Isn't this reaction a bit like the emperor banishing anyone who tells him that his new clothes are fake? Are the maintainers upset that someone showed how easy it is to subvert kernel security?
It’s more like the emperor banning a group of people who put the citizens in danger just so they could show that it could be done. The researchers did something unethical and acted in a self-serving manner. It’s no surprise that someone would get kicked out of a community after seriously breaking the trust of that community.
The middle ground would be if the Emperor jailed the tailors of the New Clothes after he had shown off the clothes at the Parade, in front of the whole city.
