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Latest news on Java, the programming language, covering Java releases, JDK updates, Java security, Java vulnerability alerts, Oracle Critical Patch Updates, OpenJDK builds, Jakarta EE, Spring Boot, Quarkus, GraalVM, JVM performance and the Java Community Process for developers and enterprises.

Java is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language created by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and first released in 1995. Its code compiles to bytecode that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), so the same program can run on many operating systems. It is widely used for enterprise back-end systems, Android apps, large web services and data-processing tools.

Security is a recurring theme. Oracle issues Critical Patch Updates each quarter, while vendors such as Azul, Red Hat and Microsoft publish their own OpenJDK builds. On 21 October 2026 Oracle issued an out-of-band alert, CVE-2026-91403, telling Java to stop trusting certificate authorities linked to eMudhra. On 6 October 2026 IBM and Red Hat said their Lightwell programme had fixed more than 400 previously unknown flaws in Java libraries.

New feature releases arrive every six months, in March and September, and some are designated long-term support (LTS) for production use. Changes are proposed as JDK Enhancement Proposals (JEPs) within the OpenJDK project. Around the language sit build tools such as Maven and Gradle, frameworks such as Spring Boot and Quarkus, and Jakarta EE for enterprise applications. Kotlin and Scala also run on the JVM.

The Java Community Process lets companies and individuals shape standards, while Oracle stewards the platform and the Eclipse Foundation hosts Jakarta EE. Critics point to verbose code, licensing complexity around some Oracle JDK builds and the way many organisations stay on long-term support versions rather than upgrading. Developers meet through user groups, conferences and open-source projects.

Gosling, Mike Sheridan and Patrick Naughton began the project at Sun in 1991, and the language was first called Oak. Its source was released as OpenJDK from 2006, and Oracle completed its acquisition of Sun in 2010. In 2017 Oracle announced it would move Java EE to the Eclipse Foundation, where it was renamed Jakarta EE. The name comes from Java coffee, not the Indonesian island.

Staying informed matters because a single unpatched library or distrusted certificate can affect many applications. Our NewsNow Java news feed gathers the latest headlines on Java releases, JDK and OpenJDK updates, Java security flaws, Jakarta EE, Spring Boot and JVM tools worldwide. It gives developers, security teams and engineering managers a clear view of the Java ecosystem.