diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/81713-distro.yml b/changelogs/fragments/81713-distro.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..13525911495
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/81713-distro.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+  - distro - bump bundled distro version from 1.6.0 to 1.8.0 (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/81713).
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/distro/_distro.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/distro/_distro.py
index 74c0b99408a..e57d6b68545 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/distro/_distro.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/distro/_distro.py
@@ -41,40 +41,39 @@ import shlex
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import warnings
+from typing import (
+    Any,
+    Callable,
+    Dict,
+    Iterable,
+    Optional,
+    Sequence,
+    TextIO,
+    Tuple,
+    Type,
+)
 
-__version__ = "1.6.0"
-
-# Use `if False` to avoid an ImportError on Python 2. After dropping Python 2
-# support, can use typing.TYPE_CHECKING instead. See:
-# https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html#typing.TYPE_CHECKING
-if False:  # pragma: nocover
-    from typing import (
-        Any,
-        Callable,
-        Dict,
-        Iterable,
-        Optional,
-        Sequence,
-        TextIO,
-        Tuple,
-        Type,
-        TypedDict,
-        Union,
-    )
+try:
+    from typing import TypedDict
+except ImportError:
+    # Python 3.7
+    TypedDict = dict
 
-    VersionDict = TypedDict(
-        "VersionDict", {"major": str, "minor": str, "build_number": str}
-    )
-    InfoDict = TypedDict(
-        "InfoDict",
-        {
-            "id": str,
-            "version": str,
-            "version_parts": VersionDict,
-            "like": str,
-            "codename": str,
-        },
-    )
+__version__ = "1.8.0"
+
+
+class VersionDict(TypedDict):
+    major: str
+    minor: str
+    build_number: str
+
+
+class InfoDict(TypedDict):
+    id: str
+    version: str
+    version_parts: VersionDict
+    like: str
+    codename: str
 
 
 _UNIXCONFDIR = os.environ.get("UNIXCONFDIR", "/etc")
@@ -127,6 +126,26 @@ _DISTRO_RELEASE_CONTENT_REVERSED_PATTERN = re.compile(
 # Pattern for base file name of distro release file
 _DISTRO_RELEASE_BASENAME_PATTERN = re.compile(r"(\w+)[-_](release|version)$")
 
+# Base file names to be looked up for if _UNIXCONFDIR is not readable.
+_DISTRO_RELEASE_BASENAMES = [
+    "SuSE-release",
+    "arch-release",
+    "base-release",
+    "centos-release",
+    "fedora-release",
+    "gentoo-release",
+    "mageia-release",
+    "mandrake-release",
+    "mandriva-release",
+    "mandrivalinux-release",
+    "manjaro-release",
+    "oracle-release",
+    "redhat-release",
+    "rocky-release",
+    "sl-release",
+    "slackware-version",
+]
+
 # Base file names to be ignored when searching for distro release file
 _DISTRO_RELEASE_IGNORE_BASENAMES = (
     "debian_version",
@@ -139,8 +158,7 @@ _DISTRO_RELEASE_IGNORE_BASENAMES = (
 )
 
 
-def linux_distribution(full_distribution_name=True):
-    # type: (bool) -> Tuple[str, str, str]
+def linux_distribution(full_distribution_name: bool = True) -> Tuple[str, str, str]:
     """
     .. deprecated:: 1.6.0
 
@@ -183,8 +201,7 @@ def linux_distribution(full_distribution_name=True):
     return _distro.linux_distribution(full_distribution_name)
 
 
-def id():
-    # type: () -> str
+def id() -> str:
     """
     Return the distro ID of the current distribution, as a
     machine-readable string.
@@ -228,6 +245,7 @@ def id():
     "freebsd"       FreeBSD
     "midnightbsd"   MidnightBSD
     "rocky"         Rocky Linux
+    "aix"           AIX
     "guix"          Guix System
     ==============  =========================================
 
@@ -266,8 +284,7 @@ def id():
     return _distro.id()
 
 
-def name(pretty=False):
-    # type: (bool) -> str
+def name(pretty: bool = False) -> str:
     """
     Return the name of the current OS distribution, as a human-readable
     string.
@@ -306,8 +323,7 @@ def name(pretty=False):
     return _distro.name(pretty)
 
