The kernel is an entirely different beast. The systems in question have been around three times longer, and have been closed from the start. A hardware caching

The kernel is an entirely different beast. The systems in question have been around three times longer, and have been closed from the start. A hardware caching issue bringing the whole thing down probably means it's closely tied into the hardware, and difficult to contribute to. Obscurity isn't security, but it may not be the best idea to pop the lid off everything at once in such a case.