Technology1 min read

Ask HN: What in the world is taking Ubuntu so long?

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The high-severity security vulnerability CVE-2026-98432 carries a 9.8 rating and remains unresolved nearly a week after it first surfaced. Ubuntu's security tracker continues to list the official patch as a work in progress, offering only a temporary mitigation in the meantime. The prolonged holdup has led observers to question whether engineering shortages, poor pipeline automation, or maintaining too many kernels are impairing release times. This situation has heightened user anxiety regarding the platform's ongoing capacity to handle an increasing volume of critical security threats.

Key points

  • Prolonged delays in delivering critical security fixes are shaking user confidence in Ubu…: Prolonged delays in delivering critical security fixes are shaking user confidence in Ubuntu's maintenance capabilities.
  • Observers suspect that overworked engineers, insufficient pipeline automation, or excessi…: Observers suspect that overworked engineers, insufficient pipeline automation, or excessive kernel maintenance burdens are causing the holdup.
  • Users are expressing deep concern over whether the platform can reliably keep pace with a…: Users are expressing deep concern over whether the platform can reliably keep pace with an expected rise in security threats.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Ubuntu has CVE-2026-98432 marked as a 9.8, but yet it's coming up on a week with no update to fix it. It's still marked as "work in progress" (though at least now they've listed a mitigation):

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-98432

I've had mitigations in place for a week, but this response is really shaking my confidence in Ubuntu. I'm just trying to understand what is going on with Ubuntu. Do they have too many kernels (that page is loooong), do they not have enough automation in the build/test pipeline, are their engineers overwhelmed?

We are moving into a world where there are going to be vastly more security issues; if you can't keep up now, where are you going to be in the next 6 months?

For a long time keeping on top of OS updates has been a huge part of keeping the attackers at bay. However, the world is changing.

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