July 9, 2026
A 15-Year-Old Linux Kernel Bug Hands Root on Every Distro
GhostLock (CVE-2026-43499), a 15-year-old Linux kernel use-after-free in every mainstream distribution since 2011, enables unauthenticated root access and container escape when paired with a Firefox 0-day in a full browser-to-kernel exploit chain. GhostApproval symlink flaws in six AI coding assistants (Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cursor, Google Antigravity, Windsurf, Augment) allow booby-trapped repositories to redirect file writes and achieve RCE via misleading confirmation dialogs. CISA added actively-exploited Adobe ColdFusion (CVE-2026-48282) and Langflow auth-bypass flaws to its KEV catalog, with the Langflow issue matching the JADEPUFFER operator's exploitation from the prior week. AI agents are lowering the barrier for less-skilled attackers: hallucination-squatting registers fake package names that models invent, delivering malware to developers, while researchers demonstrate that agents scanning untrusted code for bugs can instead execute the attacker's payload on the analyst's machine.