In 2014, Alpine Linux switched from [[uClibc]] to [[musl]] as its [[C standard library]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Release notes |url=https://alpinelinux.org/posts/Alpine-3.0.0-released.html |access-date=6 May 2018 |website=alpinelinux.org}}</ref>
A PaX [[Hardening (computing)Executable-space_protection#PaX|hardenedPaX]] hardened kernel was included in the default distribution to aid in reducing the impact of exploits and vulnerabilities,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alpine 3.8.0 released {{!}} Alpine Linux |url=https://alpinelinux.org/posts/Alpine-3.8.0-released.html |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=alpinelinux.org}}</ref> but Alpine's maintainers chose to discontinue this support due to the PaX patch no longer being made publicly available.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How does Alpine Linux harden its kernel? — alpinelinux lists |url=https://lists.alpinelinux.org/~alpine/users/%3CCABbU2U-w34QfSGg4wZKxvCoYgtqLRj9Z0SKHipDPNaSdHdBeAQ@mail.gmail.com%3E |access-date=2023-06-30 |website=lists.alpinelinux.org}}</ref> Alpine still uses a [[Hardening (computing)|hardened]] toolchain and position-independent executables to minimize the potential for [[Buffer overflow|stack-based attacks]],<ref name=":0" /> but is now based on the standard long term stable distribution of the Linux kernel.
