The Linux kernel has been updated to version 6.19.1, which fixes several bugs affecting everyday hardware drivers. The update addresses issues such as Wi-Fi stalls, alignment faults on arm64 systems, and random crashes when using PCI endpoints with configfs. These problems were seen in various devices, including the VisionFive 2 running RISC-V Linux and FriendlyElec NanoPC-T6. Users who experience these issues may benefit from upgrading to the new kernel version.

Linux kernel 6.19.1 update fixes Wi‑Fi, PCI and more – what you need to know

The newest kernel brings a handful of practical fixes that touch everyday hardware drivers. If your machine has been spiking with weird crashes or performance hiccups, the 6.19.1 point release may already solve them.

Why upgrade now?

A quick glance at the changelog shows several bugs that surface on popular boards and devices. One real‑world case involved a VisionFive 2 running RISC‑V Linux: after a recent driver update, the rtl8xxxu Wi‑Fi stack wrote past its private data block and killed the kernel. The patch now sets hw->sta_data_size during probe, matching mac80211’s expectations and preventing that out‑of‑bounds write.

On arm64 desktops, the rtw88 family (the driver for many Realtek 8822C/8851B cards) was occasionally throwing an “alignment fault” when enabling a beacon. The upstream change rewrites the offending read/write to use single‑byte accesses instead of a misaligned word load, which eliminates that kernel panic on systems like the FriendlyElec NanoPC‑T6.

If you’re using a PCI endpoint function exposed through configfs (for example, as part of an emulated device), you might have noticed crashes when rapidly creating and deleting directories. The new code replaces the delayed work that could dereference a freed driver directory with a synchronous call to configfs_add_default_group, stopping a NULL pointer crash that showed up in stress tests.

In short: if you’re hitting Wi‑Fi stalls, alignment faults on arm64, or random PCI endpoint crashes while tinkering with configfs, the 6.19.1 kernel has already patched those problems.

Linux kernel 6.19.1 released

Linux kernel version 6.19.1 is now available:

Full source: https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v6.x/linux-6.19.1.tar.xz
Patch: https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v6.x/patch-6.19.1.xz
PGP Signature: https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v6.x/linux-6.19.1.tar.sign

You can view the summary of the changes at the following URL:
https://git.kernel.org/stable/ds/v6.19.1/v6.19