Linus Torvalds has officially announced the release of Linux kernel 6.18 on November 30, 2025, marking another significant milestone in the open-source operating system’s development.
The new kernel version brings numerous improvements across hardware support, driver updates, and file system enhancements.
The Linux 6.18 release includes extensive bug fixes and driver improvements that were finalized in the last week before release.
While Torvalds noted there was slightly more bugfixing activity than he would have preferred, he confirmed that nothing warranted delaying the release further.
The new kernel introduces support for Intel Wildcat Lake through Thunderbolt driver updates, expanding compatibility with newer Intel platforms.
The USB subsystem receives notable additions, including support for Intel Nova Lake-S in the dwc3 PCI driver. Memory and storage improvements include fixes for RTL8127 network adapter hang issues during suspend and shutdown.
| Feature Category | Key Improvements | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware Support | Intel Wildcat Lake | Added Thunderbolt support for Intel’s newest platform |
| USB Subsystem | Intel Nova Lake-S Support | New PCI device support in dwc3 driver |
| Network Drivers | RTL8127 Fix | Resolved hang issues during suspend and shutdown |
| Display Drivers | AMD Display | NULL pointer checks and EDID read retry enhancements |
| Industrial I/O | Sensor Updates | BMP280 measurement time corrections and ADXL355 startup fixes |
| Network Stack | sxgbe Driver | Fixed potential NULL dereference issues |
| Storage | Atlantic Adapter | Fragment overflow handling improvements in RX path |
| Distributed Systems | Ceph and AFS | Fixed delayed cell allocation and encrypted directory handling |
| Device Mapper | Storage Reliability | Fixes for flush operations and verity memory allocation |
| CAN Bus | Vehicle Networks | Fixes for Renesas CANFD and USB CAN adapters |
| Bluetooth | Stability | Fixed kernel crash on MTK interface release and socket write race |
| Power Management | Device Suspend | Multiple USB and device driver PM runtime fixes |
| Memory Management | Stability | Fixed data race conditions and uninitialized variable issues |
| File Systems | General Fixes | Various corrections in namespace handling and VMA operations |
Updated and Improved Drivers
Linux 6.18 delivers numerous driver improvements across multiple subsystems. The AMD display drivers received critical fixes, including corrections for NULL pointer checks and enhanced EDID read retries.
The IIO (Industrial I/O) subsystem sees updates for various sensors, including the BMP280 pressure sensor with corrected measurement time calculations and fixes for the ADXL355 accelerometer startup race condition.
Network drivers benefit from multiple fixes, including improvements to the sxgbe driver that address potential NULL dereference issues and Atlantic network adapter fragment overflow handling.
The CAN bus subsystem receives fixes for Renesas CANFD and various USB CAN adapters. The Ceph and AFS distributed file systems receive important fixes addressing delayed cell allocation and encrypted directory handling.
Device mapper improvements include fixes for flush operations and verifying memory allocation reliability.
Torvalds announced that the merge window for Linux 6.19 opens immediately. He noted that the upcoming kernel maintainer summit will overlap with the merge window, potentially causing minor delays.
The 6.19 release cycle may extend to rc8 due to the holiday season, with the final release expected in February 2026.
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