Was the exam set up as a Canvas Quiz? If that is the case, when a student submits the quiz it should no longer show the exam as missing and it sounds like Canvas is not acting appropriately.
If the exam was being completed on paper it might be that you had it set up in Canvas as an assignment with an online submission. I have seen teacher create an assignment on Canvas that was being completed on paper but they accidentally set up the assignment to have an online submission. In this case it will show as missing until the students actually submit something online, or the teacher goes in to mark it as not missing. Instead choose the option of "No Submission" or of "On Paper". Then Canvas will not be looking for something to be submitted digitally.
I hope this helps.
-Sara
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