OpenAI’s cyber models find a root-level flaw in Debian and Ubuntu

A startup CTO used an OpenAI model to uncover a severe APT bug as the company widens its security-focused AI tooling One of the more serious Linux security flaws disclosed this fall was not found by a dedicated bug hunter. It was found by a robotics startup’s CTO working with an OpenAI model. Max Justicz, cofounder and chief technology officer of Charge Robotics, used OpenAI’s tooling to uncover a severe vulnerability. If exploited, it could have let attackers take control of servers running Ubuntu, one of the most widely used Linux-based operating systems. A bug in the software that installs all the other software The flaw is tracked as CVE-2026-109518. It sits in APT, the package manager that Debian and Ubuntu systems use to install and update software. According to the research findings, the vulnerability could enable man-in-the-middle attacks that bypass package verification. An attacker positioned between a server and its software source could slip in tampered code. That code could then run with root privileges, the highest level of control on the machine. Justicz used OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol model, accessed through the company’s Daybreak Blue tier, to identify the bug. He report...