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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Are all Linux vendor kernels insecure? A new study says yes, but there's a fix (www.zdnet.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Random excerpts.

"Any bug has the potential of being a security issue at the kernel level."

Although the programmers examined RHEL 8.8 specifically, this is a general problem. They would have found the same results if they had examined SUSE, Ubuntu, or Debian Linux. Rolling-release Linux distros such as Arch, Gentoo, and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed constantly release the latest updates, but they're not used in businesses.

The proposed fix:

The team advocates for a shift toward using stable kernel branches from kernel.org for better security and bug management.

Woah, someone discovered fire.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

They're also completely missing the point of distro kernel trees. Stable automatically selects patches from mainline (largely by keyword, and often without kernel developer feedback or involvement) and consequently has a massive amount of code churn and very little validation beyond shipping releases and waiting for regression reports. Distro trees are the buffer where actual testing happens before release. As a long term stable user it really isn't suitable for end user or enterprise consumption unless you have your own in house validation process to test releases for regressions before deployment. Even running stable on client machines (desktops, laptops) leads to a bad time every few weeks when something sneaks in that breaks functionality.

[–] nyan 6 points 7 months ago

Rolling-release Linux distros such as Arch, Gentoo, and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed constantly release the latest updates, but they’re not used in businesses.

So some businesses decided that monolithic releases were more important than being able to get the latest upstream vanilla kernel version, and somehow that's the fault of "all Linux kernel vendors" (including rolling-release distros, since there was no attempt to qualify "all") and not the businesses' decisions about tradeoffs?