Amazon Linux

amazon linux-distribution os

Amazon Linux is a Linux server operating system from Amazon Web Services (AWS) available as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) for use on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). It is also available as a Docker container image and as a virtual machine image for use on Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), Oracle VM VirtualBox, Microsoft Hyper-V, and VMware ESXi.

Release Released Standard Support Security Support Latest
2023 1 year and 4 months ago
(01 Mar 2023)
 Ends in 7 months and 4 weeks
(15 Mar 2025)
 Ends in 3 years and 7 months
(15 Mar 2028)
 2023.5.20240708.0
(11 Jul 2024)
2 6 years ago
(26 Jun 2018)
 Ends in 11 months
(30 Jun 2025)
 Ends in 11 months
(30 Jun 2025)
 2.0.20240709.1
(18 Jul 2024)
AMI 2018.03 6 years ago
(25 Apr 2018)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2018.03.0.20231218.0
(20 Jun 2024)
AMI 2017.09 6 years and 8 months ago
(03 Nov 2017)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2017.09.1.20180409
(10 Apr 2018)
AMI 2017.03 7 years ago
(07 Apr 2017)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2017.03.1.20170812
(03 Nov 2017)
AMI 2016.09 7 years ago
(16 Nov 2016)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2016.09.1.20161221
(03 Nov 2017)
AMI 2016.03 8 years ago
(22 Mar 2016)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2016.03
AMI 2015.09 8 years ago
(22 Sep 2015)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2015.09
AMI 2015.03 9 years ago
(24 Mar 2015)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2015.03
AMI 2014.09 9 years ago
(23 Sep 2014)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2014.09
AMI 2014.03 10 years ago
(27 Mar 2014)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2014.03
AMI 2013.09 10 years ago
(30 Sep 2013)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2013.09
AMI 2013.03 11 years ago
(27 Mar 2013)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2013.03
AMI 2012.09 11 years ago
(11 Oct 2012)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2012.09
AMI 2012.03 12 years ago
(28 Mar 2012)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2012.03
AMI 2011.09 12 years ago
(26 Sep 2011)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2011.09
AMI 2010.11 13 years ago
(01 Dec 2010)
 Ended 3 years and 6 months ago
(31 Dec 2020)
 Ended 6 months and 3 weeks ago
(31 Dec 2023)
 2010.11

Amazon Linux AMI

The original Amazon Linux AMI is now in a maintenance support phase with a limited set of packages still being supported. The Amazon Linux AMI FAQ has a few more details.

Amazon Linux 2

Amazon Linux 2 will provide security updates and bug fixes for all packages in core until June 30, 2025. User-space Application Binary Interface (ABI) compatibility is guaranteed for specific packages. It only seems to receive critical bug fixes and security patches.

Amazon Linux 2023

AWS announced Amazon Linux 2023 1 as a successor to Amazon Linux 2, which uses Fedora as the upstream. It reached GA (General Availability) in March 2023.

Every major version release is supported by Standard Support for 2 years, followed by a maintenance phase of 3 years. Quarterly minor releases will be made during the Standard Support phase and include security updates, bug fixes, and new features and packages. Minor releases do not break backward-compatibility.

Core packages such as the glibc library, OpenSSL, OpenSSH, and the DNF package manager receive support for the lifetime of the major AL2023 release. Packages that aren’t part of the core packages are supported based on their specific upstream sources. Support status and dates of individual packages can be checked via the dnf supportinfo command.

A comparison with Amazon Linux 2 is available as well.

See the frequently asked questions for more details.

Security Notifications

Amazon Provides security advisories for all versions on the Amazon Linux Security Center.

  1. It was announced as Amazon Linux 2022, and renamed to Amazon Linux 2023. ↩

More information is available on the Amazon Linux website.

You should be running one of the supported release numbers listed above in the rightmost column.

You can check the version that you are currently using by running: 
cat /etc/system-release
Show Product Identifiers
  • cpe: cpe:2.3:o:amazon:linux
  • cpe: cpe:2.3:o:amazon:amazon_linux
  • cpe: cpe:/o:amazon:linux
  • cpe: cpe:/o:amazon:amazon_linux
  • purl: pkg:docker/library/amazonlinux

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