 
-def version(pretty=False, best=False):
-    # type: (bool, bool) -> str
+def version(pretty: bool = False, best: bool = False) -> str:
     """
     Return the version of the current OS distribution, as a human-readable
     string.
@@ -355,8 +371,7 @@ def version(pretty=False, best=False):
     return _distro.version(pretty, best)
 
 
-def version_parts(best=False):
-    # type: (bool) -> Tuple[str, str, str]
+def version_parts(best: bool = False) -> Tuple[str, str, str]:
     """
     Return the version of the current OS distribution as a tuple
     ``(major, minor, build_number)`` with items as follows:
@@ -373,8 +388,7 @@ def version_parts(best=False):
     return _distro.version_parts(best)
 
 
-def major_version(best=False):
-    # type: (bool) -> str
+def major_version(best: bool = False) -> str:
     """
     Return the major version of the current OS distribution, as a string,
     if provided.
@@ -387,8 +401,7 @@ def major_version(best=False):
     return _distro.major_version(best)
 
 
-def minor_version(best=False):
-    # type: (bool) -> str
+def minor_version(best: bool = False) -> str:
     """
     Return the minor version of the current OS distribution, as a string,
     if provided.
@@ -401,8 +414,7 @@ def minor_version(best=False):
     return _distro.minor_version(best)
 
 
-def build_number(best=False):
-    # type: (bool) -> str
+def build_number(best: bool = False) -> str:
     """
     Return the build number of the current OS distribution, as a string,
     if provided.
@@ -415,8 +427,7 @@ def build_number(best=False):
     return _distro.build_number(best)
 
 
-def like():
-    # type: () -> str
+def like() -> str:
     """
     Return a space-separated list of distro IDs of distributions that are
     closely related to the current OS distribution in regards to packaging
@@ -433,8 +444,7 @@ def like():
     return _distro.like()
 
 
-def codename():
-    # type: () -> str
+def codename() -> str:
     """
     Return the codename for the release of the current OS distribution,
     as a string.
@@ -458,8 +468,7 @@ def codename():
     return _distro.codename()
 
 
-def info(pretty=False, best=False):
-    # type: (bool, bool) -> InfoDict
+def info(pretty: bool = False, best: bool = False) -> InfoDict:
     """
     Return certain machine-readable information items about the current OS
     distribution in a dictionary, as shown in the following example:
@@ -503,8 +512,7 @@ def info(pretty=False, best=False):
     return _distro.info(pretty, best)
 
 
-def os_release_info():
-    # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+def os_release_info() -> Dict[str, str]:
     """
     Return a dictionary containing key-value pairs for the information items
     from the os-release file data source of the current OS distribution.
@@ -514,8 +522,7 @@ def os_release_info():
     return _distro.os_release_info()
 
 
-def lsb_release_info():
-    # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+def lsb_release_info() -> Dict[str, str]:
     """
     Return a dictionary containing key-value pairs for the information items
     from the lsb_release command data source of the current OS distribution.
@@ -526,8 +533,7 @@ def lsb_release_info():
     return _distro.lsb_release_info()
 
 
-def distro_release_info():
-    # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+def distro_release_info() -> Dict[str, str]:
     """
     Return a dictionary containing key-value pairs for the information items
     from the distro release file data source of the current OS distribution.
@@ -537,8 +543,7 @@ def distro_release_info():
     return _distro.distro_release_info()
 
 
-def uname_info():
-    # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+def uname_info() -> Dict[str, str]:
     """
     Return a dictionary containing key-value pairs for the information items
     from the distro release file data source of the current OS distribution.
@@ -546,8 +551,7 @@ def uname_info():
     return _distro.uname_info()
 
 
-def os_release_attr(attribute):
-    # type: (str) -> str
+def os_release_attr(attribute: str) -> str:
     """
     Return a single named information item from the os-release file data source
     of the current OS distribution.
@@ -566,8 +570,7 @@ def os_release_attr(attribute):
     return _distro.os_release_attr(attribute)
 
 
-def lsb_release_attr(attribute):
-    # type: (str) -> str
+def lsb_release_attr(attribute: str) -> str:
     """
     Return a single named information item from the lsb_release command output
     data source of the current OS distribution.
@@ -587,8 +590,7 @@ def lsb_release_attr(attribute):
     return _distro.lsb_release_attr(attribute)
 
 
-def distro_release_attr(attribute):
-    # type: (str) -> str
+def distro_release_attr(attribute: str) -> str:
     """
     Return a single named information item from the distro release file
     data source of the current OS distribution.
@@ -607,8 +609,7 @@ def distro_release_attr(attribute):
     return _distro.distro_release_attr(attribute)
 
