RepoJournal

$ cat linux/month/2026-08-01.log

Linux

Linux

the month in review · August 2026

Linux 7.2 closes and 7.3 opens amid kernel hardening and Omarchy's security push

♥

August saw Linux 7.2 ship and the 7.3 merge window open with a BPF verifier overhaul and Rust module support, while Omarchy closed several privilege-escalation and RCE paths.

960 commits 277 PRs merged 3 releases 31 briefings covered
linux wire →

Linux 7.2 moved from RC6 to final release through a steady stream of targeted fixes across tracing, SCSI, VFS, and architecture-specific subsystems. The month opened with a broad RC6 wave covering tracing, NTFS, ATA, io_uring, and PCI [1][2], followed by RISC-V memory and VFS safety patches [3][4]. Later RC cycles plugged a futex race and MCE bug [5], a command injection flaw in Omarchy [6], and a use-after-free in the ipheth driver [7]. The final 7.2 release included scheduler lockup and Raspberry Pi timer deadlock fixes [8], and the merge window for 7.3 opened almost immediately with a BPF verifier overhaul [9] and Rust module support [10].

References

  1. [1] Merge tag 'trace-v7.2-rc5' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace torvalds/linux
  2. [2] Merge tag 'io_uring-7.2-20260731' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/axboe/linux torvalds/linux
  3. [3] Merge tag 'riscv-for-linus-7.2-rc6' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/riscv/linux torvalds/linux
  4. [4] Merge tag 'vfs-7.2-rc6.fixes' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/vfs/vfs torvalds/linux
  5. [5] Merge tag 'sched-urgent-2026-08-02' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip torvalds/linux
  6. [6] Merge tag 'ntfs-for-7.2-rc6' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/linkinjeon/ntfs torvalds/linux
  7. [7] Merge tag 'ata-7.2-rc6' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/libata/linux torvalds/linux
  8. [8] Merge tag 'pci-v7.2-fixes-1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/pci/pci torvalds/linux
  9. [9] Merge tag 'i2c-fixes-7.2-rc6' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/andi.shyti/linux torvalds/linux
  10. [10] Add Setup > Network menu with DNS, QR Code, and Speed Test ↗ basecamp/omarchy

$ ls linux/month/ # the briefings behind this review

Sat Aug 1 KERNEL RC6 FIXES LAND ACROSS TRACING, NTFS, ATA, IO_URING, AND PCI Sun Aug 2 I2C FIXES LAND FOR 7.2-RC6, OMARCHY NETWORK SETTINGS SHIP Mon Aug 3 LINUS PULLS RISC-V MEMORY FIX AND VFS SAFETY PATCH INTO 7.2-RC6 Tue Aug 4 FSVERITY REGRESSION FIXED, CGROUP TIMER BUG PATCHED, OMARCHY SHELL RESTART UNCONDITIONAL Wed Aug 5 KERNEL FIXES INTEGER UNDERFLOW IN IMA, VHOST/VDPA PULLS CRITICAL PATCHES Thu Aug 6 KERNEL MEMORY FLUSH BUG HITS PAGE TABLE RECLAIM, SOC FIXES LAND ACROSS QUALCOMM AND BROADCOM Fri Aug 7 IPHETH DRIVER PLUGS USE-AFTER-FREE HOLE ON USB DISCONNECT Sat Aug 8 KERNEL RC7 STABILIZES WITH HARDWARE FIXES ACROSS FIVE SUBSYSTEMS Sun Aug 9 KERNEL RC7 PLUGS FUTEX RACE AND MCE BUG; OMARCHY FIXES UPGRADE TRAP Mon Aug 10 KERNEL RC7 SHIPS WITH CRITICAL TRACING AND ZCRYPT FIXES Tue Aug 11 REGMAP CACHE FIXES LAND AS OMARCHY CUTS PYTHON BLOAT Wed Aug 12 KERNEL UPROBE FIX LANDS, OMARCHY PATCHES COMMAND INJECTION FLAW Thu Aug 13 SCSI FIXES LAND AS OMARCHY SHIPS AI DIAGNOSTICS AND REAL-TIME KERNEL SUPPORT Fri Aug 14 KERNEL TRACING FIXES LAND BEFORE 7.2 FINAL, L2TP LEAK PLUGGED Sat Aug 15 KERNEL RC8 FLOOD MEETS OMARCHY'S BIGGEST SHIFT YET Sun Aug 16 KERNEL CLOSES 7.2 WITH TEGRA FIX, OMARCHY SHIPS FIVE CRITICAL FIXES FOR WINDOWS AND PLUGIN PIPELINE Mon Aug 17 KERNEL 7.2 PATCHES SCHEDULER LOCKUPS, RASPBERRY PI TIMER DEADLOCK Tue Aug 18 VFS pulls land with iterator model and kthread isolation Wed Aug 19 LINUS PULLS FIVE TIP BRANCHES IN ONE DAY Thu Aug 20 LINUX MERGES INTEGRITY, SMACK, AND CHROME PLATFORM FIXES Fri Aug 21 LINUX 7.3 MERGE WINDOW OPENS WITH BPF VERIFIER OVERHAUL Sat Aug 22 LINUX 7.3 MERGE WINDOW OPENS WITH RUST MODULE SUPPORT Sun Aug 23 KERNEL URGENT FIXES LAND AS PERF TOOLS GAIN FUNCTION VIEW Mon Aug 24 OMARCHY CLOSES THE RCE DOOR Tue Aug 25 OMARCHY KILLS THE ROOT EQUIVALENT DOCKER GROUP Wed Aug 26 KVM MERGE, FOUR SECURITY PATCHES: LINUX AND OMARCHY SHIP CRITICAL FIXES Thu Aug 27 NFS MERGE BRINGS CRITICAL STABILITY FIXES Fri Aug 28 CONTAINER ESCAPE FOLLOWS A SLASH Sat Aug 29 Omarchy closes two passwordless root-escalation paths in CUPS and browser policy Sun Aug 30 SCSI merge closes, Plymouth and SDDM publication hardened Mon Aug 31 OpenSSH 10 hardening failure and security policy land across omarchy
linux wire →