Zypper: System management is locked

I am having trouble updating a SLES 12.5 server. Zypper is not working supposedly due to another zypper process already running:

# zypper lu System management is locked by the application with pid 25074 (zypper). Close this application before trying again. 

If I try again, the PID changes:

# zypper lu System management is locked by the application with pid 27117(zypper). Close this application before trying again. 

If I try to kill 27117, it doesn't work as it is not there anymore:

# kill 27117 bash: kill: (27117) - No such process 

The PID is stored in

# cat /var/run/zypp.pid 31776 

and here too, if I repeat the command, I get a different PID:

# cat /var/run/zypp.pid 525 

This is what zypper.log looks like when I issue a zypper lu command:

2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] main.cc(main):97 ===== Hi, me zypper 1.13.64 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] main.cc(main):98 ===== 'zypper' 'lu' ===== 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zconfig] ZConfig.cc(_autodetectSystemArchitecture):73 Uname architecture is 'x86_64' 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zconfig] ZConfig.cc(_autodetectTextLocale):209 Default text locale is 'en' 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zconfig] ZConfig.cc(Impl):343 libzypp: 16.22.8 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] IniParser.cc(parse):84 Start parsing /etc/zypp/zypp.conf[g___] 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] IniParser.cc(parse):138 Done parsing /etc/zypp/zypp.conf[_eF_] 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [Progress++] ProgressData.cc(report):88 <#1|/etc/zypp/zypp.conf>END 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zconfig] ZConfig.cc(Impl):621 ZConfig singleton created. 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zconfig] ZConfig.cc(ZConfig):821 libzypp: 16.22.8 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zconfig] ZConfig.cc(ZConfig):821 libsolv: 0.6.39 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zconfig] ZConfig.cc(ZConfig):821 zypp.conf: '/etc/zypp/zypp.conf' 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zconfig] ZConfig.cc(ZConfig):821 TextLocale: 'en' (en) 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zconfig] ZConfig.cc(ZConfig):821 SystemArchitecture: 'x86_64' (x86_64) 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] PathInfo.cc(assert_dir):354 mkdir /var/tmp/zypp.hVcxMA/zypper 00755 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(Zypper):552 Zypper instance created. 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] media.h(MediaCallbacks):182 Set media callbacks.. 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):891 START 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [Measure] Measure.cc(log):178 START MEASURE(ReadConfig) 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Augeas.cc(Augeas):21 Going to read zypper config using Augeas. 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Augeas.cc(Augeas):103 Done reading conf files: 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Augeas.cc(Augeas):108 user conf read: no 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Augeas.cc(Augeas):109 global conf read: yes 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [Measure] Measure.cc(log):178 ELAPSED(ReadConfig) 0 (u 0.01 s 0.00 c 0.00) 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [Measure] Measure.cc(log):178 MEASURE(ReadConfig) 0 (u 0.01 s 0.00 c 0.00) [0 (u 0.00 s 0.00 c 0.00)] 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper++] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):1019 Verbosity 1 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper++] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):1020 Output type 1 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper++] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):1280 repos.d dir = /etc/zypp/repos.d 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper++] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):1281 cache dir = /var/cache/zypp 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper++] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):1282 raw cache dir = /var/cache/zypp/raw 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper++] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):1283 solv cache dir = /var/cache/zypp/solv 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper++] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):1284 package cache dir = /var/cache/zypp/packages 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):1296 Repositories enabled 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(processGlobalOptions):1414 DONE 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(processCommandOptions):1606 START 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(processCommandOptions):3536 Done parsing options. 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(processCommandOptions):3555 Done 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] ZYppFactory.cc(_openLockFile):168 Open lockfile /var/run/zypp.pid 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] ZYppFactory.cc(readLockFile):223 read: Lockfile /var/run/zypp.pid has pid 27117 (our pid: 27119) 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] ZYppFactory.cc(isProcessRunning):195 Checking /proc/27117 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp++] ZYppFactory.cc(isProcessRunning):209 Is running: zypper 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] ZYppFactory.cc(zyppLocked):270 27117 is running and has a ZYpp lock. Sorry. 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] ZYppFactory.cc(_closeLockFile):186 Close lockfile /var/run/zypp.pid 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] Exception.cc(log):166 ZYppFactory.cc(getZYpp):404 THROW: System management is locked by the application with pid 27117 (zypper). 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] Exception.cc(log):166 Close this application before trying again. 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] Exception.cc(log):166 Zypper.cc(assertZYppPtrGod):267 CAUGHT: System management is locked by the application with pid 27117 (zypper). 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] Exception.cc(log):166 Close this application before trying again. 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(assertZYppPtrGod):303 A ZYpp transaction is already in progress. 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.h(setExitCode):250 setExitCode 7 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] Exception.cc(log):166 Zypper.cc(assertZYppPtrGod):307 THROW: ZYpp locked 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] Exception.cc(log):166 Zypper.cc(safeDoCommand):1582 CAUGHT: ZYpp locked 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(safeDoCommand):1583 Caught exit request: exitCode 7 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(cleanup):5575 START 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] main.cc(~Bye):82 ===== Exiting main() ===== 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypper] Zypper.cc(~Zypper):559 Zypper instance destroyed. Bye! 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp] PathInfo.cc(recursive_rmdir):435 recursive_rmdir /var/tmp/zypp.hVcxMA 2023-10-10 22:10:52 myhostname(27119) [zypp++] TmpPath.cc(~Impl):78 TmpPath cleaned up /var/tmp/zypp.hVcxMA 

Any idea of what could be going on here? I have solved this in the past by rebooting, but I want to find a better, not so drastic solution.