CVE-2025-68788

Status: DeferredUnscored—

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().

Read full descriptionShow less

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

CVSS

NVD hasn't assigned a CVSS score to this CVE (common since the April 2026 policy change).

Exploitation probability (EPSS)

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.21%
Percentile among all scored CVEs: 10
Score date: 10/6/2026

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST) estimates how likely a vulnerability is to be exploited in the wild within 30 days. It complements CVSS (impact) and CISA KEV (confirmed exploitation).

Affected technologies (1)

⚠ AI-inferred from the description — NVD hasn't analyzed this CVE yet, these aren't verified CPEs.

Linux — Linux Kernel^AI

References

Raw JSON (NVD)

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{
  "id": "CVE-2025-68788",
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          "role": "CISA Coordinator",
          "options": [
            {
              "exploitation": "none"
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            {
              "automatable": "no"
            },
            {
              "technicalImpact": "partial"
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          "version": "2.0.3",
          "timestamp": "2026-06-16T16:22:25.274360Z"
        }
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      "affectedData": [
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  "published": "2026-01-13T16:15:58.623",
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  ],
  "vulnStatus": "Deferred",
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "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. 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"
    },
    {
      "lang": "es",
      "value": "En el kernel de Linux, la siguiente vulnerabilidad ha sido resuelta:\n\nfsnotify: no generar eventos ACCESS/MODIFY en el hijo para archivos especiales\n\ninotify/fanotify no permiten a los usuarios sin acceso de lectura a un archivo suscribirse a eventos (p. ej., IN_ACCESS/IN_MODIFY), pero sí permiten al mismo usuario suscribirse para observar eventos en los hijos cuando el usuario tiene acceso al directorio padre (p. ej., /dev).\n\nLos usuarios sin acceso de lectura a un archivo pero con acceso de lectura a su directorio padre aún pueden hacer stat al archivo y ver si fue accedido/modificado a través de un cambio en atime/mtime.\n\nLo mismo no es cierto para archivos especiales (p. ej., /dev/null). Los usuarios generalmente no observarán cambios en atime/mtime cuando otros usuarios leen/escriben en archivos especiales, solo cuando alguien establece atime/mtime a través de utimensat().\n\nAlinear los eventos de fsnotify con este comportamiento de stat y no generar eventos ACCESS/MODIFY a los observadores padre en la lectura/escritura de archivos especiales. Los eventos aún se generan a los observadores padre en utimensat(). Esto cierra algunos canales laterales que podrían ser posiblemente utilizados para la exfiltración de información [1].\n\n[1] https://snee.la/pdf/pubs/file-notification-attacks.pdf"
    }
  ],
  "lastModified": "2026-07-14T13:18:00.363",
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
}