Is my OS still supported? End-of-life dates for Linux and Unix (2026)

Updated November 2026

If your release is past its end-of-life date, no amount of patching helps: the vendor no longer publishes fixes. The table below shows, for each common server OS and runtime, when standard support ends, when paid or extended support ends, and where each release stands as of November 2026.

Check your release first

Run the command for your system and compare the version with the table.

cat /etc/os-release          # any modern Linux distribution
freebsd-version -ku          # FreeBSD: kernel and userland
uname -sr                    # OpenBSD, NetBSD
oslevel -s                   # AIX: release, technology level, service pack
cat /etc/release             # Solaris
sw_vers                      # macOS
php -v; node -v; python3 --version

Point releases matter on some systems. Rocky Linux supports only the newest minor release of each major version, and FreeBSD and SLES support each minor release or service pack for a limited time. Being on “Rocky 9” is not enough if you are still on 9.6.

How to read the table

Supported

The release gets security fixes and normal bug fixes at no extra cost (beyond any normal subscription).

Security only

The release is in a maintenance, LTS or security phase: security fixes still arrive, other fixes mostly do not. Plan your upgrade.

EOL

No more public fixes. If the vendor sells extended support, the release can still be patched under a paid contract; that is shown in the “extended or paid” column.

Dates are the vendor’s own, written as they publish them (some give only a month). Future dates can change; most vendors say so on the page. Where two official pages disagree, the note under the table says which one we used.

End-of-life table

Notes on the table

• Debian. Debian’s bookworm page says full support ended on July 11, 2026, with the 12.15 point release; the LTS wiki lists 2026-06-11. We use the release page. Debian LTS covers a reduced set of architectures. ELTS is a commercial service from Freexian; the Debian wiki says it is not an official Debian project.
• Ubuntu. ESM (Expanded Security Maintenance) and the Legacy add-on come with an Ubuntu Pro subscription. Interim releases such as 26.10 get about nine months and no ESM.
• RHEL. In the maintenance phase Red Hat still releases security and selected bug-fix errata, but no new features or hardware enablement. Red Hat says future end dates are approximations and can change, and its Extended Life Cycle Premium (ELCP) offering takes over from ELS for RHEL 8.10 on June 1, 2029. All extended options are paid add-ons.
• Rocky Linux and FreeBSD. Rocky supports only the newest minor release of each major version, so move to 9.9 or 10.3 as soon as they appear. FreeBSD keeps the previous minor release for a few months after a new one.
• Oracle Linux and Solaris. After Extended Support, Oracle lists Sustaining Support with no end date (“Indefinite”). Solaris 11.4 fixes ship as Support Repository Updates (SRUs).
• SLES. Each service pack or minor release has its own dates. On SLES 15 only SP7 still has general support; earlier service packs need LTSS.
• OpenBSD. The OpenBSD FAQ says only the two most recent releases receive security and reliability fixes, and a new release ships about every six months, so each release is supported for roughly a year. OpenBSD 7.8 and older get nothing.
• NetBSD. The NetBSD project’s announcement of 9.5 on September 6, 2026 ended support for all 9.x releases.
• AIX. IBM lists end-of-fix-support dates per technology level (TL) and says it shows a release’s end-of-service date only once that date has passed. Update to a supported TL and service pack.
• HP-UX. HPE’s Product Change Notification ended Standard Support for HP-UX 11i v3 on December 31, 2025. Mature Support gives access to existing patches only, so no new vulnerability will be fixed. See HP-UX.
• macOS. Apple does not publish end-of-life dates. The status shown is based on which versions appear on Apple’s security releases page; in the October 26, 2026 round, macOS 27, 26 and 15 got fixes and 14 did not.
• Fedora. The dates are the planned end-of-life dates in Fedora’s update system and can move by a few weeks.
• Node.js. Use only Active LTS or Maintenance LTS lines in production. Node.js 27 is in alpha and is not for production use.
• Distribution packages. PHP, Node.js and Python packaged by your OS vendor follow the OS lifecycle, not the upstream table; for example, a supported RHEL or Debian release can carry backported fixes for an older PHP. See Updating PHP and Updating Node.js.

If you are on an EOL release

1. Find out what is exposed. Servers reachable from the internet come first. Put them behind a firewall or VPN if you can, and turn off services nobody uses.
2. Decide: upgrade, rebuild or buy time. An in-place upgrade (for example Debian 12 to 13, or FreeBSD 14.3 to 14.5) is often a few hours’ work. A major jump, such as RHEL 7 to 9, is usually easier as a fresh build. Paid extended support (ELTS, Ubuntu Pro, RHEL ELS, SUSE LTSS, Oracle Extended Support) buys time but does not remove the need to move.
3. Set a date and keep watching. Until you move, track new vulnerabilities for the software you run on our vulnerabilities pages and apply workarounds.
4. Prevent the next surprise. Add each server’s end-of-life date to your inventory or calendar, and plan upgrades a year ahead.

Once you are on a supported release, keep it patched: see Emergency patching and Automatic updates.

Sources

• Debian Releases, Debian
• Debian 12 “bookworm” release information, Debian
• Debian LTS, Debian Wiki
• Debian Extended LTS, Debian Wiki
• Ubuntu release cycle, Canonical
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux product life cycle data, Red Hat
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle, Red Hat
• RHEL 7 end of maintenance, Red Hat
• AlmaLinux release notes, AlmaLinux Wiki
• Rocky Linux releases, Rocky Linux Documentation
• Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle Linux and Oracle VM, Oracle
• Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle and Sun System Software, Oracle
• CentOS Stream download and end-of-life dates, CentOS Project
• CentOS Linux EOL, CentOS Project
• End dates are coming for CentOS Stream 8 and CentOS Linux 7, CentOS Blog
• Fedora releases, Bodhi update system, Fedora Project
• Product Support Lifecycle, SUSE
• Lifetime, openSUSE Wiki
• Amazon Linux 2023 release cadence, AWS
• Amazon Linux 2 FAQs, AWS
• Alpine Linux releases, Alpine Linux
• FreeBSD Security Information, FreeBSD Project
• Unsupported FreeBSD Releases, FreeBSD Project
• OpenBSD 8.0, OpenBSD
• OpenBSD 7.9, OpenBSD
• Building the System from Source (release flavors), OpenBSD FAQ
• NetBSD Releases, The NetBSD Foundation
• NetBSD 9.5 released and EOL for netbsd-9, NetBSD Blog
• AIX support lifecycle information, IBM
• Product Change Notification: HP-UX 11i v3 and HPE Integrity i4/i6 Servers, HPE
• Apple security releases, Apple
• Supported Versions, PHP
• Unsupported Branches, PHP
• Node.js Releases, Node.js
• Node.js Release schedule, Node.js Release Working Group
• Status of Python versions, Python Developer’s Guide