Canonical retracted the Ubuntu 23.10 images merely hours after their release due to user translations for the Ubuntu installer containing hate-inciting speech.
These translations, executed through a third-party tool, were inadvertently integrated into the Ubuntu packages. Consequently, the Ubuntu 23.10 images were pulled, and Canonical is currently in the process of crafting new images with rectified translations.
The official Ubuntu X account elucidated the issue, hinting at the withdrawal of Ubuntu 23.10: “We have identified hate speech from a malicious contributor in some of our translations submitted as part of a third party tool outside of the Ubuntu Archive. The Ubuntu 23.10 image has been taken down and a new version will be available once the correct translations have been restored.”
On a community forum, the Ubuntu team further clarified that the malicious translations were submitted by a community member to a “third party online service” that the Ubuntu Desktop installer relied on for linguistic support.
It was also reported that the problematic translations were discovered within a specific set of the Ubuntu Desktop installer interface translations and were promptly removed. These translations aren’t part of the Ubuntu archive, and the incident seems confined solely to translations procured through a third-party tool for certain applications.
The following images were affected:
- Ubuntu Desktop 23.10
- Ubuntu Desktop 23.10 arm64 image for Lenovo X13s
- Ubuntu Budgie 23.10
“We expect a candidate daily image to be completed today with a new release image to follow early next week. In the meantime users can continue to install Ubuntu Desktop 23.10 using the legacy installer ISO available on our downloads page 1.4k, which is unaffected by this issue,” Product Manager for Ubuntu Desktop and Raspberry Pi, Oliver Smith wrote.
