HighCVE-2026-68480

Linux Kernel: security vulnerability (CVE-2026-68480)

Published 06.08.2026Last modified 18.08.2026Sources: SUSE, Ubuntu, Debian LTS, Debian, Red Hat, BSI, Msrc Update Guide, CVE.org

What is affected, what to do

An attacker executing code on affected system could inject an interrupt at a precise moment to disrupt "Safe RET", the default Linux mitigation for speculative Return Overflow (SRSO), which could potentially weaken that protection and may result in information disclosure.

The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below.

Conflicting version data — version display is hidden until the data is resolved.

Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

Metrics

8.8

Priority

XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

8.8

CVSS v3

Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

Source: SUSE, Ubuntu, Debian LTS, Debian, Red Hat, BSI, Msrc Update Guide, CVE.org

0.2 %

EPSS score

Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 14.4

Show all metrics

Severity: High
Priority (0–325) The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first? Read in glossary: 67.85 Methodology
Exploit maturity An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack. Read in glossary: no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command. Read in glossary: 8.8 Methodology
CVSS v3 CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions. Read in glossary: 8.8
EPSS score The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“. Read in glossary: 0.2 %; Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking. Read in glossary: 14.4; Elevated — this CVE ranks above at least 10% of all CVEs scored today.
KEV status The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching. Read in glossary: —
Published: 06.08.2026

Detection rules

No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

Classification under NIS2 and CRA

Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

NIS2 NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management. Read in glossary: High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
CRA The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates. Read in glossary: From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001 ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security. Read in glossary: Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

Description

Source: suse_csaf, Ubuntu Security Notices, Debian LTS Advisories, Debian Security Advisories, redhat_csaf, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF, Microsoft Security Update Guide, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST)

Affected products

The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

Affected products
		Affected versions	Fixed in
Linux	Linux	`5.15.125 – < 5.15.215` `6.4.9 – < 6.5` `6.5 – < 6.6.150` `6.1.44 – < 6.1.182` `6.13 – < 6.18.43` `5.10.189 – < 5.10.264` `6.19 – < 7.1.7` `6.7 – < 6.12.102` `—`	`5.15.215` `6.5` `6.6.150` `6.1.182` `6.18.43` `5.10.264` `7.1.7` `6.12.102` `7.2`
IBM	QRadar SIEM	`< 7.6.0.3` `<7.5.0 UP16 IF01`	`7.6.0.3` —
Open Source	Linux Kernel	`< 6.18.43` `< 7.1.7` `< 6.1.181` `< 5.15.214` `< 6.6.149` `< 5.10.263`	`6.18.43` `7.1.7` `6.1.181` `5.15.214` `6.6.149` `5.10.263`

Vendors and products

Affected operating systems

Affected operating systems

Linux	debian	linux	`bookworm`
Linux	debian	linux	`trixie`
Linux	debian	linux-6.12	`bookworm`
Linux	ubuntu	linux-gcp-5.15	`focal`

References & sources

git.kernel.orgstable/c/dfefa3c51370f84acb643cddf98bb42c885d0483
git.kernel.orgstable/c/52db77a13be224e09eb4ba6b4252ae8ab9085c2c
git.kernel.orgstable/c/d0208e08d64d99383e09852a76cc3038c5a4c3ab
git.kernel.orgstable/c/6703dba1d14cbd6647cd1ccfa3a3fa94b64dd096
git.kernel.orgstable/c/e262f28a69ae9e0791248f93b0173c1d1f3e1d5d
git.kernel.orgstable/c/bfe7f9993467ba431b2731437949ac1e2634e771
git.kernel.orgstable/c/61649a2d61cb0dbc673f0f232f0f0c298bf50442
people.csail.mit.edumengjia/data/2026.USENIX.TONTOU.pdf
git.kernel.orgstable/c/7e7f81cf6f5ca3311e526308f55d7c54d3ba71f9

Changes to this CVE

Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

18.08.2026Record modifiedLinux
1 individual change: Affected versions (publisher)
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type Action Before After
Affected versions (publisher) changed
Linux, Linux
Linux, Linux
Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
17.08.2026Record modifiedLinux
1 individual change: Affected versions (publisher)
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type Action Before After
Affected versions (publisher) changed
Linux, Linux
Linux, Linux
Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Affected versions (publisher)	changed	Linux, Linux	Linux, Linux

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Affected versions (publisher)	changed	Linux, Linux	Linux, Linux

11.08.2026Record modifiedLinux

New references:

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e7f81cf6f5ca3311e526308f55d7c54d3ba71f9

Show 2 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e7f81cf6f5ca3311e526308f55d7c54d3ba71f9
Affected versions (publisher)	changed	Linux, Linux	Linux, Linux

Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

09.08.2026Record modifiedLinux
New references:
- https://people.csail.mit.edu/mengjia/data/2026.USENIX.TONTOU.pdf
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type Action Before After
Reference added
—
https://people.csail.mit.edu/mengjia/data/2026.USENIX.TONTOU.pdf
Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Reference	added	—	https://people.csail.mit.edu/mengjia/data/2026.USENIX.TONTOU.pdf

07.08.2026Record modifiedLinux

New references:

and 1 more reference

Show 10 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52db77a13be224e09eb4ba6b4252ae8ab9085c2c
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6703dba1d14cbd6647cd1ccfa3a3fa94b64dd096
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0208e08d64d99383e09852a76cc3038c5a4c3ab
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dfefa3c51370f84acb643cddf98bb42c885d0483
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e262f28a69ae9e0791248f93b0173c1d1f3e1d5d
Reference	removed	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/608c8f5dccaaf8b8d2b28c0fbdd439d144be62b0	—
Reference	removed	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95b08cdd603fe79d2e9d5212fbb13d577c835f4f	—
Reference	removed	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9c0b8105e919be5208c81d5516a194a28c58fe1e	—
Reference	removed	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9de1a49e8f1fbf7c372902573a27a97d4ab4d0af	—
Affected versions (publisher)	changed	Linux, Linux	Linux, Linux

Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Show one older change

06.08.2026ReceivedLinux

Description added or changed

New references:

and 2 more references

Show 8 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Affected versions (publisher)	added	—	Linux, Linux
Description	added	—	In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/bugs: Make Safe-RET robust against interrupt injection An attacker injecting interrupts while the Safe-RET mitigation executes on machines affected by SRSO can neutralize the safe return sequence, potentially leading to data leakage through speculative execution. Fixup register state as if the Safe-RET sequence executed successfully by "emulating" it, in a manner of speaking, and avoid executing a RET instruction after returning from the interrupt.
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/608c8f5dccaaf8b8d2b28c0fbdd439d144be62b0
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/61649a2d61cb0dbc673f0f232f0f0c298bf50442
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/95b08cdd603fe79d2e9d5212fbb13d577c835f4f
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9c0b8105e919be5208c81d5516a194a28c58fe1e
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9de1a49e8f1fbf7c372902573a27a97d4ab4d0af
Reference	added	—	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bfe7f9993467ba431b2731437949ac1e2634e771

Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2026-68480"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2026-68480.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2026-68480 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>