Container-Optimized OS cos-73 End of Life Date
Container-Optimized OS cos-73 end-of-life date, support status, and CVE risk. Data from endoflife.date and official vendor documentation.
Container-Optimized OS cos-73 was released on March 25, 2019 and support ended on September 5, 2020 — a supported lifespan of 1 year and 6 months, shorter than the 1 year and 11 months median for Container-Optimized OS LTS releases. It was a long-term support (LTS) release, so it received a longer patch window than the interim releases around it. The last patch it will ever receive is cos-73-11647-656-0, published September 5, 2020 — on the day support ended. It has been without security patches for 5 years and 11 months. 12 newer Container-Optimized OS releases have shipped since.
Commercial vendors offer security patches beyond EOL. Compare your options.
Compare Options →| Version | Latest | EOL Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| cos-69 LTS | cos-69-10895-385-0 | Dec 1, 2019 | EOL |
| → cos-73 LTS | cos-73-11647-656-0 | Sep 5, 2020 | EOL |
| cos-77 LTS | cos-77-12371-1109-0 | Apr 1, 2021 | EOL |
| cos-81 LTS | cos-81-12871-1317-8 | Jan 10, 2022 | EOL |
| cos-85 LTS | cos-85-13310-1498-13 | Sep 1, 2022 | EOL |
| cos-89 LTS | cos-89-16108-798-22 | Mar 1, 2023 | EOL |
| cos-93 LTS | cos-93-16623-461-42 | Oct 24, 2023 | EOL |
| cos-97 LTS | cos-97-16919-450-41 | Mar 27, 2024 | EOL |
What does Container-Optimized OS cos-73 end of life mean?
When Container-Optimized OS cos-73 reaches end of life, the maintainers stop issuing security patches for this version. CVEs discovered after the EOL date are publicly disclosed on the National Vulnerability Database with no patch available. Exploit code frequently appears on GitHub within days of disclosure.
The CVE blind spot: Most vulnerability scanners check for known CVEs but do not flag the ongoing accumulation of unpatched vulnerabilities in EOL software versions. Running Container-Optimized OS cos-73 past its EOL date creates a permanently growing attack surface that standard security tooling will not surface.
Migrate to Container-Optimized OS cos-129 or implement compensating controls — network segmentation, enhanced monitoring, restricted access — while migration is underway.