Operating Systems AWS

Hardened Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 LTS AMIs on AWS: Guide

| Product: Hardened Ubuntu 22.04 & 24.04 LTS AMIs: Minimal, LVM, STIG

Overview

This page is the entry point for the cloudimg Hardened Ubuntu 22.04 & 24.04 LTS AMIs: Minimal, LVM, STIG AWS Marketplace listing. The listing is a single product that offers several products and releases as separate software versions. Subscribe once, then choose the version you want from the Software version list at launch, and open its guide below for the full setup and connection walk-through.

What cloudimg adds to every version - Every image is built by cloudimg from the distribution's official cloud image, fully patched at build time and remediated with the OpenSCAP CIS Level 1 Server profile (STIG-Hardened variants apply their own named OpenSCAP profile instead). - Each image is hardened for EC2 with key-only SSH, cloud-init and current kernels, and carries no build residue, shared keys or default passwords.

Pricing is metered hourly per EC2 instance type and is the same for every version in this listing. The recommended instance type is m5.large.

How to pick a version

  1. Open the listing on AWS Marketplace and choose Continue to Subscribe. One subscription covers every product and release in the listing.
  2. Accept the terms, then choose Continue to Configuration.
  3. In Software version, choose the product and release you want. Each version is a separate software version, named <distribution> <release>[ <variant>] - <date>, for example Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Minimal - DD-MM-YYYY. The date is when that version was added to the listing.
  4. Choose your Region and Continue to Launch, then pick an instance type (m5.large is recommended), your EC2 key pair and a security group that opens port 22 from your own network only.
  5. After launch, open the product's guide below for first login.

You can run several products from the same subscription: launch one instance per product, each from its own software version.

Releases and variants in this listing, newest release first:

  • Ubuntu: 24.04 (Minimal); 22.04 (Minimal)
  • Ubuntu Server: 24.04 (standard)

Security model

Every version in this listing follows the same model:

  • Fully patched. Every package is updated when the image is built, superseded kernels are removed, and automatic security updates stay switched on.
  • Key-only SSH. You sign in with your EC2 key pair as the distribution's default user. Password login is disabled, the root account is locked and no account has a password.
  • Nothing shared between instances. No SSH keys, host keys, machine ID or credentials are baked into the image; each instance generates its own on first boot.
  • IMDSv2. Launch with instance metadata version 2 (token required).
  • Only port 22. Open SSH in your security group to your own network only.

Choose your product

Distribution Software version Guide
Ubuntu Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Minimal Open guide →
Ubuntu Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Minimal Open guide →
Ubuntu Server Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS Open guide →

How to tell which version you launched

The version you chose is shown on the instance's launch record in the EC2 console (AMI name and description) and in your AWS Marketplace subscription. On the instance itself, cat /etc/os-release shows the distribution and release. Open the matching guide above for the rest of the walk-through.

Support

cloudimg provides 24/7 support for every version in this listing via the AWS Marketplace support channel. Raise a ticket through the Marketplace console or email support@cloudimg.co.uk.

All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.