You can use the amazon-linux-extras repository to upgrade the kernel

First, run this command to get all available kernel versions sudo amazon-linux-extras |grep kernel

you will see a response similar to this

  _  kernel-5.4               available    [ =stable ]
 55  kernel-5.10=latest       enabled      [ =stable ]
 62  kernel-5.15              available    [ =stable ]

the kernel version marked as enabled is the one installed on your machine

to upgrade to the newer version (for example kernel-5.15), just run this command sudo amazon-linux-extras install kernel-5.15 -y

Now, you need to reboot the server with sudo reboot

After rebooting, run the command uname -r to make sure that the newer version is successfully installed

for more information, please refer to this link

Answer from Mai Elshiashi on serverfault.com
🌐
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon linux › user guide › al2 kernel › al2 supported kernels
AL2 supported kernels - Amazon Linux 2
AL2023 AMIs are available with kernel version 6.1. For more information, see AL2023 Kernel changes from AL2 in the Amazon Linux 2023 User Guide.
🌐
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon linux › user guide › al2 kernel
AL2 kernel - Amazon Linux 2
AL2 originally shipped with a 4.14 kernel, with version 5.10 as the current default. If you are still using a 4.14 kernel, you are encouraged to migrate to the 5.10 kernel.
Discussions

Anyone know how to get the Amazon Linux 2 kernel source RPMs for 5.10 and 5.15?
have you seen this ? https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/amazon-linux-2-kernel-upgrade More on reddit.com
🌐 r/linuxquestions
1
6
March 23, 2025
Unable to upgrade Amazon Linux 2 Kernel to 5.15 with amazon-linux-extras
AWS Inspector told me my instance had an issue "CVE-2023-46813 - kernel-headers, kernel-devel and 1 more". Looking at the affected packages: ``` Name kernel-headers Installed version / Fixed versio... More on repost.aws
🌐 repost.aws
2
0
December 20, 2023
Amazon Linux 2 Kernel 5.10
Is there a minimal version AMI being planned for ALI-2 Kernel 5.10 similar to 4.14? More on repost.aws
🌐 repost.aws
1
0
December 17, 2021
Amazon Linux vs Ubuntu for EC2
AWS Linux 1/2 is roughly RHEL 6/7 based (respectively). AWS Linux 2022 is moving to Fedora based, which throws a wrench into established workflows/build patterns, so that might be the push for my group to switch to Debian/Ubuntu instead. That said, AWS Ubuntu images also ship with AWS packages pre-installed, like AWS CLI and SSM, the two most critical parts. So it wouldn't be too much of a change. Security should never be left on defaults, so one is never "more secure" than another because both distros should be ultimately configured the same. If there is a performance difference, it is so small and relatively insignificant in the big picture that my group doesn't even devote brain space towards. AWS Linux 2 does have kernel live patching, which is a paid extra feature on Ubuntu. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/aws
21
21
February 24, 2022
🌐
AWS re:Post
repost.aws › knowledge-center › amazon-linux-2-kernel-upgrade
Upgrade Amazon Linux 2 kernel version | AWS re:Post
August 13, 2024 - You can upgrade the default kernel to an Amazon Linux Extra kernel version 5.4.x, 5.10.x, or 5.15x. Note: You can upgrade directly from Amazon Linux 2 kernel version 4.14.x directly to 5.10.x or 5.15.x. You don't need to upgrade to 5.4.x first.
🌐
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon linux › user guide › al2 on amazon ec2 › user provided kernels
User provided kernels - Amazon Linux 2
If you need a custom kernel on ... your instance, and update the bootloader to point to the new kernel. This process varies depending on the virtualization type that your AMI uses. For more information, see Linux AMI virtualization types in the Amazon EC2 User Guid...
🌐
Amazon Web Services
aws.amazon.com › compute › amazon linux 2 › faqs
Amazon Linux 2 FAQs
2 weeks ago - Amazon Linux 2 supports the latest Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance features and includes packages that enable easy integration with AWS. It is optimized for use in Amazon EC2 with a latest and tuned Linux kernel version. As a result, many customer workloads perform better ...
Top answer
1 of 2
1

You can use the amazon-linux-extras repository to upgrade the kernel

First, run this command to get all available kernel versions sudo amazon-linux-extras |grep kernel

you will see a response similar to this

  _  kernel-5.4               available    [ =stable ]
 55  kernel-5.10=latest       enabled      [ =stable ]
 62  kernel-5.15              available    [ =stable ]

the kernel version marked as enabled is the one installed on your machine

to upgrade to the newer version (for example kernel-5.15), just run this command sudo amazon-linux-extras install kernel-5.15 -y

Now, you need to reboot the server with sudo reboot

After rebooting, run the command uname -r to make sure that the newer version is successfully installed

for more information, please refer to this link

2 of 2
1

Kernel live patches are available for Amazon Linux 2 with kernel version 4.14.165-131.185 or later. To check your kernel version, run the following command.

[root@actsupport ~]#  yum list kernel

If you already have a supported kernel version, skip this step. If you do not have a supported kernel version, run the following commands to update the kernel to the latest version and to reboot the instance.

[root@actsupport ~]#  sudo yum install -y kernel
[root@actsupport ~]#  reboot

Install the yum plugin for Kernel Live Patching.

[root@actsupport ~]#  yum install -y yum-plugin-kernel-livepatch

Enable the yum plugin for Kernel Live Patching.

[root@actsupport ~]#  yum kernel-livepatch enable -y

This command also installs the latest version of the kernel live patch RPM from the configured repositories.

To confirm that the yum plugin for kernel live patching has installed successfully, run the following command.

[root@actsupport ~]#  rpm -qa | grep kernel-livepatch

When you enable Kernel Live Patching, an empty kernel live patch RPM is automatically applied. If Kernel Live Patching was successfully enabled, this command returns a list that includes the initial empty kernel live patch RPM.

Update and start the kpatch service. This service loads all of the kernel live patches upon initialization or at boot.

[root@actsupport ~]#  yum update kpatch-runtime
[root@actsupport ~]#  systemctl enable kpatch.service

Configure the Amazon Linux 2 Kernel Live Patching repository, which contains the kernel live patches.

[root@actsupport ~]#  amazon-linux-extras enable livepatch
🌐
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon linux › user guide › al2 kernel › kernel live patching on al2
Kernel Live Patching on AL2 - Amazon Linux 2
Kernel Live Patching for AL2 allows you to apply specific security vulnerability and critical bug patches to a running Linux kernel, without reboots or disruptions to running applications. This allows you to benefit from improved service and application availability, while applying these fixes ...
Find elsewhere
🌐
AWS Marketplace
aws.amazon.com › marketplace › pp › prodview-c3ege72ocf7ey
AWS Marketplace: Amazon Linux 2 Kernel 5.10 with Support by Bansir
Amazon Linux 2 is a Linux distribution that is designed to be highly compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and offers long-term support, security updates, and performance enhancements. The Linux kernel is the core component of the operating system that manages the system's resources ...
🌐
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon linux 2 › release notes › amazon linux 2 release notes › amazon linux 2 release notes for 2025 › amazon linux 2 version 2.0.20251014.0 release notes
Amazon Linux 2 version 2.0.20251014.0 release notes - Amazon Linux 2
October 14, 2025 - Amazon Linux 2 will reach end of life on June 30, 2026. For more information, see Amazon Linux 2 FAQs ... Amazon Linux will end live patching for AL2 Kernel 4.14 on 2025-10-31.
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/linuxquestions › anyone know how to get the amazon linux 2 kernel source rpms for 5.10 and 5.15?
r/linuxquestions on Reddit: Anyone know how to get the Amazon Linux 2 kernel source RPMs for 5.10 and 5.15?
March 23, 2025 -

Need these for a project i'm working on, but only 4.14 is available from their RPM repos. (e.g. there is no kernel-5.10 or kernel-5.15 packages available to download with yumdownloader.). I am not too familiar with AL2, but it seems like their 5.10 and 5.15 kernels come from a different packaging scheme (amazon-linux-extras) and Source RPMs may not be available?

