AI Finds More Bugs. Linux Gets Less Safe. Creator Drew the Line.
Linux's private security channel broke. The One had been hiding in the kernel for eight years and nearly slipped through unread.
A serial killer is loose. The homicide detectives working the case cannot find the call that would lead them to him because the tip line is jammed with people who want the press attention, the reward money, or the thrill of being part of something dangerous. The lead the detectives need is buried in the same stack of paper.
Every Hollywood crime thriller writes that scene. I did not expect to see it on a Linux kernel security mailing list.
Two to three reports a week. Then five to ten a day.
That is the volume Willy Tarreau, the HAProxy author and longtime Linux kernel stable maintainer (responsible for older LTS branches like 2.4, 2.6.32, and 3.10), watched land on the Linux private security list.
The private channel that protects every Linux machine had flooded, and its creator stepped in to fix it.