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Maze Linux 2026.09.26: the security audit release

2026-09-26 · 2026.09.26

The fixes from September's audit of Maze's own tools, sandboxed system services, two new tools that let you check it all yourself, a new installer slideshow, and Linux 7.2.7 with systemd 262.

In September we audited Maze's own tools line by line. 2026.09.26 ships the result: fixes in almost every Maze package, system services that now run sandboxed, and two new commands that prove on your machine that the fixes are in place. Under the hood: Linux 7.2.7, systemd 262 and fresh firmware.

Highlights

• Fixes from the September audit across Maze Guard, Maze AI, HazeDrop, Haze, Entropy Shield, Maze Cloak, Qlam and the installer.
• Sandboxed root services: Maze's system daemons now run with systemd sandboxing.
• Two new tools: maze-selftest and maze-sandbox-check.
• Maze Panic widget: wipe traces, cut the network and lock, from the panel, with one-click restore.
• IPv6 privacy addresses on by default.
• New installer slideshow and a safer disk-encryption setup.
• Maze Connect 1.2: your phone can now set the computer's volume.

Fixes in Maze's apps

• Maze Guard: on some systems the window could hang invisibly and never open; it now opens reliably. Removing a block (by IP or MAC address) now asks for authorisation.
• Maze AI: commands with dangerous flags, like git diff --output=… or rg --pre …, no longer run without asking. Harmless commands still don't ask.
• HazeDrop: downloads now require the key from the share link, and a transfer that was cut short is rejected instead of being saved as a complete file.
• Haze: a duplicate nickname is renamed until it's unique, so nobody can take over someone else's identity in a chat.
• Entropy Shield: the onion server's sharing folder can no longer expose your home directory, and the panic button only flushes iptables when Entropy Shield itself uses them, so Docker and VPN rules survive.
• Maze Cloak: generated MAC addresses are now unpredictable.
• Qlam: the antivirus database update calls pkexec by its absolute path, so a fake pkexec earlier in PATH can't be used.
• SentinAI and Linux Chan AI: API key files are created private (mode 600).
• Panic and kill switches: the system broker now only obeys a user sitting at the machine, not an SSH login or a background process.

Sandboxed system services

Maze's root daemons (maze-guard, maze-cloak, maze-guardd, maze-sentinel and entropy-shield) now run under systemd sandboxing: a system-call allow-list, no new namespaces, a private /tmp, no writes to /usr or /boot, and no access to the clock or the kernel log. A directive that's one step too strict won't crash anything, but it can quietly break one feature. maze-sandbox-check catches that: it runs every operation a daemon performs twice, once normally and once under its real sandbox, and reports any feature the sandbox breaks.

Check it yourself

maze-selftest checks every fix from this round on your own machine. Where it can, it doesn't just look for the patch, it exercises it: it starts a HazeDrop server on 127.0.0.1 and asks for a file without the key, feeds Maze AI the commands it must refuse, and has Maze Cloak generate addresses. It's read-only and changes nothing on the system.

sudo maze-selftest
sudo maze-sandbox-check

Privacy

• IPv6 privacy addresses (RFC 4941) are on by default: outgoing connections use short-lived random addresses, so websites can't follow your machine across networks and days.
• Maze's os-release now survives filesystem package upgrades.

Installer and boot

• New slideshow: seven slides introduce Maze while it installs.
• Disk encryption: the LUKS keyfile is no longer added to the boot image.
• Live ISO network: the live system no longer waits two minutes for the network on Wi-Fi. NetworkManager is now the only network manager.
• Secure Boot: the rollback copy only boots a kernel that's still installed, a boot check run from inside a chroot (installer or repair) can no longer raise a false "unsafe" warning, and a failed signature now shows the signer's own error.
• TPM machines: systemd 262's NvPCR units can't work with Maze's boot chain. They're now skipped instead of failing on every boot.
• Rollback: maze-rollback checks the kernel that will actually boot, so a rollback really boots the older system.

Package changes

• Added by default: paru (AUR helper).
• Removed from the default install: Said360, fail2ban, cloud-init, whois.

Component	2026.09.22	2026.09.26
Linux	7.2.6	7.2.7
Linux LTS	6.18.53	6.18.54
systemd	261.3	262
PipeWire	1.6.8	1.6.9
Firefox	156.0	156.0.1
Thunderbird	155.0.1	156.0
Ollama	0.34.2	0.34.4
Tor	0.4.9.12	0.4.9.13
Intel microcode	20260812	20260925
SOF firmware	2025.12.2	2026.09

Upgrading

Already on Maze? Update, then let the self-test confirm everything is in place:

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo maze-selftest

New installs: the ISO is 4.9 GB (mazelinux-2026.09.26-x86_64.iso). Download it here.