 
-def uname_attr(attribute):
-    # type: (str) -> str
+def uname_attr(attribute: str) -> str:
     """
     Return a single named information item from the distro release file
     data source of the current OS distribution.
@@ -629,25 +630,23 @@ try:
     from functools import cached_property
 except ImportError:
     # Python < 3.8
-    class cached_property(object):  # type: ignore
+    class cached_property:  # type: ignore
         """A version of @property which caches the value.  On access, it calls the
         underlying function and sets the value in `__dict__` so future accesses
         will not re-call the property.
         """
 
-        def __init__(self, f):
-            # type: (Callable[[Any], Any]) -> None
+        def __init__(self, f: Callable[[Any], Any]) -> None:
             self._fname = f.__name__
             self._f = f
 
-        def __get__(self, obj, owner):
-            # type: (Any, Type[Any]) -> Any
-            assert obj is not None, "call {} on an instance".format(self._fname)
+        def __get__(self, obj: Any, owner: Type[Any]) -> Any:
+            assert obj is not None, f"call {self._fname} on an instance"
             ret = obj.__dict__[self._fname] = self._f(obj)
             return ret
 
 
-class LinuxDistribution(object):
+class LinuxDistribution:
     """
     Provides information about a OS distribution.
 
@@ -667,13 +666,13 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        include_lsb=True,
-        os_release_file="",
-        distro_release_file="",
-        include_uname=True,
-        root_dir=None,
-    ):
-        # type: (bool, str, str, bool, Optional[str]) -> None
+        include_lsb: Optional[bool] = None,
+        os_release_file: str = "",
+        distro_release_file: str = "",
+        include_uname: Optional[bool] = None,
+        root_dir: Optional[str] = None,
+        include_oslevel: Optional[bool] = None,
+    ) -> None:
         """
         The initialization method of this class gathers information from the
         available data sources, and stores that in private instance attributes.
@@ -713,7 +712,13 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
           be empty.
 
         * ``root_dir`` (string): The absolute path to the root directory to use
-          to find distro-related information files.
+          to find distro-related information files. Note that ``include_*``
+          parameters must not be enabled in combination with ``root_dir``.
+
+        * ``include_oslevel`` (bool): Controls whether (AIX) oslevel command
+          output is included as a data source. If the oslevel command is not
+          available in the program execution path the data source will be
+          empty.
 
         Public instance attributes:
 
@@ -732,9 +737,20 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
           parameter. This controls whether the uname information will
           be loaded.
 
+        * ``include_oslevel`` (bool): The result of the ``include_oslevel``
+          parameter. This controls whether (AIX) oslevel information will be
+          loaded.
+
+        * ``root_dir`` (string): The result of the ``root_dir`` parameter.
+          The absolute path to the root directory to use to find distro-related
+          information files.
+
         Raises:
 
-        * :py:exc:`IOError`: Some I/O issue with an os-release file or distro
+        * :py:exc:`ValueError`: Initialization parameters combination is not
+           supported.
+
+        * :py:exc:`OSError`: Some I/O issue with an os-release file or distro
           release file.
 
         * :py:exc:`UnicodeError`: A data source has unexpected characters or
@@ -764,11 +780,24 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
                 self.os_release_file = usr_lib_os_release_file
 
         self.distro_release_file = distro_release_file or ""  # updated later
-        self.include_lsb = include_lsb
-        self.include_uname = include_uname
 
-    def __repr__(self):
-        # type: () -> str
+        is_root_dir_defined = root_dir is not None
+        if is_root_dir_defined and (include_lsb or include_uname or include_oslevel):
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Including subprocess data sources from specific root_dir is disallowed"
+                " to prevent false information"
+            )
+        self.include_lsb = (
+            include_lsb if include_lsb is not None else not is_root_dir_defined
+        )
+        self.include_uname = (
+            include_uname if include_uname is not None else not is_root_dir_defined
+        )
+        self.include_oslevel = (
+            include_oslevel if include_oslevel is not None else not is_root_dir_defined
+        )
+
+    def __repr__(self) -> str:
         """Return repr of all info"""
         return (
             "LinuxDistribution("
@@ -776,14 +805,18 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
             "distro_release_file={self.distro_release_file!r}, "
             "include_lsb={self.include_lsb!r}, "
             "include_uname={self.include_uname!r}, "
+            "include_oslevel={self.include_oslevel!r}, "
+            "root_dir={self.root_dir!r}, "
             "_os_release_info={self._os_release_info!r}, "
             "_lsb_release_info={self._lsb_release_info!r}, "
             "_distro_release_info={self._distro_release_info!r}, "
-            "_uname_info={self._uname_info!r})".format(self=self)
+            "_uname_info={self._uname_info!r}, "
+            "_oslevel_info={self._oslevel_info!r})".format(self=self)
         )
 
