15-Year-Old GhostLock Flaw Enables Root and Container Escape on Most Linux Distros

A 15-year-old vulnerability dubbed GhostLock has come to light, potentially allowing any logged-in user to gain full root access on virtually all Linux distributions that haven't been updated. Discovered by researchers at Nebula Security, this flaw (CVE-2026-43499) resides in the Linux kernel and requires no special permissions or network connection to exploit. This revelation underscores the critical importance of keeping software up to date, as it highlights a significant security gap that has persisted across many widely-used systems.