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STATUS_MUTANT_LIMIT_EXCEEDED
The mutant recursion count reached its implementation limit
A thread that already owns a mutex or mutant can acquire the same object recursively; each successful acquisition must be balanced by a release. STATUS_MUTANT_LIMIT_EXCEEDED indicates that this recursive ownership accounting reached its maximum instead of blocking on another owner.
Such a result normally points to uncontrolled recursion, a retry loop that reacquires without unwinding, or a missing release on an inner path. Capture the owning thread and call stacks for successive acquisitions. Increasing a loop limit or converting the code to a semaphore does not repair the nesting invariant. The useful diagnostic is the first acquisition that was not paired with its corresponding release.
What to inspect
- Record acquisition depth and owner thread for the mutant.
- Find recursive or retry paths that reacquire before releasing.
- Compare normal and exceptional exits for balanced release operations.
References
- Microsoft: Mutex objects
- ReactOS: executive mutant implementation
- Microsoft Open Specifications: NTSTATUS values
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