--- title: Hardened ROS with 10 year security from Open Robotics and Canonical description: Canonical ROS ESM customers now can access a long-term supported ROS and Ubuntu environment by the Ubuntu and ROS experts. url: https://canonical.com/blog/hardened-ros-with-10-year-security-from-open-robotics-and-canonical?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Canonical](https://canonical.com/blog/author/canonical "More about Canonical") 6 April 2021 # Hardened ROS with 10 year security from Open Robotics and Canonical [ESM](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/esm) [robotics](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/robotics) [ROS](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/ros) [ROS ESM](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/ros-esm) [ROS2](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/ros2) --- Share the article *Canonical ROS ESM customers now can access a long-term supported ROS and Ubuntu environment by the Ubuntu and ROS experts.* **[Learn more about ROS ESM](https://ubuntu.com/blog/what-is-ros-esm).** **6 April 2021**: [Canonical](http://www.ubuntu.com/?_ga=2.251864897.978179122.1615748149-1461212674.1605480761) and [Open Robotics](https://www.openrobotics.org/) announced today a partnership for Robot Operating System ([ROS](https://www.ros.org/)) Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) and enterprise support, as part of Ubuntu Advantage, Canonical’s [service package for Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/legal/ubuntu-advantage). ROS support will be made available as an option to Ubuntu Advantage support customers. As a result, users already taking advantage of critical security updates and Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) fixes now have a single point of contact to guarantee timely and high quality fixes for ROS. Together, the two companies support the robotics community by making ROS robots and services easier to build and package, simpler to manage, and more reliable to deploy.  “With ROS deployed as part of so many commercial products and services, it’s clear that our community needs a way to safely run robots beyond their software End-Of-Life dates. Canonical’s track record delivering ESM, together with our deep understanding of the ROS code base, make this partnership ideal. Ubuntu Linux has been central to the ROS project from the beginning, when we released ROS Box Turtle on Ubuntu Hardy over a decade ago” says Brian Gerkey, CEO of Open Robotics. “We’re excited to be part of this offering that will enable users to access quality support from both organizations.” “Canonical’s Ubuntu has been the primary platform for ROS since inception. Now open robots are rapidly and fundamentally changing what is possible in the physical world” said Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical. “We are delighted to deepen our engagement with Open Robotics to secure the robots of the future, and simplify the lives of those responsible for creating and operating them”. **[ROS ESM](https://ubuntu.com/robotics/ros-esm)**is Canonical’s offering for ROS developers that enables them to access a hardened and long-term supported ROS system for robots and its applications on Ubuntu. ROS ESM provides backports for critical security updates, Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) fixes, and critical bug fixes for your ROS environment. By enabling Canonical’s ESM repositories you will get trusted and stable binaries for your ROS and Ubuntu base OS distribution.  ROS ESM is available for End-Of-Life distributions as well as Long-Term Support versions of ROS. [ROS](https://www.ros.org/) is an open-source framework that helps researchers and developers build and reuse code between robotics applications. More than just software, ROS is also a global open-source community of engineers, developers and academics who contribute to making robots better, more accessible and available to everyone. ROS has been adopted into some of the biggest names in robotics. **About Canonical** Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu, the leading OS for container, cloud, and hyperscale computing. Through its open-source tools such as [snaps for packaging your ROS project](http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials/Packaging%20your%20ROS%20project%20as%20a%20snap?utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=7014K000000LjXR) and [Ubuntu Core to enhance security for mission-critical robots](https://ubuntu.com/engage/securing-ros-on-robotics-platforms-whitepaper?utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=7014K000000LjXR), Canonical has been supporting the management and upgrading of robot software. This is a common and significant problem faced by the robotics community. [Learn more here>](https://ubuntu.com/robotics). **About Open Robotics** Working with the global community, Open Robotics offers two open platforms: ROS and Gazebo. ROS (Robot Operating System) is a software development kit to build robot applications. [Gazebo](http://gazebosim.org/) is a widely used tool for accurately and efficiently simulating robots. Open Robotics is the hub of the global robotics community. Open Robotics creates open software and hardware platforms for robotics and uses those platforms to solve important problems and help others to do the same. [Learn more here>](https://www.openrobotics.org/). ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### Extending ROS Noetic Support with ESM-Enabled Content Snaps](https://canonical.com/blog/extending-ros-noetic-support-with-esm-enabled-content-snaps) Canonical has now extended its ESM (Expanded Security Maintenance) for ROS coverage to ROS Noetic content-sharing snaps. With ESM for ROS now available in both deb and snap... [Florencia Cabral Berenfus](https://canonical.com/blog/author/flor-cabral) 17 December 2025 [### Discover your fully open source robotics observability at ROSCon 2025](https://canonical.com/blog/roscon-2025) Another year, another ROSCon! This year we’re heading to Singapore, and Canonical is once again thrilled to sponsor this important community event. Just like last year in... [Gabriel Aguiar Noury](https://canonical.com/blog/author/g-aguiar-noury) 22 October 2025 [### Canonical is now a platinum member in the Open Source Robotics Alliance](https://canonical.com/blog/osra-membership) Ubuntu is the home of ROS. The very first ROS distribution, Box Turtle, launched on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, Hardy Heron, and since then, Ubuntu and ROS have grown hand in hand. With... [Gabriel Aguiar Noury](https://canonical.com/blog/author/g-aguiar-noury) 20 August 2025 [### ROS Noetic is EOL – take action to maintain fleet security](https://canonical.com/blog/ros-noetic-is-eol-take-action-to-maintain-fleet-security) As of May 2025, the Robot Operating System (ROS) Noetic Ninjemys officially reached its end of life (EOL). First released in 2020 as the final ROS (1) distribution, ROS Noetic... [Florencia Cabral Berenfus](https://canonical.com/blog/author/flor-cabral) 8 August 2025