CVE-2019-9857: Linux Kernel

Medium severity, CVSS 5.5. EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel through 5.0.2, the function inotify_update_existing_watch() in fs/notify/inotify/inotify_user.c neglects to call fsnotify_put_mark() with IN_MASK_CREATE after fsnotify_find_mark(), which will cause a memory leak (aka refcount leak). Finally, this will cause a denial of service.

Affected products

• Linux Linux Kernel: up to and including 5.0.2

Published 2019-03-21. Last modified 2026-06-17.