Who contributed to Linux on August 14, 2026?

6 developers shipped this update, including Linus Torvalds, Hui Su, Mikhail Gavrilov, Eric Dumazet, David Heinemeier Hansson, and AksharP5.

What were the notable Linux updates?

Merge tag 'trace-v7.2-rc7' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace, tracing: Fix NULL pointer dereference in module event cache removal, and Revert "wifi: mt76: Disable napi when removing device".

Linux

The kernel, distros, and the rigs of the moment

Pick a date

Topics: Infrastructure Full archive →

The Wire · Showcase

KERNEL TRACING FIXES LAND BEFORE 7.2 FINAL, L2TP LEAK PLUGGED

By RepoJournal · Filed 06:57 UTC on August 14, 2026 · About Linux

6 people shipped this

David Heinemeier Hansson @dhh 3 cited

Linus Torvalds @torvalds 1 cited

Hui Su @liulangrenaaa 1 cited

Mikhail Gavrilov @NTMan 1 cited

Eric Dumazet @edumazet 1 cited

AksharP5 @AksharP5

Steven Rostedt's tracing suite for v7.2-rc7 closes a NULL pointer dereference that crashes the kernel when module event filters are removed, while Eric Dumazet patches a refcount leak that bleeds tunnel state across proc reads.

The tracing subsystem shipped two critical fixes overnight [1] [2]. A NULL pointer dereference in the module event cache hits when userspace writes a wildcard filter for an unloaded module like ':mod:foo', then later tries to remove a specific event from it. The kernel cached that wildcard with a NULL match pointer, and passing it to strcmp() in remove_cache_mod() crashes hard. Reproduction is trivial: two writes to /sys/kernel/tracing/set_event and the box faults [2]. In parallel, Eric Dumazet closed a refcount leak in the L2TP tunnel iteration code [4]. When userspace closes /proc/net/pppol2tp before reading to EOF, the seq_file private data held tunnel and session references that never got dropped, leaking kernel memory on every early close. The wifi stack also saw a revert: the mt76 driver's NAPI disable on device removal created double-disable panics on mt7921e and mt7925e [3], where NAPI was already shut down earlier in unregister. A race condition between tracing's update_event_fields() and event_define_fields() is still under development [5]. On the userspace side, basecamp/omarchy fixed Chrome extension shortcut registration conflicts, Bluetooth discovery leaks, and wallpaper picker corruption across 28 PRs [6] [7] [8].

Action items

→ Test v7.2-rc7 tracing fixes in your test suite, especially module-wildcard event filters torvalds/linux [plan]
→ Review L2TP proc file reading patterns in production if you expose /proc/net/pppol2tp torvalds/linux [monitor]
→ Watch for the event_define_fields() race fix in the next RC torvalds/linux [monitor]

References

[1] Merge tag 'trace-v7.2-rc7' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace torvalds/linux
[2] tracing: Fix NULL pointer dereference in module event cache removal torvalds/linux
[3] Revert "wifi: mt76: Disable napi when removing device" torvalds/linux
[4] l2tp: fix tunnel and session refcount leak on seq_file release torvalds/linux
[5] tracing: Fix race between update_event_fields and, event_define_fields torvalds/linux
[6] Free the Copy URL shortcut from ghost extension registrations (#6821) basecamp/omarchy
[7] Suppress LocalSend's redundant tray item (#6852) basecamp/omarchy
[8] Stop Bluetooth discovery when the panel closes ↗ basecamp/omarchy

Quick answers

What shipped in Linux on August 14, 2026?: Steven Rostedt's tracing suite for v7.2-rc7 closes a NULL pointer dereference that crashes the kernel when module event filters are removed, while Eric Dumazet patches a refcount leak that bleeds tunnel state across proc reads. In total, 50 commits and 28 pull requests landed.
Who contributed to Linux on August 14, 2026?: 6 developers shipped this update, including Linus Torvalds, Hui Su, Mikhail Gavrilov, Eric Dumazet, David Heinemeier Hansson, and AksharP5.
What were the notable Linux updates?: Merge tag 'trace-v7.2-rc7' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace, tracing: Fix NULL pointer dereference in module event cache removal, and Revert "wifi: mt76: Disable napi when removing device".

KERNEL RC8 FLOOD MEETS OMARCHY'S BIGGEST SHIFT YET

Linux 7.2 enters its final release candidate with a deluge of subsystem fixes, while Omarchy 4 ships a complete desktop shell rewrite that kills off eight separate projects.

infra 36 shipped

Linux Aug 13

SCSI FIXES LAND AS OMARCHY SHIPS AI DIAGNOSTICS AND REAL-TIME KERNEL SUPPORT

Linus pulled critical SCSI fixes for power management and device locking while the Linux desktop ecosystem gains crash diagnostics and RT kernel variants.

infra 42 shipped

Linux Aug 12

KERNEL UPROBE FIX LANDS, OMARCHY PATCHES COMMAND INJECTION FLAW

Linux 7.2-rc7 merges a critical uprobe test fix while omarchy closes three arbitrary code execution vectors in theme installation.

infra 62 shipped

Linux Aug 11

REGMAP CACHE FIXES LAND AS OMARCHY CUTS PYTHON BLOAT

The kernel closes a suspend-resume race while a Linux desktop overhaul swaps Python tooling for a compiled Rust binary, cutting frame render times in half.

infra 50 shipped

Elsewhere on the wire

AI Agents Aug 15

LANGCHAIN SHIPS ENCRYPTED REASONING FIX, CLINE ADDS WEB SEARCH AND VOICE

ChatOpenAI now preserves OpenAI's encrypted reasoning from streamed responses, while Cline releases three versions with provider-executed web search and microphone transcription.

ai-agents 55 shipped

Local LLMs Aug 15

QWEN3.8 LANDS IN OLLAMA WITH DEVELOPER INSTRUCTION SUPPORT

Ollama shipped full Qwen3.8 support overnight, adding reasoning-effort semantics and a critical fix for coding agents that send developer instructions before user messages.

+12

llms 208 shipped

@CachyOS Aug 15

FIRMWARE AND INIT SYNC LANDS AS AUTOS ROLL FORWARD

CachyOS synced linux-firmware with Arch and bumped mkinitcpio to 41.1-1, while the package automation pipeline keeps qview and qtscrcpy current across the AUR-derived repo.

infra 41 shipped

Elixir & Phoenix Aug 15

PHOENIX LIVE VIEW SHIPS UPLOAD OVERHAUL, ELIXIR TUNES CORE PERFORMANCE

SteffenDE landed five critical fixes for LiveView's upload handler in one sweep, while the Elixir core team optimized Version comparison and regex operations.