-    def linux_distribution(self, full_distribution_name=True):
-        # type: (bool) -> Tuple[str, str, str]
+    def linux_distribution(
+        self, full_distribution_name: bool = True
+    ) -> Tuple[str, str, str]:
         """
         Return information about the OS distribution that is compatible
         with Python's :func:`platform.linux_distribution`, supporting a subset
@@ -797,15 +830,13 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
             self._os_release_info.get("release_codename") or self.codename(),
         )
 
-    def id(self):
-        # type: () -> str
+    def id(self) -> str:
         """Return the distro ID of the OS distribution, as a string.
 
         For details, see :func:`distro.id`.
         """
 
-        def normalize(distro_id, table):
-            # type: (str, Dict[str, str]) -> str
+        def normalize(distro_id: str, table: Dict[str, str]) -> str:
             distro_id = distro_id.lower().replace(" ", "_")
             return table.get(distro_id, distro_id)
 
@@ -827,8 +858,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
 
         return ""
 
-    def name(self, pretty=False):
-        # type: (bool) -> str
+    def name(self, pretty: bool = False) -> str:
         """
         Return the name of the OS distribution, as a string.
 
@@ -848,11 +878,10 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
                 name = self.distro_release_attr("name") or self.uname_attr("name")
                 version = self.version(pretty=True)
                 if version:
-                    name = name + " " + version
+                    name = f"{name} {version}"
         return name or ""
 
-    def version(self, pretty=False, best=False):
-        # type: (bool, bool) -> str
+    def version(self, pretty: bool = False, best: bool = False) -> str:
         """
         Return the version of the OS distribution, as a string.
 
@@ -870,7 +899,10 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
             ).get("version_id", ""),
             self.uname_attr("release"),
         ]
-        if self.id() == "debian" or "debian" in self.like().split():
+        if self.uname_attr("id").startswith("aix"):
+            # On AIX platforms, prefer oslevel command output.
+            versions.insert(0, self.oslevel_info())
+        elif self.id() == "debian" or "debian" in self.like().split():
             # On Debian-like, add debian_version file content to candidates list.
             versions.append(self._debian_version)
         version = ""
@@ -888,11 +920,10 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
                     version = v
                     break
         if pretty and version and self.codename():
-            version = "{0} ({1})".format(version, self.codename())
+            version = f"{version} ({self.codename()})"
         return version
 
-    def version_parts(self, best=False):
-        # type: (bool) -> Tuple[str, str, str]
+    def version_parts(self, best: bool = False) -> Tuple[str, str, str]:
         """
         Return the version of the OS distribution, as a tuple of version
         numbers.
@@ -908,8 +939,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
                 return major, minor or "", build_number or ""
         return "", "", ""
 
-    def major_version(self, best=False):
-        # type: (bool) -> str
+    def major_version(self, best: bool = False) -> str:
         """
         Return the major version number of the current distribution.
 
@@ -917,8 +947,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self.version_parts(best)[0]
 
-    def minor_version(self, best=False):
-        # type: (bool) -> str
+    def minor_version(self, best: bool = False) -> str:
         """
         Return the minor version number of the current distribution.
 
@@ -926,8 +955,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self.version_parts(best)[1]
 
-    def build_number(self, best=False):
-        # type: (bool) -> str
+    def build_number(self, best: bool = False) -> str:
         """
         Return the build number of the current distribution.
 
@@ -935,8 +963,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self.version_parts(best)[2]
 
-    def like(self):
-        # type: () -> str
+    def like(self) -> str:
         """
         Return the IDs of distributions that are like the OS distribution.
 
@@ -944,8 +971,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self.os_release_attr("id_like") or ""
 
-    def codename(self):
-        # type: () -> str
+    def codename(self) -> str:
         """
         Return the codename of the OS distribution.
 
