A new hardware enablement (HWE) will roll out to users on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS this month, ahead of the Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS point release due on February 12.
Ubuntu’s engineers periodically backport the Linux kernel and graphics drivers included in interim releases to the current long-term support (LTS) version.
The next update delivers components from Ubuntu 25.10, released in October 2025.
This means the Ubuntu 24.04.4 HWE brings the Linux 6.17 kernel and Mesa 25.2.7, a sizeable leap over the 25.0.x series that was delivered in the 24.04.3 HWE update last August.
New versions of Intel VAAPI driver (2.4.1), libva, libdrm, and Wayland Protocols (1.45) also come as of the stack refresh.
For a look at some of the highlights inbound, read on.
Ubuntu 24.04.4 HWE: What’s New?
Linux 6.17 kernel
The main element in any HWE is the kernel bump, and the Linux 6.17 kernel coming to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is a sizeable one.
I run through the release in more detail in a separate post (see the floating call out on this page), but a quick refresh of its highlights include:
- Power management and thermal tuning on newer Intel CPUs (Core Ultra)
- SmartMux support on AMD hybrid GPU laptops for auto switching
- Initial AMD RDNA 4 Support for upcoming next-gen Radeon cards.
- Framework Laptop 13 and 16 ambient light sensors and power-button LEDs
- Better Logitech battery reporting on wireless keyboards and mice
- Intel IPU7 camera support enabling more webcams to work
- Wacom tablet support for newer Intuos and Cintiq models
- Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) support made more stable
- SSD ‘zero out’ flag which helps reduce wear on flash memory
The kernel itself has plenty more to it, including better support for gaming handhelds, but from the POV of an Ubuntu desktop user, those are the choice highlights.
New Mesa graphics drivers
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS originally shipped with Mesa 24.0.5. If you’ve stayed up to date, you’re currently using Mesa 25.0.7 – and soon Mesa 25.2.7.
Mesa 25.2.7 is the final bug fix update in the 25.2.x series. It accumulates all of the changes from both the 25.1 development cycle and throughout 25.2.
If you game on Linux or are using hardware released in the last 12 months, this Mesa uplift will ensure you’re getting the most out of your hardware.
There’s production-ready NVK as the open-source NVIDIA Vulkan driver is now deemed stable for use with Turing, Blackwell and newer architectures. NVK + Zink may be used default on some NVIDIA setups, offering an an alternative to the ‘proprietary blob’.
The legacy openCL driver (Clover) has been removed in this version of Mesa. OpenCL tasks are now handled by Rusticl to offers better OpenCL 3.0 compliance, benefiting apps like Blender and Darktable.
Full Vulkan 1.4 compliance on Intel (ANV) and AMD (RADV) drivers; maturing hardware support for NVIDIA Blackwell (RTX 50 series) and Intel Battlemage GPUs; and a new mesa-compat package to maintain legacy compatibility also make it in.
There are reams of bug fixes, lower-level performance buffs and compatibility tweaks feature. Among the many games that pick up title-specific fixes: No Man’s Sky, Borderlands 4, Resident Evil 4 (Separate Ways DLC) and Penumbra: Overture.
Wayland Protocols 1.45
Alongside the graphics and kernel bump is a full backport of Wayland Protocols 1.45 from the Ubuntu 25.10 release (not a backport of Wayland itself). These protocols allow apps to communicate with the compositor.
The bump brings some new staging protocols, including transparency blur, dimming, and colour overlays through the background-effects protocol; and a pointer warp API for compositors that need controlled pointer teleportation (as some games do).
Experimental protocols include session-management to aid session lifecycle communication, and an updated input-method to, per the release notes “improve client/compositor IME interactions” and “improve how the cursor acts during complex text entry”.
When is the HWE arriving?
The Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS release date is set for February 12, 2026. This is the date when a new ISO (with Linux kernel 6.17 and Mesa 25.2.7 preinstalled) is release.
That image will also contain the hundreds of bug fixes, security patches and other updates pushed out to users since last August, cutting down on post-install updates.
But if you run Ubuntu 24.04 LTS you don’t need to wait; you get the underlying hardware enablement stack a few weeks earlier, arriving as a standard software update.
Mesa 25.2.7, Linux 6.17 kernel and other elements are already landing in the noble-proposed staging repo for testing. Once ready, these will shift to the noble-updates pocket and be available to install from Software Updater, like all other updates.
One more HWE update to go
Looking ahead, there’s one more HWE update to come to Ubuntu 24.04. This will bring the Linux kernel, Mesa stack and other components from April’s Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. As a “GA” kernel, that stack will be supported for the remainder of the noble support.
Are you looking forward to this update? Let me know below.