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Amazon Linux 2027 Enters Public Preview with Kernel 7.1+, SELinux Enforcing, and AI/ML Accelerator Support

On September 3, 2026, AWS announced the public preview of Amazon Linux 2027 (AL2027), the next version of the Amazon Linux operating system. Built on AL2023's baseline, AL2027 is purpose-built for cloud-native workloads on AWS with performance, scale, and security in mind — targeting web applications, databases, containerized microservices, AI/ML workloads, and large-scale infrastructure.

The preview gives customers hands-on access before general availability to experiment with new features, validate their applications, and provide direct feedback to the Amazon Linux team. AL2027 Preview AMIs are available through the AWS Management Console across all commercial AWS Regions, with both x86-64 and ARM variants. Container base images are available on Amazon ECR Public Gallery.

Under the Hood: Kernel 7.1+, SELinux Enforcing, AWS-LC

Three choices in AL2027's baseline stand out. First, the kernel: AL2027 runs on kernel 7.1 and above — meaning it benefits from the mainline kernel's recent improvements, including the Cache-Aware Scheduling that shipped in Linux 7.2 and the broader hardware support that has accumulated in the 7.x series. For teams that have been waiting on newer kernel features in their Amazon Linux baseline, the jump from AL2023's kernel to 7.1+ is meaningful.

Second, SELinux: AL2027 enables SELinux in enforcing mode as default. This is a security posture change — not a new feature, but a default that reflects AWS's judgment about the right balance between security and operational friction for cloud-native workloads. Teams that rely on SELinux in permissive mode or disabled will need to test their applications against the enforcing default before GA.

Third, cryptography: AL2027 accelerates cryptographic performance with AWS-LC — AWS's open-source cryptographic library. For workloads that do a lot of TLS termination, encryption at rest, or any other cryptographic operation at scale, the AWS-LC acceleration is a measurable improvement.

AI/ML Workloads and Neuron Driver Support

For AI and machine learning workloads, AL2027 delivers access to accelerator drivers, including AWS Neuron driver support. Neuron is AWS's SDK for running inference and training on Inferentia and Trainium accelerators — the custom silicon AWS has been building to reduce the cost of ML workloads on its platform.

The Neuron driver support in AL2027's preview means that teams running ML workloads on AWS can test their applications against the next Amazon Linux baseline with the accelerator drivers they need, before GA. For teams that standardize on Amazon Linux for their inference fleets, the preview is an early look at what the target environment will look like.

The Container and Cloud-Native Story

AL2027 is designed for customers running web applications, databases, containerized microservices, AI/ML workloads, and large-scale infrastructure. The container base images on ECR Public Gallery mean that teams can pull AL2027-based images and test them in their container pipelines before the OS reaches GA.

The AL2023 baseline matters here. AL2023 was a significant release for Amazon Linux — it introduced a shift to a more predictable, LTS-style release model after the rolling-release approach of AL2. The fact that AL2027 is built on AL2023's baseline, rather than being a clean break, suggests that AWS is treating the AL2023 platform as a stable foundation and layering new features on top of it.

The Public Preview Model

The public preview gives customers hands-on access before general availability. The model is familiar — AWS has used it for AL2023 and for many other services — but the stakes are higher for an OS release. An OS preview is not just a feature tour; it is an opportunity for the installed base to find the compatibility issues, the SELinux policy gaps, the driver problems, and the edge cases that only show up when real applications run on the new baseline.

Feedback flows through the AL2027 GitHub repository. For teams that depend on Amazon Linux, participating in the preview is the mechanism for shaping the GA release — and for finding the problems before they become production problems.

What to Watch

AL2027 is in public preview as of September 3, 2026. The GA date is not announced. For teams that run Amazon Linux in production, the preview is the time to test — especially the SELinux enforcing default, the kernel 7.1+ baseline, and the Neuron driver support for ML workloads.

Three things to watch: whether AL2027's SELinux enforcing default surfaces application compatibility issues that the preview feedback catches before GA; whether the AWS-LC crypto acceleration produces measurable improvements for the workloads that depend on it; and whether the Neuron driver support in AL2027 aligns with the broader AWS AI/ML hardware roadmap as Trainium and Inferentia evolve.

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