@@ -962,8 +988,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
                 or ""
             )
 
-    def info(self, pretty=False, best=False):
-        # type: (bool, bool) -> InfoDict
+    def info(self, pretty: bool = False, best: bool = False) -> InfoDict:
         """
         Return certain machine-readable information about the OS
         distribution.
@@ -982,8 +1007,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
             codename=self.codename(),
         )
 
-    def os_release_info(self):
-        # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+    def os_release_info(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Return a dictionary containing key-value pairs for the information
         items from the os-release file data source of the OS distribution.
@@ -992,8 +1016,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self._os_release_info
 
-    def lsb_release_info(self):
-        # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+    def lsb_release_info(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Return a dictionary containing key-value pairs for the information
         items from the lsb_release command data source of the OS
@@ -1003,8 +1026,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self._lsb_release_info
 
-    def distro_release_info(self):
-        # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+    def distro_release_info(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Return a dictionary containing key-value pairs for the information
         items from the distro release file data source of the OS
@@ -1014,8 +1036,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self._distro_release_info
 
-    def uname_info(self):
-        # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+    def uname_info(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Return a dictionary containing key-value pairs for the information
         items from the uname command data source of the OS distribution.
@@ -1024,8 +1045,13 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self._uname_info
 
-    def os_release_attr(self, attribute):
-        # type: (str) -> str
+    def oslevel_info(self) -> str:
+        """
+        Return AIX' oslevel command output.
+        """
+        return self._oslevel_info
+
+    def os_release_attr(self, attribute: str) -> str:
         """
         Return a single named information item from the os-release file data
         source of the OS distribution.
@@ -1034,8 +1060,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self._os_release_info.get(attribute, "")
 
-    def lsb_release_attr(self, attribute):
-        # type: (str) -> str
+    def lsb_release_attr(self, attribute: str) -> str:
         """
         Return a single named information item from the lsb_release command
         output data source of the OS distribution.
@@ -1044,8 +1069,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self._lsb_release_info.get(attribute, "")
 
-    def distro_release_attr(self, attribute):
-        # type: (str) -> str
+    def distro_release_attr(self, attribute: str) -> str:
         """
         Return a single named information item from the distro release file
         data source of the OS distribution.
@@ -1054,8 +1078,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         return self._distro_release_info.get(attribute, "")
 
-    def uname_attr(self, attribute):
-        # type: (str) -> str
+    def uname_attr(self, attribute: str) -> str:
         """
         Return a single named information item from the uname command
         output data source of the OS distribution.
@@ -1065,8 +1088,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         return self._uname_info.get(attribute, "")
 
     @cached_property
-    def _os_release_info(self):
-        # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+    def _os_release_info(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Get the information items from the specified os-release file.
 
@@ -1074,13 +1096,12 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
             A dictionary containing all information items.
         """
         if os.path.isfile(self.os_release_file):
-            with open(self.os_release_file) as release_file:
+            with open(self.os_release_file, encoding="utf-8") as release_file:
                 return self._parse_os_release_content(release_file)
         return {}
 
     @staticmethod
-    def _parse_os_release_content(lines):
-        # type: (TextIO) -> Dict[str, str]
+    def _parse_os_release_content(lines: TextIO) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Parse the lines of an os-release file.
 
@@ -1097,16 +1118,6 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         lexer = shlex.shlex(lines, posix=True)
         lexer.whitespace_split = True
 
-        # The shlex module defines its `wordchars` variable using literals,
-        # making it dependent on the encoding of the Python source file.
-        # In Python 2.6 and 2.7, the shlex source file is encoded in
-        # 'iso-8859-1', and the `wordchars` variable is defined as a byte
-        # string. This causes a UnicodeDecodeError to be raised when the
-        # parsed content is a unicode object. The following fix resolves that
-        # (... but it should be fixed in shlex...):
-        if sys.version_info[0] == 2 and isinstance(lexer.wordchars, bytes):
-            lexer.wordchars = lexer.wordchars.decode("iso-8859-1")
-
         tokens = list(lexer)
         for token in tokens:
             # At this point, all shell-like parsing has been done (i.e.
@@ -1140,8 +1151,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         return props
 
     @cached_property
-    def _lsb_release_info(self):
-        # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+    def _lsb_release_info(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Get the information items from the lsb_release command output.
 
