Linux Git Commit SHA Prefix Collision Risk Imminent

Linux's "Fixes" tag traditionally uses a 12-character commit SHA prefix, but with increasing commit numbers, the risk of collisions is growing. Security researcher Kees Cook has successfully created a 12-character prefix collision, breaking tools that parse the "Fixes" tag. This collision uses the initial commit ID of Linux 2.6.12-rc2, impacting tools such as linux-next's "Fixes tag checker" and the Linux CNA's commit parser. To prevent future collisions, Cook suggests increasing the minimum short ID to 16 characters and has released a test commit to help developers fix their tools.