CVE-2010-4250

Description

Memory leak in the inotify_init1 function in fs/notify/inotify/inotify_user.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.37 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via vectors involving failed attempts to create files.

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

Red Hat

Security tracker ↗

Release	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
RHEL 6	perf +13	2.6.32-71.29.1.el6	RHSA-2011:0498

Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)

Release	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Red Hat MRG 1	perf +10	2.6.33.7-rt29.55.el5rt	RHSA-2011:0330

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

Exploit-DB 1

Linux Kernel 2.6.x - 'inotify_init()' Memory Leak Local Denial of Service EDB-35013 · dos · Nov 24, 2010 · verified

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

Advisories 2

RHSA-2011:0498 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 28, 2026
RHSA-2011:0330 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel-rt security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jan 14, 2026

Memory leak in the inotify_init1 function in fs/notify/inotify/inotify_user.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.37 allows local users to cause…