AI Agent Discovers 15-Year-Old Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Bug Named GhostLock

Researchers at Nebula Security have identified GhostLock, a Linux kernel vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-43499 that has been present since Linux 2.6.39 in 2011. The flaw allows attackers with local access to escalate privileges to root on nearly all major Linux distributions released since that time. Linux kernel version 7.1 includes a fix for the issue, but currently, the only practical precaution is to install the updated kernel.