Today, the Fedora Project is excited to announce the general availability of Fedora Linux 45, the latest version of the free and open source operating system. Learn more about the new and updated features of Fedora 45 below and don't forget to make sure your system is fully up to date before upgrading from a previous release.
General highlights
Enforced RPM signature checking: Fedora 45 switches the default package verification mode in RPM 6.1 to enforcing signature checking by default. Moving to upstream RPM default behavior, packages require a verified signature to install unless explicitly overridden, strengthening baseline system integrity out of the box.
Kernel ptrace restrictions for unprivileged users: To guard against unprivileged malware snooping on sibling tasks, kernel process tracing is restricted by default. When system debugging or diagnostic packages are installed, normal tracing workflows are automatically restored via sysctl, maintaining productivity without compromising default hardening.
GNU Toolchain update: Fedora 45 ships an updated core GNU Toolchain, including GCC 16.2, binutils 2.47, glibc 2.44, and GDB 17.2. This refreshed base brings continuous optimizations, updated language runtime features, and debugging support for upstream developers.
Upgraded programming runtimes and compilers: The distribution stack includes LLVM 23, Go 1.27, Perl 5.44, Lua 5.5, and Erlang 27, giving developers out-of-the-box access to the newest features, tooling standards, and language enhancements.
OpenPGP verification with Sequoia: Fedora 45 introduces the %openpgpverify RPM macro powered by the Sequoia OpenPGP implementation, modernizing cryptographic validation and paving the way for Post-Quantum Cryptography algorithms.
IPv6-mostly network enablement: NetworkManager now enables IPv6-mostly network support (RFC 8925) by default, facilitating smoother transitions onto modern networks that operate primarily over IPv6 without manual tuning.
ODBC configuration modernization: The ODBC stack transitions away from monolithic, static /etc/odbcinst.ini configurations. Driver packages now install drop-in configuration snippets managed automatically through RPM file triggers, matching modern modular configurations seen across crypto-policies and CA certificates.
System authentication and PAM integration: Administrative user utilities chpasswd and newusers now route through the system PAM stack, ensuring batch password and user management tasks uniformly inherit local password complexity, history, and audit policies.
Edition notes
Fedora Workstation: Fedora Linux 45 Workstation features GNOME 51. Users will find enhanced handling of XKB keymaps under Wayland via IBus 1.5.35, improved display scaling behavior, and smoother overall session performance. In addition, the developer desktop experience is bolstered by encapsule—a new CLI tool for running isolated development tasks and untrusted third-party scripts safely within dedicated containers rather than host environments.
Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop: The Fedora KDE Plasma edition updates to Plasma 6.8. This release brings broader Wayland graphics refinements, HDR color stability, reduced input latency, and tight integration with the modern oo7 Secrets Service layer.
Fedora Atomic Desktops: The Fedora Atomic Desktop family (including Silverblue, Kinoite, and related variants) now defaults to the modernized Anaconda WebUI installer. It also introduces secure, browser-based remote installation support (inst.webui.remote), allowing installations over HTTPS with PIN-based authentication. Furthermore, Atomic images now feature filtered Fedora Flatpak runtimes alongside verified Flathub application support.
Fedora Server and Cloud: Server and cloud deployments benefit from native Butane configuration support directly within Ignition at first boot, eliminating the need to pre-transpile YAML configurations before provisioning instances. For secure virtualization and confidential compute deployments, Fedora 45 provides a specialized, minimal GRUB EFI package engineered to boot Unified Kernel Images (UKIs) via the Bootloader Specification.
Important: Two legacy NetworkManager VPN plugins—NetworkManager-vpnc and NetworkManager-fortisslvpn—are retiring and will be obsolete, starting in Fedora Linux 45. Please read this article for information on what you need to do to migrate your VPN connections to supported alternatives.
Fedora Linux 45 is available for download now. If you are already running Fedora Linux, follow the easy upgrade instructions. For more information on the new features in Fedora Linux 45, see the release notes. If you run into a problem, visit the Ask Fedora user support forum, which includes a category for common issues.
