Name: Password feedback in sudo.
Age: New, but it’s absence is over 40 years old.
Appearance: ********.
What’s this about? When you run a command in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS using sudo and enter your password, you now see asterisks appear as you type. Previously you’d see nothing but a gaping black void reflecting your own uncertainty back at you.
I always wondered why sudo didn’t show asterisks… You and a lot of other people. Linux Mint enables password feedback by default since, y’know, feedback is useful (unless it’s why this strained article format is deathly unfunny). Not showing feedback is a behaviour that stretches back to the original version of sudo created in the 1980s.
Ubuntu switched to a new sudo, right? Yes. Ubuntu switched to sudo-rs, a rewrite of the decades-old C version in new-fangled Rust in version 25.10. As memory-safety in a critical command, the Rust switch does makes sense. You still run sudo as the command, so the change is invisible. Or rather: it was – this change only affects the Rust-based version.
Why did sudo not show feedback? Security. Traditional sudo withholds feedback, i.e., no asterisks of reassurance, because the fear is that a nerdy creep might be peering over your shoulder (or capturing your screen). They might count the characters you type, be able to guess your password and then potentially gain access to your system, personal data, anime stash, etc.
They’d never guess my password. It’s 8 characters = “password”. Easy. Also, I love that aftershave you wear.
Un-funny. Why is this now not an issue? The sudo-rs developers think the security gain of hiding password length from a supposed shoulder-snoop is, bluntly, “infinitesimal”. It’s far outweighed by the confusion/rite of passage new Linux user face when typing in their password to and getting nothing back.
I’m guessing people aren’t happy. The only thing people hate more than a lack of change, is change itself. A bug filed against Ubuntu 26.04 exclaims (caps original): “WHY?! This goes against DECADES of NOT ECHOING THE LENGTH OF THE PASSWORD TO SHOULDER SURFERS”. Ubuntu marked the bug as “Won’t Fix”.
Harsh. Maybe. Upstream sudo-rs is equally unmoved. The original GitHub ticket made clear the team hasn’t done this for LOLs and aren’t backing down. Their reasoning is that outside of sudo, no other password field on Linux doesn’t show some sort of feedback.
Fair, then. It is. This UX decision only seems radical because it’s about sudo. Every other password field on Ubuntu (and most Linux desktops, apps, etc) shows feedback when you type. Frankly, it’s weirder that we all acted like sudo’s silence was normal. It’s frankly unsocial.
Is there a deadline on needing a strong opinion on this? April 23, 2026, sooner if you run a daily build. If you’re upgrading directly from 24.04 LTS to 26.04 LTS late this year, you’ll getting two changes at once: Rust-based sudo and this outrageous lack of respect for decades of sudo tradition etc.
I’ll jot that down. Champ.
While I’m taking notes, how do I get the old behaviour back? You add Defaults !pwfeedback to /etc/sudoers using sudo visudo. Thereafter, you can punch in your password to stunned silence. A bit like readers’ reactions to these Explainer posts…
Do say: “Finally, confirmation that my keyboard is actually working.”
Don’t say: “They’ll prise zero sudo feedback from my cold, accurately-typed hands.”