Red Hat has strengthened the security of its Enterprise Linux distro.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 3 limits how much damage a hacker could do. The company said the release is ahead of schedule and not a reaction to any specific threat. The update includes Exec-shield and Position Independent Executable features which protect against attacks which exploit stack and buffer memory overflows. It also extends NX (No Execute) support from Intel 2 chips to include Intel x86, EM64T and AMD 64 chips.

The update also offers new drivers, support for IBM POWER5 servers and various bug fixes. According to Red Hat, the update demonstrates the splendid value offered by its software subscription model.

Red Hat yesterday announced a deal to get its Red Hat Enterprise Linux software bundled on all Unisys servers. ®

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