@@ -1150,19 +1160,17 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         """
         if not self.include_lsb:
             return {}
-        with open(os.devnull, "wb") as devnull:
-            try:
-                cmd = ("lsb_release", "-a")
-                stdout = subprocess.check_output(cmd, stderr=devnull)
-            # Command not found or lsb_release returned error
-            except (OSError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
-                return {}
+        try:
+            cmd = ("lsb_release", "-a")
+            stdout = subprocess.check_output(cmd, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
+        # Command not found or lsb_release returned error
+        except (OSError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
+            return {}
         content = self._to_str(stdout).splitlines()
         return self._parse_lsb_release_content(content)
 
     @staticmethod
-    def _parse_lsb_release_content(lines):
-        # type: (Iterable[str]) -> Dict[str, str]
+    def _parse_lsb_release_content(lines: Iterable[str]) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Parse the output of the lsb_release command.
 
@@ -1186,31 +1194,39 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         return props
 
     @cached_property
-    def _uname_info(self):
-        # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+    def _uname_info(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         if not self.include_uname:
             return {}
-        with open(os.devnull, "wb") as devnull:
-            try:
-                cmd = ("uname", "-rs")
-                stdout = subprocess.check_output(cmd, stderr=devnull)
-            except OSError:
-                return {}
+        try:
+            cmd = ("uname", "-rs")
+            stdout = subprocess.check_output(cmd, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
+        except OSError:
+            return {}
         content = self._to_str(stdout).splitlines()
         return self._parse_uname_content(content)
 
     @cached_property
-    def _debian_version(self):
-        # type: () -> str
+    def _oslevel_info(self) -> str:
+        if not self.include_oslevel:
+            return ""
+        try:
+            stdout = subprocess.check_output("oslevel", stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
+        except (OSError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
+            return ""
+        return self._to_str(stdout).strip()
+
+    @cached_property
+    def _debian_version(self) -> str:
         try:
-            with open(os.path.join(self.etc_dir, "debian_version")) as fp:
+            with open(
+                os.path.join(self.etc_dir, "debian_version"), encoding="ascii"
+            ) as fp:
                 return fp.readline().rstrip()
-        except (OSError, IOError):
+        except FileNotFoundError:
             return ""
 
     @staticmethod
-    def _parse_uname_content(lines):
-        # type: (Sequence[str]) -> Dict[str, str]
+    def _parse_uname_content(lines: Sequence[str]) -> Dict[str, str]:
         if not lines:
             return {}
         props = {}
@@ -1229,23 +1245,12 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
         return props
 
     @staticmethod
-    def _to_str(text):
-        # type: (Union[bytes, str]) -> str
+    def _to_str(bytestring: bytes) -> str:
         encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding()
-        encoding = "utf-8" if encoding == "ascii" else encoding
-
-        if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
-            if isinstance(text, bytes):
-                return text.decode(encoding)
-        else:
-            if isinstance(text, unicode):  # noqa
-                return text.encode(encoding)
-
-        return text
+        return bytestring.decode(encoding)
 
     @cached_property
-    def _distro_release_info(self):
-        # type: () -> Dict[str, str]
+    def _distro_release_info(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Get the information items from the specified distro release file.
 
