Ubuntu, the most popular distribution of Linux, has taken down its latest version after noticing hate speech in Ukrainian translations of the release. The installation file for version 23.10 of Ubuntu contained homophobic, antisemitic and xenophobic text in the Ukrainian translation.
A note published by the Ubuntu project on a community forum on 13 October said that the latest version 23.10 of Ubuntu Desktop was removed after they “identified hate speech from a malicious contributor in a specific set of translations of the Ubuntu Desktop installer UI and have taken immediate action.”
It said that these translations are being removed and an updated ISO will be available to download once they have replaced the offending material. Ubuntu project added that the translations were provided via a third-party tool used for a subset of applications, and it is not part of Ubuntu Archive.
An update to the note said that a community contributor had submitted offensive Ukrainian translations to a public, third-party online service that is used to provide language support for the Ubuntu Desktop installer. “Around three hours after the release of Ubuntu 23.10 this fact was brought to our attention and we immediately removed the affected images,” the note added.
It said that Ubuntu Desktop 23.10 and Ubuntu Budgie 23.10 are the impacted images.
Ubuntu team said that the offensive text is not shown if the operating system is updated, and it only impacts installations through a live CD environment. The statement added, “Please keep in mind that translations are data files that support internationalisation of applications. These files are updated with the support of third-party online systems with contributions from individuals all around the world that then get integrated into Ubuntu. It’s unfortunate when that path of collaboration is undermined and used as a mechanism of social aggression. Canonical and Ubuntu do not condone hate speech or offensive language of any kind, as per our code of conduct.”
While the statement didn’t mention the kind of hate speech injected in the installation file, Bleepingcomputer spotted the altered text posted on Github. It shows that anti-Semitic, homophobic, and xenophobic slurs were injected into the Ubuntu distribution, which was spotted by alert community members, following which it was taken down.
A Github pull request shows that the “insulting [localization] strings” were spotted around 12 October. It was also found that the cryptic malicious Ukrainian strings were injected by a user by the name of “Danilo Negrilo” towards the end of the translation file, making them harder to spot.
Some lines of the text posted on Github shows maliciously altered instruction file. The instructions for installation of the OS were replaced with instructions for how to perform a homosexual act in cryptic language, as per machine translation of the Ukrainian text.
While Ubuntu has restored the Ukrainian translation to the state before it was sabotaged, it is taking additional time for a broader audit and has not restored the Live CD installation image yet.
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.
— Ubuntu (@ubuntu) October 12, 2023
The Ubuntu 23.10 image has been taken down and a new version will be available once the correct translations have been…
However, users can still download legacy installer ISO images of Ubuntu Desktop 23.10, which was not injected with hate speech. Existing users also can upgrade their systems to get the latest version.
