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

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.

46 points | by linsomniac 1 hour ago

5 comments

  • AnotherGoodName 30 minutes ago
    It's Canonical. The company that literally asks for high school grades and a multi-page essay on any job application and will pass if you're not in the 99th percentile of year 9 maths even while requiring many years experience (which means you probably don't even know what your year 9 maths scores were). All the while they pay a fraction of any other Bay Area tech company.

    What i just described isn't a joke or an exaggeration either. It's literally part of the application process and you can look this up.

    Anyway they are quite simply hopelessly mismanaged and no one should be touching Canonical products at this point.

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    • hmokiguess 24 minutes ago
      Can you share the backstory behind your gripe, this comment feels oddly specific to what appears unrelated to someone outside who doesn't know what you know. Makes me think there's some personal and deeper roots behind it

      EDIT: I'm shocked.

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      • shmel 10 minutes ago
        Not OP, but why is it unrelated? Hiring practices and salaries are very much related to staff working in a company. A lot of people just refuse to jump through the hoops when they have a choice where to work. People willing to do so will just go to FAANG to maximize TC. That leaves us with a more desperate and less qualified pool of candidates. I doubt many people dream about working in Canonical, it isn't Google from decades ago.
      • alfanick 17 minutes ago
        It's common. I interviewed there years ago - full rebel, did not provide them my transcripts, grades etc. Last interview supposedly is run by Shuttleworth himself. Anyway, got a better gig meanwhile.
      • pluc 21 minutes ago
        It's pretty straightforward, go have a look at their careers site and application form. What parent is saying I believe is that they're leaving a lot of talent on the table because of questionable hiring practices; talent that would help proactively (or at least reactively) mitigate things like this.
      • AnotherGoodName 18 minutes ago
        Look it up so it isn't just coming from me. It's a quick Google "Canonical hiring process" and there's no shortage of wait wtf was that type of posts on this. You can also go on their website and try to apply for any job just to be further shocked.

        They ask for; A massive multi-choice questionaire. A massive free form list of questions. An ask for an essay. Grades from High school through to University. That's to start the process of many rounds of interviews followed by finally an interview with Mark Shuttleworth himself who's known to say no on vibes.

        Personally i applied for a senior management role after ~30years working at multiple other very large and well known companies. The pay at canonical was literally 1/5th but i was curious. I was honest about my high school scores and immediately given a thanks for your time but we will pass dialog on their website after stating maths scores in year 9. I'm not even fucking kidding. Obviously i was gobsmacked. It was a blessing to get knocked back that early all things considered.

        Not my post but has more detail and matches what i saw. Be amazed at the insanity in the leadership at Canonical that allows for this; https://www.reddit.com/r/recruitinghell/comments/15kj845/can...

        We're talking put him in a straightjacket loony tunes type of shit when it comes to Shuttleworth. You can also look up various personal interactions. It's utterly fucking insane.

      • bitfilped 13 minutes ago
        Just go interview there and you'll learn all about it for yourself.
      • dominotw 4 minutes ago
        Lol what an infuriating comment. "you must be butthurt from your interview"
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        • AnotherGoodName 0 minutes ago
          To be fair i did get knocked back but not at all butthurt since it was at the very first stage on the application after filling in high school maths scores from ~40 years ago in a country that doesn't even have GPAs (so i have no idea what to even enter in that box).

          The knockback didn't hurt. It just made me think Canonical was lead by a lunatic and a quick Google will confirm this.

  • chrisvalleybay 15 minutes ago
    There has been a workaround available since nov 2: https://ubuntu.com/blog/fixes-available-in-proposed-pocket-f...
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  • adsfasf 44 minutes ago
    Aren't the patches out since a day?
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    • guyisit 40 minutes ago
      Holy crap, they are showing in apt… why in the world wouldn’t they update the dang CVE page?!

      I agree though, this took too long.

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      • slekker 19 minutes ago
        Likely needs a human from another department to press a button, and they have not "synced" with the team publishing the patch.
  • infamouscow 25 minutes ago
    This is a problem with LTS distro kernels in general. You're trading the feeling of stability at the kernel level for security updates.
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  • sick_of_slop 43 minutes ago
    [dead]