dev). Users with no read access to a file but with read access to its parent directory can still stat the file and see if it was accessed/modified via atime/mtime change. The same is not true for special files (e.g. /dev/null). Users will not generally observe atime/mtime changes when other users read/write to special files, only when someone sets atime/mtime via utimensat(). Align fsnotify events with this stat behavior and do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events to parent watchers on read/write of special files. The events are still generated to parent watchers on utimensat(). This closes some side-channels that could be possibly used for information exfiltration [1]. [1] https://snee.la/pdf/pubs/file-notification-attacks.pdf
Title fsnotify: do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events on child for special files
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References

Subscriptions

Linux Linux Kernel
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-11T21:53:22.202Z

Reserved: 2025-12-24T10:30:51.037Z

Link: CVE-2025-68788

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Deferred

Published: 2026-01-13T16:15:58.623

Modified: 2026-04-15T00:35:42.020

Link: CVE-2025-68788

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Low

Publid Date: 2026-01-13T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2025-68788 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses

No weakness.