Sunday, February 9, 2025
Homecyber securityLinux 6.14 Released – What's New

Linux 6.14 Released – What’s New

Published on

SIEM as a Service

Follow Us on Google News

The Linux Kernel 6.14-rc1 (release candidate 1) has been officially announced by Linus Torvalds, marking the conclusion of the merge window.

Described as notably “tiny” compared to previous release cycles, this development reflects the impact of the holiday season on developers’ schedules.

Despite its relative size, the release still comprises significant updates half a million lines of code changes and over 10,000 commits, with approximately 9,300 non-merge commits.

Focus Areas

According to Torvalds, the reduced size of this cycle is mainly attributed to the holiday timing, which proved effective in allowing a more balanced workflow.

The majority of changes (50% of the code diff) pertain to driver updates, while the remaining contributions span architectural updates, filesystems, tooling, and documentation.

As usual, subsystem maintainers submitted a diverse array of updates, showcasing a robust mix of contributions from across the kernel’s core areas:

  • Hardware Drivers: USB, GPU, networking, and storage-related improvements form a crucial part of this release, with contributors such as Greg Kroah-Hartman focusing on USB/Thunderbolt, char, misc, and staging drivers.
  • Architectures: Updates were made for architectures like x86 (addressing RAS, SEV, and microcode), ARM, RISC-V, MIPS, and s390, among others.
  • Filesystems and Storage: Enhancements were implemented in filesystems such as XFS, Btrfs, and F2FS, with bug fixes and feature refinements for tools like io_uring.
  • Networking: Kernel networking stacks, NFS clients/servers, and hypervisor-related networking updates continue to evolve in this iteration.
  • Tooling and Debugging: Improvements in kselftest, tracing subsystems, and debugging tools have also been integrated.
  • Documentation and Hardening: A significant focus on self-tests, kernel hardening, and updated documentation reflects the commitment to stability and security.

Aiming for a Stable Stabilization Phase

While Torvalds remains optimistic about a smooth and efficient stabilization period, he acknowledges the unpredictability of development cycles.

The smaller size might pave the way for fewer issues during this critical phase, a desirable outcome for maintainers and contributors.

Prominent maintainers like Andrew Morton, Greg Kroah-Hartman, and Rafael Wysocki have contributed to core updates in memory management (MM), power management, and driver subsystems, ensuring broad coverage of critical areas.

The release also introduces updates to emerging technologies, such as Compute Express Link (CXL) and bcachefs.

Looking forward, contributors and testers are encouraged to participate actively in identifying and resolving any potential issues during the RC phase.

With its reduced size and a broad but focused scope, Linux 6.14-rc1 is set to further mature and deliver a well-rounded kernel for its final release.

Are you from SOC/DFIR Teams? – Analyse Malware Files & Links with ANY.RUN Sandox -> Try for Free

Aman Mishra
Aman Mishra
Aman Mishra is a Security and privacy Reporter covering various data breach, cyber crime, malware, & vulnerability.

Latest articles

UK Pressures Apple to Create Global Backdoor To Spy on Encrypted iCloud Access

United Kingdom has reportedly ordered Apple to create a backdoor allowing access to all...

Autonomous LLMs Reshaping Pen Testing: Real-World AD Breaches and the Future of Cybersecurity

Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming penetration testing (pen testing), leveraging their advanced reasoning...

Securing GAI-Driven Semantic Communications: A Novel Defense Against Backdoor Attacks

Semantic communication systems, powered by Generative AI (GAI), are transforming the way information is...

Cybercriminals Target IIS Servers to Spread BadIIS Malware

A recent wave of cyberattacks has revealed the exploitation of Microsoft Internet Information Services...

Supply Chain Attack Prevention

Free Webinar - Supply Chain Attack Prevention

Recent attacks like Polyfill[.]io show how compromised third-party components become backdoors for hackers. PCI DSS 4.0’s Requirement 6.4.3 mandates stricter browser script controls, while Requirement 12.8 focuses on securing third-party providers.

Join Vivekanand Gopalan (VP of Products – Indusface) and Phani Deepak Akella (VP of Marketing – Indusface) as they break down these compliance requirements and share strategies to protect your applications from supply chain attacks.

Discussion points

Meeting PCI DSS 4.0 mandates.
Blocking malicious components and unauthorized JavaScript execution.
PIdentifying attack surfaces from third-party dependencies.
Preventing man-in-the-browser attacks with proactive monitoring.

More like this

UK Pressures Apple to Create Global Backdoor To Spy on Encrypted iCloud Access

United Kingdom has reportedly ordered Apple to create a backdoor allowing access to all...

Autonomous LLMs Reshaping Pen Testing: Real-World AD Breaches and the Future of Cybersecurity

Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming penetration testing (pen testing), leveraging their advanced reasoning...

Securing GAI-Driven Semantic Communications: A Novel Defense Against Backdoor Attacks

Semantic communication systems, powered by Generative AI (GAI), are transforming the way information is...