Linus Torvalds sees signs AI-prompted patch flood has peaked
The other is what Torvalds described as “various AI fixes.” Such fixes are necessary because ever since Anthropic launched its Mythos bug-finding model in April, developers have been able to find more software flaws than was previously possible.
Key points
- “Don't hold your breath, but maybe cross your fingers we'll be getting there in the not entirely distant future.” If Torvalds is correct, that’s welcome news.
- That’s a reference to Alexei Starovoitov, co-creator and lead dev on the Extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF), the project that makes it possible to run sandboxed programs within the Linux kernel.
- Writing in his weekly kernel update post, the Linux kernel dev leader delivered Linux 7.4 rc2 – the second rough cut of the next kernel – which he rated as a big release for two reasons.
The worst of the patchpocalypse may be behind us, according to Linus Torvalds.
If AI soon stops finding flaws in other parts of the kernel beyond eBPF, perhaps the deluge of fixes developers and users alike will need to handle has peaked.
Additional details
- That’s many more patches than IT teams are set up to handle, yet they must find ways to deal with bugs more quickly because attackers are increasingly targeting flaws found by AI.
- Torvalds’ post suggests that, perhaps, the worst of this is behind us.
- “This time around Alexei claims that on the bpf side at least the fixes are now coming in faster than the new reports, and that sounds lovely if true,” he wrote.
- Microsoft, for example, addressed a record 974 flaws in September – its third record fixing spree this year after it whacked 622 flaws in July and 206 in June.
- “I think most other areas haven't reached that point yet, but it's at least a sign that we _may_ be starting to see the tide starting to turn,” he added.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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