🌐
Tenable
tenable.com › plugins › nessus › 312151
Amazon Linux 2 : kernel, --advisory ALAS2KERNEL-5.15-2026-101 ...<!-- --> | Tenable®
May 5, 2026 - The remote Amazon Linux 2 host is missing a security update. The version of kernel installed on the remote host is prior to 5.15.202-142.235. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the ALAS2KERNEL-5.15-2026-101 advisory.
🌐
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon linux 2 › release notes › amazon linux 2 release notes › amazon linux 2 release notes for 2025 › amazon linux 2 version 2.0.20251027.1 release notes
Amazon Linux 2 version 2.0.20251027.1 release notes - Amazon Linux 2
October 27, 2025 - For more information, see Amazon Linux 2 FAQs ... On 2026-01-20, Amazon Linux will update its default kernel from 4.14 to 5.10 for the Amazon Linux 2 base AMI (amzn2-ami-hvm-x86_64-gp2 and amzn2-ami-hvm-arm64-gp2), reflecting our long-standing recommendation that all AL2 customers use kernel ...
🌐
AWS
aws.amazon.com › about-aws › whats-new › 2021 › 11 › amazon-linux-2-ami-kernel-5-10
Amazon Linux 2 AMI is now available with kernel 5.10 - AWS
November 19, 2021 - Discover more about what's new at AWS with Amazon Linux 2 AMI is now available with kernel 5.10
🌐
AWS re:Post
repost.aws › questions › QUj8pyDg4UTaGAu_GPVryBLQ › unable-to-upgrade-amazon-linux-2-kernel-to-5-15-with-amazon-linux-extras
Unable to upgrade Amazon Linux 2 Kernel to 5.15 with amazon-linux-extras | AWS re:Post
December 20, 2023 - $ uname -r 5.10.198-187.748.amzn2.x86_64 $ sudo amazon-linux-extras |grep kernel _ kernel-5.4 available [ =stable ] 55 kernel-5.10=latest enabled [ =stable ] 62 kernel-5.15 available [ =stable ] $ sudo amazon-linux-extras disable kernel-5.10 $ sudo amazon-linux-extras install kernel-5.15 -y $ sudo amazon-linux-extras install kernel-5.15 -y Installing kernel Loaded plugins: priorities, update-motd, versionlock Cleaning repos: amzn2-core amzn2extra-docker amzn2extra-kernel-5.15 15 metadata files removed 6 sqlite files removed 0 metadata files removed Loaded plugins: priorities, update-motd, vers
🌐
Amazon
alas.aws.amazon.com › AL2 › ALASKERNEL-5.10-2025-091.html
ALASKERNEL-5.10-2025-091
Visit this page to learn more about Amazon Linux 2 (AL2) Extras and this FAQ section for the difference between AL2 Core and AL2 Extras advisories. Issue Correction: Run yum update kernel to update your system.
🌐
AWS re:Post
repost.aws › questions › QUTYJfOzhPQSWmaJKuANfv2w › amazon-linux-2-kernel-5-10
Amazon Linux 2 Kernel 5.10 | AWS re:Post
December 17, 2021 - Amazon Linux 2 AMI (HVM) - Kernel 5.10, SSD Volume Type - ami-0ed9277fb7eb570c9 (64-bit x86) / ami-0a1eddae0b7f0a79f (64-bit Arm)
🌐
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon linux 2 › release notes › amazon linux 2 release notes › amazon linux 2 release notes for 2025 › amazon linux 2 version 2.0.20250902.3 release notes
Amazon Linux 2 version 2.0.20250902.3 release notes - Amazon Linux 2
Amazon Linux 2 will reach end of life on June 30, 2026. For more information, see Amazon Linux 2 FAQs ... Amazon Linux will end live patching for AL2 Kernel 4.14 on 2025-10-31.
🌐
AWS
docs.aws.amazon.com › amazon linux › user guide › al2 on amazon ec2
AL2 on Amazon EC2 - Amazon Linux 2
Amazon EC2 provides AWS Systems Manager public parameters for public AMIs maintained by AWS that you can use when launching instances. For example, the EC2-provided parameter /aws/service/ami-amazon-linux-latest/amzn2-ami-kernel-default-hvm-x86_64-gp2 is available in all Regions and always ...