Ubuntu 26.04 Ends 46 Years of Silent sudo Passwords. Starting with the upcoming LTS release, every keystroke at a sudo password prompt will echo an asterisk — a small UX fix that has ignited one of Linux's fiercest debates in years.

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Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 'Resolute Raccoon' (due April 23, 2026) will display asterisks for each character typed at a sudo password prompt, ending over 46 years of silent password input. The change comes via sudo-rs, a Rust rewrite of the classic C sudo that Canonical adopted as default in Ubuntu 25.10. The upstream sudo-rs project enabled the pwfeedback option by default, and Canonical cherry-picked the patch into 26.04. Proponents argue the security trade-off is negligible since password length is already visible at graphical login screens, while critics call it a break from historical security practice. Users who prefer the classic silent prompt can restore it by adding 'Defaults !pwfeedback' to their sudoers file via visudo.