The solution, according to Microsoft, is to get rid of it and buy a computer that can run Windows 11. But that's not good enough. This ThinkPad - like millions of other PCs in the same boat - is still perfectly functional.
The vulnerabilities exploit a confused deputy attack. An unauthorized user can manipulate a privileged process to perform actions on their behalf, without having the necessary rights themselves. Specifically, attackers abuse tools such as Sudo or Postfix to modify AppArmor profiles via pseudo-files such as /sys/kernel/security/apparmor/.load and .replace.
I've had several incarnations of the self-hosted home lab for decades. At one point, I had a small server farm of various machines that were either too old to serve as desktops or that people simply no longer wanted. I'd grab those machines, install Linux on them, and use them for various server purposes. Here are two questions you should ask yourself:
A few months ago, I decided to breathe new life into a 2019 Dell XPS 15 that had been collecting dust for a couple of years. Despite its (at the time) high-end Core i7 CPU and 32GB of RAM, Windows was frustratingly slow on it. The fan was constantly at full throttle even when the machine was idle, and it regularly failed to install updates.
When I talk to users looking to make this leap, the first thing I want to discuss is the desktop environment. After all, I'd rather not send Windows users to a distribution that uses GNOME, hyprland, i3, or any other DE that in no way resembles Windows. Recently, I stumbled upon a distribution called VailuxOS that uses KDE Plasma to create a somewhat Windows-esque desktop that would make any user of a Microsoft OS feel right at home.
You may have noticed that many European Union (EU) governments and agencies, worried about ceding control to untrustworthy US companies, have been embracing digital sovereignty. Those bodies are turning to running their own cloud and services instead of relying on, say, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. If you prize your privacy and want to control your own services, you can take that approach as well.
Because of that, you need to be very familiar and comfortable with the command line. Or you can install a desktop environment. In my opinion, this is the single easiest way to make Ubuntu Server easier, especially if you're relatively new to Linux. Having a GUI desktop will strip away the fear of having to use the command line, because you'll have plenty of apps to use (such as the file manager, user manager, GUI app store, and much more).
I recently wrote about my migration away from VirtualBox to KVM/Virt-Machine for my virtual machine needs. I've found those tools to be far superior (albeit with a bit more of a learning curve) than VirtualBox. Since then, however, I've found another method of working with KVM (the Linux kernel virtual machine technology), one that not only allows me to create and manage virtual machines on my local computer, but also from any machine on my LAN. That tool is Cockpit, which makes managing your Linux machines considerably easier.
Origami Linux was conceived in 2021, which makes it relatively new for an operating system. The goal behind this distribution was to create something beautiful and secure. To achieve that, the developer decided to take the COSMIC desktop and marry it with an immutable Fedora base. That's not all. Also: The best Linux laptops in 2026: Expert tested for students, hobbyists, and pros You could also opt for an Arch base that includes the CachyOS kernel, or a version created specifically for NVIDIA GPUs.
Manjaro is a sweet Arch-based Linux distribution, and it has the fans to prove it. Manjaro is designed to take Arch to new heights of user-friendliness, and it succeeds quite well. Of course, there are always those who believe everything can be improved, which is why a small team of developers decided to fork Manjaro and create Elegance. The beauty of Elegance isn't in the UI, although the developers have made Cinnamon look pretty good.