Artificial Intelligence discovers a dangerous vulnerability hidden in the Linux kernel for 15 years

07:51 / 13.07.2026·29·Technology

A major event has occurred in the world of cybersecurity: an artificial intelligence algorithm has discovered a critical vulnerability that has existed in the Linux kernel for nearly 15 years. This flaw, dubbed GhostLock (CVE-2026-43499), allows a user logged in as a standard user to gain unrestricted root privileges. This means an attacker could take full control of the entire system, delete data, or steal information. This was reported by Ixbt.com reports .

The VEGA AI tool, developed by experts at Nebula Security, managed to identify this bug. According to ixbt.com, this vulnerability has been present in the Linux kernel code since 2011 and has been used in many popular distributions. The most dangerous aspect is that no complex preparation or network access is required to launch an attack — a simple account on the device is sufficient.

Risk level and technical details

The GhostLock vulnerability falls into the "use-after-free" category. This occurs when a program continues to reference a memory location after it has been freed. Hackers can interfere with this process to modify data in memory and execute their own code with high privileges. According to the Nebula Security report, this exploit worked successfully in 97 percent of tests and even allowed escaping the boundaries of isolated containers.

This AI discovery was also highly praised by Google. As part of its kernelCTF program, the company awarded the team that found the vulnerability $92,337. This shows that despite the Linux kernel's open source code being reviewed by thousands of developers over the years, some bugs are only being found with the help of machine learning technologies.

Warning for system administrators

Although patches fixing this vulnerability were released in April of this year, their deployment across various systems has been uneven. Many servers and personal computers may still be at risk because updates in some distributions are not yet complete or have not been installed by users.

Experts recommend that Linux users and system administrators take the following measures:

Update the system kernel to the latest stable version immediately;
Check the security bulletins of the distribution being used;
Review user access rights on critical servers.

This situation marks the beginning of a new era in cybersecurity. AI is now becoming a more effective tool than humans, not only in carrying out cyberattacks but also in finding systemic bugs that have gone unnoticed for decades. For IT specialists and server administrators in Uzbekistan, implementing these updates in a timely manner is crucial, as much of the country's public and private sector infrastructure relies on the Linux platform.