The Fedora Project has shipped Fedora 45, a release that leans heavily on hardening the operating system's defaults while refreshing core development toolchains and desktop software. The update also expands hardware support for newer ARM-based laptops and introduces a friendlier way to handle kernel crashes.
Security and System Changes
Fedora 45 restricts the ptrace system call by default, a change that limits how processes can inspect or control one another, reducing the attack surface for malware that relies on process introspection. The release also enforces signature checking by default, requiring cryptographic verification before content is trusted, and moves toward reproducible package builds, meaning packages can be independently rebuilt and verified to match the versions Fedora ships. Together, these changes reflect a broader push across Linux distributions to close off avenues commonly exploited for privilege escalation or supply-chain tampering.
The release replaces the in-kernel console with KMSCON, a userspace console implementation, and adds a DRM Panic front-end that presents a clearer, more readable screen when the kernel encounters a fatal error, rather than leaving users with a garbled display.
Storage and Hardware Support
Fedora 45's Anaconda installer now supports Stratis Storage, a local storage management solution that simplifies tasks like volume creation and snapshotting without requiring manual command-line configuration of underlying technologies such as LVM and device-mapper. This gives users setting up new systems an easier path to more advanced storage layouts during installation itself.
The release also improves support for laptops built on Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips, continuing Fedora's work on ARM-based hardware as more Windows-on-Arm style laptops reach the consumer market and developers look for Linux compatibility on that silicon.
Software and Toolchain Updates
Fedora Workstation 45 ships with the GNOME 51 desktop environment. Developers get updated language runtimes and compilers, including Go 1.27, Python 3.15, GCC 16.2, Glibc 2.44, LLVM 23, and RPM 6.1. The distribution ships out of the box with the Linux 7.2 kernel, with a Linux 7.3 kernel update expected to follow shortly after release.
Fedora Magazine has published additional technical details on the release, which is available now for Workstation, Server, and other official Fedora spins.