Seven stable Linux kernels land in what maintainers call possibly the largest update set ever

Sources: kernel.org releases, LWN
Summary: Greg Kroah-Hartman released 7.1.5, 6.18.40, 6.12.97, 6.6.145, 6.1.178, 5.15.212, and 5.10.261 on 2026-07-24. LWN reports the 7.1.5 release candidate carried over 2,000 patches and 6.18.40-rc1 carried 1,611, and quotes the announcement describing the set as hefty and possibly the largest ever. The releases follow the kernel CVE team publishing 432 CVEs across two days on 2026-07-22 and 2026-07-23.
Why it matters: Patch volume at this scale makes manual stable-tree review impractical for most operators and pushes the decision toward automated update pipelines.
Follow-up: Watch whether distribution kernels absorb the set without regressions and whether the batch cadence continues.