Yes. Ubuntu has two main repos, main and universe.

main is relatively small and includes everything that comes with Ubuntu by default. Canonical secures this repo with security fixes for everyone.

universe is not officially supported by Canonical. It's updates are done by community members. However, Ubuntu started a service called Ubuntu Pro / ESM that provides updates for packages in universe. It's opt in because Canonical wants companies using Ubuntu to pay for Pro in order to help fund Ubuntu. However, Pro is also free for personal use on up to 5 machines, so there's no reason not to enable it. f it was enabled by default then no one would pay for it.

And people ask me "why" when I chose LMDE over Ubuntu-based Linux Mint.

This shit is why. Canonical is huffing their own farts at this point. Don't dangle shit in front of me if it comes at a price. And yes, I know Linux Mint isn't under Canonical, but at this point I would rather not support anything Ubuntu-related.

Anybody can get Ubuntu Pro for free on up to five devices: https://ubuntu.com/pro/subscribe

You only get security updates for packages in main. If you want them for packages in universe, like ffmpeg, you have to use esm or upgrade to 24.10.

All distros have security vulnerabilities. It's the nature of software. Minimizing the risk is the best you can do.

It's the difference in OS version;

• 24.04 has ffmpeg_6.1.1-3ubuntu5
• 24.10 has ffmpeg_7.0.2-3ubuntu1

So if you want ffmpeg from main, upgrade to 24.10, otherwise you can only get ffmpeg in 24.04 by waiting until its added to main, using Ubuntu Pro, or compiling from source.