Ansible Automation Platform 2.5: Maintenance Support 1 Ends October 2, 2026 — What Still Gets Fixed After That, and Until When
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 hits its real deadline on October 2, 2026. Red Hat's lifecycle runs in named phases, and the labels matter: 2.5 left Full Support on October 2, 2025; on October 2, 2026 it leaves Maintenance Support 1 — the last phase with Important-severity security fixes and any bug fixes at all. What remains after that, until October 2, 2027, is Maintenance Support 2: Critical-severity security errata only, no bug fixes, no enhancements. For the platform that holds SSH keys, vault credentials and API tokens to most of an estate, that is the boundary worth planning against.
This page gives the verified phase dates for 2.4 through 2.6, what each phase does and does not deliver, the 2.5 → 2.6 path, and the annual rhythm the AAP lifecycle now assumes. Every version is on the AAP product page with live status.
Key Dates at a Glance
- AAP 2.4: full support ended 2024-10-01; Maintenance Support 1 ended 2025-10-01; final maintenance window ended 2026-06-30
- AAP 2.5: released 2024-09-30; full support ended 2025-10-02; Maintenance Support 1 ends 2026-10-02; Maintenance Support 2 ends 2027-10-02
- AAP 2.6: released 2025-10-01; full support ends 2026-10-01; Maintenance Support 1 ends 2027-10-01; Maintenance Support 2 ends 2028-10-01
What Each Phase Actually Delivers
| Phase | Security fixes | Bug fixes | Enhancements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Support | Critical, Important, and Moderate (CVSS ≥ 7.0) | Yes | Selected |
| Maintenance Support 1 | Critical and Important | Critical only | No |
| Maintenance Support 2 | Critical only | None | No |
| Extended Life-cycle Support (add-on) | Qualified critical fixes | None | No |
The practical reading for 2.5: after October 2, 2026 an Important-rated CVE in the controller, hub or gateway — the class most automation-platform advisories fall into — does not get fixed on 2.5. Only Critical-severity issues do, for one more year.
AAP EOL Risk Scores
We publish an EOL Risk Score (0–100) for every tracked version, recalculated at every build. AAP's absolute scores are moderate — it is not an internet-facing runtime and Red Hat's phases keep some coverage flowing — but remember what this product is: the machine that logs into everything else. Treat the score as a floor, not a ceiling, for a credential-holding control plane.
| Version | EOL Risk Score | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| AAP 2.4 | 40 | All support ended June 30, 2026; recency climbing. |
| AAP 2.5 | 25 | Maintenance Support 1 ends October 2, 2026; Critical-only until October 2, 2027. |
The 2.5 → 2.6 Move
Red Hat supports in-place upgrade from 2.5 to 2.6 across the supported install types — RPM on RHEL, the containerized installer, and the Operator on OpenShift. Items that decide the schedule: the platform gateway topology 2.5 introduced (validate it on 2.6 in staging, especially for estates that migrated from 2.4's separate components); the ansible-core floor (2.16 — and note Red Hat's warning that core 2.15, the 2.4 default, ends in June 2026, another reason 2.4 estates must move); PostgreSQL 15+; and collection pins — re-run dependency resolution after the upgrade rather than assuming. Execution environments are the saving grace: playbooks pinned to EE images carry their own core version, which is what makes the annual platform cadence liveable.
The Rhythm to Plan Around
Since 2.4 the pattern is fixed: a new AAP each autumn, one year of Full Support, one of Maintenance Support 1, one of Maintenance Support 2. That is an annual upgrade rhythm for anyone who wants Important-severity fixes continuously — closer to Kubernetes than to RHEL. Put the yearly AAP upgrade in the standing calendar the way OpenShift upgrades already are, and the October deadlines stop being events. AAP 2.7 is expected on the same cadence around October 2026; we publish its dates when Red Hat does.
How to Check Your AAP Version
- Web UI: the About page (question-mark menu) states the platform version.
- API:
GET /api/v2/ping/(controller) or/api/gateway/v1/ping/on 2.5+. - RPM installs:
rpm -q automation-controller; Operator installs: the AAP custom resource shows channel and version.
Your Options
- Upgrade to 2.6 before October 2. The default answer; in-place, and it resets the clock to 2027/2028 while adopting the annual rhythm.
- Ride Maintenance Support 2 to October 2027. Defensible only with compensating controls (tight network isolation of the controller, aggressive credential rotation) and a scheduled upgrade date — Important-severity CVEs will go unfixed all year.
- Extended Life-cycle Support add-on. Red Hat's paid tail beyond Maintenance Support 2, qualified critical fixes only — a bridge to discuss with Red Hat if 2027 arrives with the upgrade unfinished. See also how extended support programs work.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 reach end of support?
In stages. AAP 2.5 (released September 30, 2024) left full support on October 2, 2025; Maintenance Support 1 — Critical and Important security fixes plus critical bug fixes — ends October 2, 2026; Maintenance Support 2 — Critical-severity security fixes only, no bug fixes — runs to October 2, 2027. After that, only Red Hat's Extended Life-cycle Support add-on, where offered.
What actually changes on October 2, 2026?
AAP 2.5 drops from Maintenance Support 1 to Maintenance Support 2: Important-severity security fixes stop and bug fixes stop entirely — from then on only Critical-severity CVEs are addressed. For an automation controller holding credentials to most of your estate, running a bugs-frozen, Important-CVEs-unpatched platform is a real posture change, which is why we treat this as the deadline rather than the 2027 date.
Is AAP 2.4 still supported?
Effectively no. AAP 2.4's full support ended October 1, 2024, Maintenance Support 1 on October 1, 2025, and its final maintenance window closed June 30, 2026. A 2.4 estate today receives nothing and is two upgrade steps behind.
Which AAP version should I be on?
AAP 2.6 (released October 1, 2025): full support to October 1, 2026, Maintenance Support 1 to October 1, 2027, Maintenance Support 2 to October 1, 2028. Note the cadence — a new AAP each October, each with one year of full support — so plan on an annual upgrade rhythm, with 2.7 expected around October 2026.
What is the upgrade path from AAP 2.5 to 2.6?
Red Hat supports in-place upgrade from 2.5 to 2.6 for the supported install types (RPM, containerized, and the Operator on OpenShift). The 2.5-era caveat: 2.5 introduced the unified platform gateway, so estates that came from 2.4 with separate controller/hub components should validate the gateway topology on 2.6 in staging first. Check the required ansible-core (2.16) and PostgreSQL (15+) floors, and re-run your collection dependency pins after the upgrade.
How do I check my AAP version?
In the web UI the version is on the About page (question-mark menu). From the API, GET /api/v2/ping/ (controller) or /api/gateway/v1/ping/ on 2.5+ returns the version. On RPM installs, rpm -q automation-controller; for the Operator, the AAP custom resource on the cluster states the channel and version.
Related Resources
- Ansible Automation Platform product page — live status, dates and risk scores
- RHEL end of life — the OS underneath · Kubernetes end of life — the same annual-upgrade discipline
- EOL Watch · EOL Checker · EOL Risk Score methodology