In Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, a significant change has been made to the long-standing behavior of the sudo command: it now shows asterisks when users type their password. This adjustment alters a convention that has persisted for over four decades, where entering a password in sudo provided no visual feedback, just a blank screen, reflecting the user’s uncertainty.
Many have questioned this tradition, with Linux Mint providing password feedback by default. Historically, the absence of feedback in sudo has been linked to security concerns; it aimed to prevent "shoulder surfing," where someone could deduce the number of characters in a password by counting the visible asterisks. The original design, stemming from the 1980s version of sudo, prioritized the potential risks tied to password visibility.
However, Ubuntu’s recent switch to a new version of sudo, rewritten in Rust (as part of version 25.10), prompted reconsideration of this approach. The developers behind sudo-rs have found the risk of showing password length to be minimal compared to the confusion that new users face when they see no feedback while entering their passwords.
This change has stirred mixed feelings among users. Reports of discontent, including a bug filed against the update, highlight strong opposition to abandoning the established practice. Ubuntu has classified this bug as “Won’t Fix,” standing firm on the decision. The upstream sudo-rs team has also signaled that they do not intend to reverse the change, arguing that all other password fields in Linux offer some feedback, making sudo’s previous silence seem odd.
For those who prefer the classic experience without visible feedback, reverting to the old behavior is possible. Users can edit the /etc/sudoers file and add Defaults !pwfeedback, allowing them to once again type without seeing asterisks. This change in Ubuntu 26.04 is scheduled for public release on April 23, 2026, thereby marking a pivotal shift in how password entry is handled within the operating system.
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