CVE-2026-68178misc: nsm: pin the module while the device is open
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 0.16%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 94% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
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.
Timeline
ID reserved
By Linux
- 11 days later
· 11 days later
Published
- 2 months later
· 2 months later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| LinuxCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Received | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.16% · top 94% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
- affected b9873755a6c8ccfce79094c4dce9efa3ecb1a749 – < 1996639f824ce9468395cdb7bcb8f467fa787e77
- affected b9873755a6c8ccfce79094c4dce9efa3ecb1a749 – < 1da310b94504d42001e9c32c43c5dc105b777e5f
- affected b9873755a6c8ccfce79094c4dce9efa3ecb1a749 – < 9e9a82d00c3d10129fc310a7547b24a679d5d920
- affected b9873755a6c8ccfce79094c4dce9efa3ecb1a749 – < 3b231f1e9990f4c21220d0a69733ce2105891ff9
- affected 6.8
- unaffected < 6.8
- unaffected 6.12.101 – ≤ 6.12.*
- unaffected 6.18.42 – ≤ 6.18.*
- unaffected 7.1.6 – ≤ 7.1.*
- unaffected 7.2 – ≤ *
References
References4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1996639f824ce9468395cdb7bcb8f467fa787e77 (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1da310b94504d42001e9c32c43c5dc105b777e5f (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9e9a82d00c3d10129fc310a7547b24a679d5d920 (opens in a new tab)
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b231f1e9990f4c21220d0a69733ce2105891ff9 (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-55279 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-68178)Record last updated .