the month of march in a rainbow of colors

Last updated: August 4, 2023

2023 has been a good year for cybercriminals, and it’s not quite over yet. The list of hospitals, schools, businesses, and city governments that have experienced significant data losses and financial damages due to ransomware is still growing. “Software vulnerabilities” has consistently remained one of the top three techniques used to infect systems with ransomware. Admittedly, it’s an investment of both time and resources to upgrade systems to the latest software versions and consistently patch for security vulnerabilities. However, ransomware is so prevalent that updating your operating system and other software applications needs to be a high priority.

Here are some of the lifecycle schedules for the operating systems and software that you may be using. Scroll down to see if your software is still receiving security updates. Any paid support options listed below are a stopgap for maintaining security updates. In most cases, upgrading to the most recent software version is recommended.

CentOS

Product End-of-Life Date
CentOS 5 March 31, 2017
CentOS 6* November 30, 2020
CentOS 7 June 30, 2024

*For cPanel & WHM users that cannot upgrade to CentOS 7, a move to CloudLinux OS 6 with Extended Support provides up to three years of full updates.

CloudLinux OS

Product End-of-Life Date
CloudLinux OS 5 March 31, 2017
CloudLinux OS 6 November 30, 2020*
CloudLinux OS 7 June 30, 2024
CloudLinux OS 8 May 31, 2029

*For cPanel & WHM users, full updates are available for up to three years through CloudLinux OS 6 Extended Support.

Microsoft

Product End of Support Date
SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 July 9, 2019
Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 January 14, 2020
Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 October 10, 2023
Windows Server 2016 Standard* January 11, 2022
Windows Server 2019 Standard January 9, 2024
Windows Server 2022 Standard October 13, 2026

*For those that cannot upgrade, security updates are available for up to three years through Microsoft’s Extended Security Update program.

Ubuntu

Currently Supported Versions End of Standard Support # of Years End of Life
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS April 2019* 5 years April 2024
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS April 2021* 5 years April 2026
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS April 2023* 5 years April 2028
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS April 2025* 5 years April 2030
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS April 2027* 5 years April 2032

*For those that cannot upgrade, Expanded Security Maintenance is available through Ubuntu Pro.

Adobe ColdFusion

Product name Version Build General availability End of core support End of extended support
ColdFusion 8.x.x
7/30/2007 7/31/2012 7/31/2014
ColdFusion 9.x
10/5/2009 12/31/2014 12/31/2016
ColdFusion 10.x
5/15/2012 5/16/2017 5/16/2019
ColdFusion 11.x
4/29/2014 4/30/2019 4/30/2021
ColdFusion 2016
2/16/2016 2/17/2021 2/17/2022
ColdFusion 2018
7/12/2018 7/13/2023 7/13/2024
ColdFusion 2021 11/11/2020 11/10/2025 11/10/2026
ColdFusion 2023 5/17/2023 5/16/2028 5/16/2029

MySQL

ProductRelease DateEnd of Life
MySQL 5.0January 9, 2012
MySQL 5.1November 14, 2008December 31, 2013
MySQL 5.5December 3, 2010December 3, 2018
MySQL 5.6February 5, 2013February 5, 2021
MySQL 5.7October 21, 2015October 21, 2023
MySQL 8.0April 19, 2018April, 2026

PHP

Branch Initial Release Active Support Until Security Support Until
5.6 Aug 28, 2014 Jan 19, 2017 Dec 31, 2018
7.0 Dec 3, 2015 Dec 3, 2018 Jan 10, 2019
7.1 Dec 1, 2016 Dec 1, 2018 Dec 1, 2019
7.2 Nov 30, 2017 Nov 30, 2019 Nov 30, 2020
7.3 Dec 6, 2018 Dec 6, 2020 Dec 6, 2021
7.4 Nov 28, 2019 Nov 28, 2021 Nov 28, 2022
8.0 Nov 26, 2020 Nov 26, 2022 Nov 26, 2023
8.1 Nov 25, 2021 Nov 25, 2023 Nov 25, 2024
8.2 Dec 8, 2022 Dec 8, 2024 Dec 8, 2025

Railo

Version Release Date Notes
4.2.2.005 12-18-2014 Current stable release of Railo*

*Railo is no longer supported. Transitioning to Lucee is recommended.

Lucee

Version Support
4.5 Not Supported
5.0 Not Supported
5.1 Not Supported
5.2 Not Supported
5.3 Not Supported
5.4 Supported*

*In Vivio’s experience, only the most recent release of Lucee is officially supported.

WordPress

Version Support
5.5 Not Supported
5.6 Not Supported
5.7 Not Supported
5.8 Not Supported
5.9 Not Supported
6.0 Not Supported
6.1 Not Supported
6.2 Supported*

*Only the most recent release of WordPress is officially supported. All previous releases are not safe to use.

The best defense from ransomware and malware that exploit software vulnerabilities is to patch for vulnerabilities as soon as possible. Planning for future software upgrades and scheduling them into your project calendar can be a helpful way to stay on top of significant upgrades. Creating processes to check for updates and apply security patches regularly will also help you to stay current. The time and resources invested in maintaining software provide your business with another layer of protection from ransomware attacks.

As always, let us know how we can help!

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