Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Beta Release Postponed Due to Security Concerns

posted by Rianne Schestowitz on Apr 03, 2024,
updated Apr 17, 2024

The Linux community was deeply unsettled following the revelation of a backdoor in the XZ tarballs, sparking a series of consequential events. These included even a proposal for changes to systemd, which, though indirectly, were pivotal in successfully exploiting the vulnerability.

In the wake of this turmoil, Debian had already postponed the launch of its Bookworm series 12.6 update. Now, Ubuntu has similarly responded by taking its own measures.

In a recent announcement from Canonical, users learned of a slight hiccup in their eagerly awaited release schedule. The Beta version of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, codenamed “Noble Numbat,” will now be launched on April 11, 2024, a week later than the initially planned date of April 4, 2024.

Read on

Also: Ubuntu 24.04 Beta Delayed Due to Security Issue

Direct: Noble Numbat Beta delayed (xz/liblzma security update)

UbuntuHandbook:

• Ubuntu 24.04 Beta Delayed Due to XZ Open Source Attack

  It’s because an attack publicly disclosed on March 29, 2024.

  An attacker using the name “Jia Tan” installed a backdoor into liblzma library. It’s a part of xz, which happens to be a dependency of OpenSSH in Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. The backdoor sends hidden commands at the start of an SSH session, allowing the attacker to run an arbitrary command on the target system without logging in.

  Russ Cox, Google’s Golang developer, post a page talking about timeline of the xz open source attack. According to the post, “Jia Tan”, the attacker, started contributing to xz since October 2021, and became a maintainer since the second half of 2022.

Adding More:

• Latest Ubuntu beta and other Linux distros delayed by xz-utils security issues

  The beta version of Ubuntu 24.04 won’t be released on time, the developers have confirmed, following concerns about a major security threat.

  Instead of launching on April 4, the latest Ubuntu version, which also holds the codename Noble Numbat, will now be released on April 11 after developers Canonical decided to push the release for a week because of the discovery of CVE-2024-3094, a critical vulnerability recently discovered in xz-utils.

  XZ-utils is a set of data compression tools and libraries used by major Linux distros. The vulnerability was introduced to XZ version 5.6.0 by a pseudonymous attacker, and persisted throughout 5.6.1 as well.

• Canonical Delays Ubuntu 24.04 Beta Because of XZ Backdoor

  Canonical has announced it is delaying the beta release of Ubuntu 24.04 in the wake of the XZ backdoor that stunned the Linux community last week.

  Microsoft engineer Andres Freund discovered that XZ Utils, a popular compression library used by nearly every major Linux distro, was compromised with a malicious backdoor. Rather than being a brute-force attack, initial investigation revealed that the backdoor had been inserted by one of the project’s legitimate maintainers.

• Canonical delays beta release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS by a week due to xz backdoor

  Canonical says it chose to do this to ensure users’ security. Lukasz Zemczak, the company’s Senior Software Engineer and Interim Manager, announced that all beta version binary packages created after the backdoor was committed to xz-utils (February 26) would be removed and rebuilt.

  As a result, Canonical can guarantee that the threat will not affect any binary in the builds of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (codenamed Noble Numbat).

Late:

• Ubuntu 24.04 Beta released after week delay due to malicious code

  Delayed by a week due to malicious code in the XZ compression tools, Ubuntu 24.04 'Nodle Numbat' is ready for beta users to test.

The Register:

• After delay due to xz, Ubuntu 24.04 'Noble Numbat' belatedly hits beta

  The beta version of Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat is out, just a couple of weeks before the planned release date. It's a little behind schedule as the developers decided to rebuild all its packages because of the xz/liblzma security hole, which the Reg covered last month.

  Some of the new features are things that will also be in other distros: "Noble" includes GNOME 46, which we looked at in February, and is based on kernel 6.8, which after some delays of its own finally débuted last month. As usual, Canonical has customized the experience more than many distros with a dozen preloaded extensions, of which four are active by default: its dock, application indicators, desktop icons, and a Windows-inspired tiling assistant which can tile windows into quarters of the screen. GNOME still breaks this grumpy old vulture's muscle memory, but Ubuntu's configuration is one of the better ones.

Also late coverage:

• Ubuntu GNU/Linux 24.04 LTS Beta Released with Enhanced Security & Performance

  Canonical has recently announced the Beta release of Ubuntu GNU/Linux 24.04 LTS , codenamed "Noble Numbat." This release aims to continue Ubuntu's legacy of incorporating cutting-edge open-source technologies into a user-friendly, high-quality distribution.

Planet Ubuntu:

• Ubuntu Budgie 24.04 Release Notes

  Ubuntu Budgie 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) is a Long Term Support release with 3 years of support, from April 2024 to May 2027.

  These release notes takes the 22.10/23.04/23.10 and 24.04 developments and highlights the key parts that 22.04 upgraders need to be aware of.

It's FOSS News:

• My Experience With Ubuntu 24.04 Beta So Far...

  With any beta software, you should expect some hiccups. Hence, it is not recommended for all users to try beta versions of a distro or an app. You should only download/upgrade when a stable release is available for the best user experience.

  However, what happens if a tinkerer or a curious cat like me tests Ubuntu 24.04 LTS?

  Well, that is what I share here...

  I know a lot of you may be tempted to try the beta releases, but unless you want to help test things (and be okay with inconveniences), you should not try them

How-To Geek:

• What's New in Ubuntu 24.04 "Noble Numbat"

  Ubuntu 24.04, code-named “Noble Numbat”, has a release date of April 25, 2024. We fired up the beta build to see whether it was worth upgrading to Canonical’s newest long-term support release.

  Another April, another Ubuntu. As regular and unfailing as the changing of the seasons, twice a year we get a new release of Ubuntu. There’s the April build, and there’s the October build.

  Every two years, the April release is a Long-Term Support version, getting five years of support and updates from Canonical. If you subscribe to Ubuntu Pro, which is free for home users, the support period is extended to 10 years. If you want to, you can purchase another two years of support, making it 12 years in total.

Liam Dawe:

• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) Beta released

  Canonical is gearing up for the release of the next LTS (long term support) version of Ubuntu, with a first Beta now available for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat).