What is CVE-2026-68179?

CVE-2026-68179 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 8.4 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 6.8 onward and patched in 6.12.101, 6.18.42, 7.1.6 and others. CVE-2026-68179 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-68179?

CVE-2026-68179 has a CVSS score of 8.4 out of 10, rated High severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-68179?

Yes, CVE-2026-68179 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.12.101, 6.18.42, 7.1.6 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 6.8 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2026-68179 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-68179 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2026-68179

High

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: misc: nsm: only unlock nsm_dev on post-lock error paths nsm_dev_ioctl() jumps to the common out label even when the initial copy_from_user() fails before nsm->lock has been taken. The error path then blindly unlocks a mutex that was never acquired. This issue was found by our static analysis tool and then manually reviewed against the current tree. The grounded PoC kept the miscdevice ioctl entry and the pre-lock copy_from_user(&raw, argp, _IOC_SIZE(cmd)) failure path by issuing NSM_IOCTL_RAW with an invalid user pointer. That failure reaches the shared out label before mutex_lock(&nsm->lock). Lockdep reported: WARNING: bad unlock balance detected! exploit/193 is trying to release lock (&global_nsm.lock) at: nsm_dev_ioctl+0x5f/0xcf [vuln_msv] but there are no more locks to release! no locks held by exploit/193. Return immediately on the pre-lock copy_from_user() failure and keep the common unlock label for the post-lock paths only.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-08-10

Last modified 2026-08-17

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

8.4

out of 10

High

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 6.8 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.12.101, 6.18.42, 7.1.6, 7.2 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 6.8

Fixed in

✓ 6.12.101 6.12.x ✓ 6.18.42 6.18.x ✓ 7.1.6 7.1.x ✓ 7.2

References

4 total

Details

CVE ID CVE-2026-68179

Severity High

CVSS score 8.4 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2026-08-10

Modified 2026-08-17

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-68179?

CVE-2026-68179 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 8.4 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.8 onward and has been patched in 6.12.101, 6.18.42, 7.1.6 and others. CVE-2026-68179 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-68179?

CVE-2026-68179 has a CVSS score of 8.4 out of 10, rated High severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-68179?

Yes. CVE-2026-68179 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.12.101, 6.18.42, 7.1.6 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 6.8 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2026-68179 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2026-68179 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.