{"id":"CVE-2025-68788","title":"fsnotify: do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events on child for special files","summary":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nfsnotify: do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events on child for special files\n\ninotify/fanotify do not allow users with no read access to a file to\nsubscribe to events (e.g…","severity":"none","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","affected":["Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < df2711544b050aba703e6da418c53c7dc5d443ca","Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 859bdf438f01d9aa7f84b09c1202d548c7cad9e8","Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 6a7d7d96eeeab7af2bd01afbb3d9878a11a13d91","Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < e0643d46759db8b84c0504a676043e5e341b6c81","Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 82f7416bcbd951549e758d15fc1a96a5afc2e900","Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 7a93edb23bcf07a3aaf8b598edfc2faa8fbcc0b6","Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 635bc4def026a24e071436f4f356ea08c0eed6ff","Linux 2.6.36"],"ssvc":{"exploitation":"none","automatable":"no","technicalImpact":"partial","timestamp":"2026-06-16T16:22:25.274360Z"},"published":"2026-01-13","updated":"2026-09-08","sourceUpdated":"2026-09-08T08:43:30.378Z","source":"CVEORG","sourceUrl":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68788","references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/df2711544b050aba703e6da418c53c7dc5d443ca"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/859bdf438f01d9aa7f84b09c1202d548c7cad9e8"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a7d7d96eeeab7af2bd01afbb3d9878a11a13d91"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0643d46759db8b84c0504a676043e5e341b6c81"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/82f7416bcbd951549e758d15fc1a96a5afc2e900"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7a93edb23bcf07a3aaf8b598edfc2faa8fbcc0b6"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/635bc4def026a24e071436f4f356ea08c0eed6ff"}],"tags":["cve.org"],"epss":0.00208,"epssPercentile":0.09613,"ingestedAt":"2026-09-08T15:33:26.995Z","slug":"CVE-2025-68788","body":"## Overview\n\nIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nfsnotify: do not generate ACCESS/MODIFY events on child for special files\n\ninotify/fanotify do not allow users with no read access to a file to\nsubscribe to events (e.g. IN_ACCESS/IN_MODIFY), but they do allow the\nsame user to subscribe for watching events on children when the user\nhas access to the parent directory (e.g. /dev).\n\nUsers with no read access to a file but with read access to its parent\ndirectory can still stat the file and see if it was accessed/modified\nvia atime/mtime change.\n\nThe same is not true for special files (e.g. /dev/null). Users will not\ngenerally observe atime/mtime changes when other users read/write to\nspecial files, only when someone sets atime/mtime via utimensat().\n\nAlign fsnotify events with this stat behavior and do not generate\nACCESS/MODIFY events to parent watchers on read/write of special files.\nThe events are still generated to parent watchers on utimensat(). This\ncloses some side-channels that could be possibly used for information\nexfiltration [1].\n\n[1] https://snee.la/pdf/pubs/file-notification-attacks.pdf\n\n## Affected\n\n- `Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < df2711544b050aba703e6da418c53c7dc5d443ca`\n- `Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 859bdf438f01d9aa7f84b09c1202d548c7cad9e8`\n- `Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 6a7d7d96eeeab7af2bd01afbb3d9878a11a13d91`\n- `Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < e0643d46759db8b84c0504a676043e5e341b6c81`\n- `Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 82f7416bcbd951549e758d15fc1a96a5afc2e900`\n- `Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 7a93edb23bcf07a3aaf8b598edfc2faa8fbcc0b6`\n- `Linux >= 72acc854427948efed7a83da27f7dc3239ac9afc < 635bc4def026a24e071436f4f356ea08c0eed6ff`\n- `Linux 2.6.36`\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.","depth":"sunlit","depthScore":3,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":2.8,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}