Apache Kafka
Server AppApache Kafka 4.3 is the newest actively maintained release, currently at patch 4.3.1. 6 of 30 tracked cycles remain supported. The next cycle scheduled to reach end-of-life is 3.8, on November 6, 2024.
Support pattern
How Apache Kafka has behaved across the cycles tracked here, rather than what its policy documents state. Useful for judging how much runway a version is likely to have before you commit to it.
Support windows have stayed consistent across the tracked history, so past cycles are a reasonable guide to what a new one will get.
Computed from release and end-of-life dates tracked for Apache Kafka. Medians are used rather than averages so one unusually short or long release does not skew the figure. Cycles with no recorded end-of-life date are excluded from the support window.
How Apache Kafka versioning, EOL & security support work
Apache Kafka uses major.minor.patch versioning and follows a time-based release model, generally aiming for about three minor releases a year rather than working from a small set of designated long-term branches. Each minor line gets its own patch releases as bugs and vulnerabilities are found, for as long as the community keeps backporting fixes to that branch. There's no single published document naming an exact number of minor versions kept in active patching or a fixed retirement date per branch.
As an Apache Software Foundation project, Kafka handles vulnerabilities through the ASF's standard process: issues can be reported privately, and confirmed vulnerabilities are published as CVEs once a fix ships. Because patches are only cut for branches still under active maintenance, running an unmaintained minor version means any newly discovered vulnerability won't be fixed for that version.
Sources: Apache Kafka Downloads, Apache Kafka Release Announcements
Release lifecycle
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