Release of Invalid Pointer or Reference Affecting kernel-livepatch-6.12.103-127.188 package, versions <1:1.0-0.amzn2023


Severity

Recommended
high

Based on Amazon Linux security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.16% (6th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-AMZN2023-KERNELLIVEPATCH612103127188-19476305
  • published1 Sept 2026
  • disclosed10 Aug 2026

Introduced: 10 Aug 2026

CVE-2026-68178  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-763  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade Amazon-Linux:2023 kernel-livepatch-6.12.103-127.188 to version 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 or higher.
This issue was patched in ALAS2023-2026-2110.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel-livepatch-6.12.103-127.188 package and not the kernel-livepatch-6.12.103-127.188 package as distributed by Amazon-Linux. See How to fix? for Amazon-Linux:2023 relevant fixed versions and status.

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.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1