@@ -1262,14 +1267,14 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
             # file), because we want to use what was specified as best as
             # possible.
             match = _DISTRO_RELEASE_BASENAME_PATTERN.match(basename)
-            if "name" in distro_info and "cloudlinux" in distro_info["name"].lower():
-                distro_info["id"] = "cloudlinux"
-            elif match:
-                distro_info["id"] = match.group(1)
-            return distro_info
         else:
             try:
-                basenames = os.listdir(self.etc_dir)
+                basenames = [
+                    basename
+                    for basename in os.listdir(self.etc_dir)
+                    if basename not in _DISTRO_RELEASE_IGNORE_BASENAMES
+                    and os.path.isfile(os.path.join(self.etc_dir, basename))
+                ]
                 # We sort for repeatability in cases where there are multiple
                 # distro specific files; e.g. CentOS, Oracle, Enterprise all
                 # containing `redhat-release` on top of their own.
@@ -1279,42 +1284,31 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
                 # sure about the *-release files. Check common entries of
                 # /etc for information. If they turn out to not be there the
                 # error is handled in `_parse_distro_release_file()`.
-                basenames = [
-                    "SuSE-release",
-                    "arch-release",
-                    "base-release",
-                    "centos-release",
-                    "fedora-release",
-                    "gentoo-release",
-                    "mageia-release",
-                    "mandrake-release",
-                    "mandriva-release",
-                    "mandrivalinux-release",
-                    "manjaro-release",
-                    "oracle-release",
-                    "redhat-release",
-                    "rocky-release",
-                    "sl-release",
-                    "slackware-version",
-                ]
+                basenames = _DISTRO_RELEASE_BASENAMES
             for basename in basenames:
-                if basename in _DISTRO_RELEASE_IGNORE_BASENAMES:
-                    continue
                 match = _DISTRO_RELEASE_BASENAME_PATTERN.match(basename)
-                if match:
-                    filepath = os.path.join(self.etc_dir, basename)
-                    distro_info = self._parse_distro_release_file(filepath)
-                    if "name" in distro_info:
-                        # The name is always present if the pattern matches
-                        self.distro_release_file = filepath
-                        distro_info["id"] = match.group(1)
-                        if "cloudlinux" in distro_info["name"].lower():
-                            distro_info["id"] = "cloudlinux"
-                        return distro_info
-            return {}
+                if match is None:
+                    continue
+                filepath = os.path.join(self.etc_dir, basename)
+                distro_info = self._parse_distro_release_file(filepath)
+                # The name is always present if the pattern matches.
+                if "name" not in distro_info:
+                    continue
+                self.distro_release_file = filepath
+                break
+            else:  # the loop didn't "break": no candidate.
+                return {}
+
+        if match is not None:
+            distro_info["id"] = match.group(1)
+
+        # CloudLinux < 7: manually enrich info with proper id.
+        if "cloudlinux" in distro_info.get("name", "").lower():
+            distro_info["id"] = "cloudlinux"
+
+        return distro_info
 
-    def _parse_distro_release_file(self, filepath):
-        # type: (str) -> Dict[str, str]
+    def _parse_distro_release_file(self, filepath: str) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Parse a distro release file.
 
@@ -1326,19 +1320,18 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
             A dictionary containing all information items.
         """
         try:
-            with open(filepath) as fp:
+            with open(filepath, encoding="utf-8") as fp:
                 # Only parse the first line. For instance, on SLES there
                 # are multiple lines. We don't want them...
                 return self._parse_distro_release_content(fp.readline())
-        except (OSError, IOError):
+        except OSError:
             # Ignore not being able to read a specific, seemingly version
             # related file.
             # See https://github.com/python-distro/distro/issues/162
             return {}
 
     @staticmethod
-    def _parse_distro_release_content(line):
-        # type: (str) -> Dict[str, str]
+    def _parse_distro_release_content(line: str) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Parse a line from a distro release file.
 
@@ -1366,8 +1359,7 @@ class LinuxDistribution(object):
 _distro = LinuxDistribution()
 
 
-def main():
-    # type: () -> None
+def main() -> None:
     logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
     logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
     logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout))
@@ -1389,7 +1381,10 @@ def main():
 
     if args.root_dir:
         dist = LinuxDistribution(
-            include_lsb=False, include_uname=False, root_dir=args.root_dir
+            include_lsb=False,
+            include_uname=False,
+            include_oslevel=False,
+            root_dir=args.root_dir,
         )
     else:
         dist = _distro
diff --git a/test/sanity/ignore.txt b/test/sanity/ignore.txt
index 30fd4687f16..89fcd0272d1 100644
--- a/test/sanity/ignore.txt
+++ b/test/sanity/ignore.txt
@@ -58,8 +58,6 @@ lib/ansible/module_utils/compat/selinux.py import-3.12!skip # pass/fail depends
 lib/ansible/module_utils/compat/selinux.py pylint:unidiomatic-typecheck
 lib/ansible/module_utils/distro/_distro.py no-assert
 lib/ansible/module_utils/distro/_distro.py pep8!skip # bundled code we don't want to modify
-lib/ansible/module_utils/distro/_distro.py pylint:undefined-variable # ignore bundled
-lib/ansible/module_utils/distro/_distro.py pylint:using-constant-test # bundled code we don't want to modify
 lib/ansible/module_utils/distro/__init__.py empty-init # breaks namespacing, bundled, do not override
 lib/ansible/module_utils/facts/__init__.py empty-init # breaks namespacing, deprecate and eventually remove
 lib/ansible/module_utils/powershell/Ansible.ModuleUtils.ArgvParser.psm1 pslint:PSUseApprovedVerbs