CVE-2026-68178

misc: nsm: pin the module while the device is open

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: August 10, 2026 at 11:59 AM UTC
Updated: October 19, 2026 at 09:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: misc: nsm: pin the module while the device is open misc_open() installs a misc driver's file operations with fops_get(), which pins file_operations::owner before replacing the file's f_op. The NSM misc device leaves nsm_dev_fops.owner unset, so opening /dev/nsm does not take a module reference on the nsm driver. If the driver is built as a module, an open file descriptor can therefore survive rmmod of the module that provides its ioctl callbacks. A later ioctl through that descriptor can call into unloaded module text. Set nsm_dev_fops.owner to THIS_MODULE so the misc core holds the module while any /dev/nsm file descriptor is open, matching the lifetime expectation for the installed file operations.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

6.8b9873755a6c8ccfce79094c4dce9efa3ecb1a749
Vendor states this is fixed in 1996639f824ce9468395cdb7bcb8f467fa787e77 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 1da310b94504d42001e9c32c43c5dc105b777e5f (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3b231f1e9990f4c21220d0a69733ce2105891ff9 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 9e9a82d00c3d10129fc310a7547b24a679d5d920 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.101 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.18.42 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.8 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.1.6 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.2 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusRECEIVED
CWE
CWE-416

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