The Update Conundrum
the.unknown-universe.co.uk
How a “kept back” Proxmox kernel left my home lab exposed to CVE‑2026‑31431 — why I now check upgradable packages and use apt full‑upgrade.

I’ve been running my home lab since 2021 and honestly thought my update routine was solid: apt update && apt upgrade, reboot, job done.

Turns out I was wrong. I was checking CVE‑2026‑31431 (Copy Fail) this morning and realised that despite my “successful” updates, I was still running a vulnerable kernel from March.

I’ve had to rethink how I handle host updates. If you’re relying on a standard upgrade and a reboot to keep Proxmox or Debian hosts safe, you might want to check if yours is lying to you as well.

  • paris@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    183·
    2 days ago

    The standard upgrade command has this behavior though, which is unexpected to people like me and the author. You need a specific flag to tell apt to actually upgrade everything which is not the behavior I expected.

      • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
        11·
        12 hours ago

        Lol.

        Let’s not defend this behavior by apt.

        I’ll die on many “linux is fine for just about everyone” hills.

        Getting apt to actually really honestly - I mean it this time - update everything - isn’t for everyone.

        Some of us just wait for our hardware to break down, and then reinstall the OS, fresh, instead.

        • ShortN0te@lemmy.ml
          11·
          8 hours ago

          Nothing of what you said is on topic. I never said linux is for everyone and so on…

          First, its about server administration. Second, I am neither saying that this behavior is good or bad.

          I am saying that the behavior is clearly stated in the output. Or what else does “packages were held back” mean.

          Blaming ignorance in reading the output prompt on the tools is really childish.

          • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
            1·
            6 minutes ago

            I didn’t mean to put words in your mouth, but your replies are exhausting. Lighten up.

            Apt could use some usability improvements, specifically around doing full upgrades. This isn’t a controversial take.

            Googling apt full upgrade CLI leads to various articles, all of which have a series of commands that are named orthogonally to this fairly common use case, and must be run in order, and sometimes repeated.

            There’s good reasons it is the way it is, and it can certainly be improved.