Expanded Security Maintenance
for the Robot Operating System

ROS security updates
for your entire product lifecycle.

What is ESM for ROS?

Expanded Security Maintenance for Robot Operating System (ESM for ROS) is a service that provides security and bug fixes for ROS versions that have reached End-of-Life.

ESM for ROS lengthens support for ROS LTS releases from 5 to 15 years, and broadens security patching to cover more than 10,000 packages from the wider open source universe. This includes more than 600 robotics packages across ROS 1 Kinetic, Melodic, and Noetic as well as ROS 2 Foxy.

As cybersecurity regulations, like the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), come into force, ESM for ROS ensures that your devices running in the field remain compliant and continue to receive critical updates. Available as part of Ubuntu Pro, ESM for ROS is compatible with amd64, arm64, and armhf architectures.

ESM for ROS is delivered by Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu and a platinum member of OSRA (Open Source Robotics Alliance) – the governance organization behind ROS.

ROS distributions available today in ROS ESM:

Kinetic Kane

Melodic Morenia

Foxy Fitzroy

Noetic Ninjemys

A few of the tens of thousands of packages included in the Ubuntu Universe repository:

ESM for ROS covers patching for over 2,000 packages in the Ubuntu Main repository:

Security maintenance
you can trust

Prevent the risks of running unpatched and unmaintained ROS versions for your robot, company, and customers. Risks that increase when working with End-Of-Life (EOL) ROS distributions or dependencies.

With ESM for ROS, you can count on backports for critical security updates, fixes for common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE), and bug fixes for both ROS and the Ubuntu base OS. Our security experts follow a standardized process to identify vulnerabilities and create and test security patches.

With ESM for ROS, keeping core ROS packages secure is a fast and straightforward process.

The benefits of an Ubuntu Pro subscription

	Ubuntu LTS	Ubuntu Pro (Infra-only)	Ubuntu Pro
ESM for ROS	No	No	Yes
Kernel Livepatch	No	Yes	Yes
Systems management at scale with Landscape	No	Yes	Yes
Real time kernel	No	Yes	Yes
NIST-certified FIPS crypto-modules	No	Yes	Yes
USG hardening with CIS and DISA-STIG profiles	No	Yes	Yes
Common Criteria EAL2	No	Yes	Yes

Want to know more?

Get ESM for ROS

30-day trial for enterprises.
Always free for personal use.

Deployed devices in the field?

If you already have a fleet of devices or need to support deployments, Ubuntu Pro for Devices may be the right solution. Ubuntu Pro for Devices includes a discount-based model and the option of a one–time–fee per device.

Want to go beyond?

Canonical offers Ubuntu Core, an open source minimal, secure and strictly confined operating system for embedded devices. Customers using Ubuntu Core get a Ubuntu Pro subscription for free as part of their contract.