Oracle Enterprise Linux 7.5 Debuts with Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 4

Oracle Enterprise Linux 7 Update 5 is now available for download for the x86_64 (64-bit) hardware architecture and brings with it Oracle’s Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) Release 4 kernel (kernel-uek-4.1.12-112.16.4.el7uek) and a Red Hat Enterprise Linux compatible kernel (kernel-3.10.0-862.el7). Oracle noted that fact that Oracle Enterprise Linux 7.5 remains compatible with apps that have already been certified for the Oracle Linux 7 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Prominent new features of the Oracle Enterprise Linux 7.5 release include support for the Memory Protection Keys hardware feature that’s available on recent Intel processors, provided through a new user-accessible register called PKRU, which contains two separate bits for each key, namely Access Disable and Write Disable. It also adds kernel address-space layout randomization (KASLR) support for KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) guests.