Canonical has rolled out Ubuntu Pro Minimal 22.04 LTS with CIS hardening, a new flavor of Ubuntu that’s all about security and compliance from the very beginning. It’s built for organizations that don’t want to waste time hardening servers after the fact.
This release starts with Minimal Ubuntu, the stripped-down version of Ubuntu Server that ships with only the essentials. That smaller footprint means fewer attack surfaces and better performance.
On top of that, you get Ubuntu Pro. That brings enterprise-grade patching for high and critical CVEs across thousands of open source packages. Canonical then takes it further by baking in the Center for Internet Security (CIS) Level 1 hardening profile. That means key policies for file permissions, firewall rules, authentication, logging, and more are already in place.
The big selling point here is automation. Instead of admins manually applying CIS guidelines, this image ships with most of them pre-applied. Less manual work, fewer mistakes, and compliance right from the first boot.
Ubuntu Pro Minimal also includes perks like kernel livepatch, DISA-STIG compliance, and FIPS-certified crypto modules. Since it’s AWS-optimized, it ships with the tuned kernel and agents you need for full EC2 compatibility, whether on x86 or Graviton ARM instances.
Getting started is easy. Just subscribe on the AWS Marketplace or pick it from the EC2 console. Both AMD64 and ARM builds are available now.
