A killswitch has been pitched for the Linux kernel that could shut down vulnerable functions while users wait for patches
Publish Date: 2026-05-11 12:17:00
Source Domain: www.pcgamer.com
If you’ve ever felt anxious about the security of your machine while you wait for a solution to some vulnerability, a proposed change to the Linux kernel may interest you. Pitched by Nvidia staff Sasha Levin, it’s effectively a killswitch that could shut down some functions while waiting for a more official solution.
As spotted by The Information, Levin writes, “Killswitch lets a privileged operator make a chosen kernel function return a fixed value without executing its body, as a temporary mitigation for a security bug while a real fix is being prepared”
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Levine continues, “For most users, the cost of ‘this socket family stops working for the day’ is
much smaller than the cost of running a known vulnerable kernel until the fix lands.”
This killswitch was suggested just a week after researchers caught a root exploit called “Copyfail”. Effectively, this exploit can escalate user privileges by replacing code, and that user can exploit escalated user privileges to attack machines. Over on the Cybersecurity Reddit, one user says, “That script is stupidly easy to run and gain root.”
(Image credit: Future)
There was a period of time in between Copyfail being spotted and patches rolling out where users were left more vulnerable than before, and this is the perfect use case for the likes of this killswitch.
It’s naturally not the most elegant solution to problems, given it simply shuts down parts of the machine, but that level of granular control could…
