dom4j End of Life (EOL) Dates & Support Timeline
Complete end-of-life dates, support windows, and security status for all dom4j versions. Data sourced from endoflife.date and official vendor documentation. Updated at every deploy.
| Version | Latest Release | Release Date | EOL Date | Days | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | 2.1.5 | Sep 16, 2017 | TBD | Supported | Active |
| 2.2 | 2.2.0 | Jun 30, 2025 | TBD | Supported | Active |
dom4j lifecycle status — the real story
dom4j is a foundational Java XML library whose lifecycle story is dominated by one fact: the 1.6.1 release of 2005 became one of the most persistent zombie dependencies on the JVM. It remained embedded in Hibernate and other framework stacks for over a decade, and it carries a critical XML External Entity flaw (CVE-2020-10683) that will never be fixed in the 1.x line.
The maintained line moved to 2.x — 2.1.x has received periodic fixes since 2017 (2.1.5 in June 2025) and a 2.2.0 line opened in 2025. Upgrading from 1.x involves package and API changes, which is precisely why so many legacy applications never did.
Finding dom4j 1.6.1 in a dependency tree is a high-signal event: it usually indicates a framework stack frozen in the early 2010s, and the XXE exposure is directly exploitable wherever the application parses untrusted XML.
What does dom4j end of life mean for your organization?
When a version of dom4j reaches end of life, the maintainers stop issuing security patches. Vulnerabilities discovered after this date are publicly disclosed on the National Vulnerability Database, exploit code appears on GitHub, and your systems remain permanently exposed.
The CVE blind spot: Most vulnerability scanners check for known CVEs but do not flag the accumulation of unpatched vulnerabilities in EOL software. With a zero-day, nobody knows about the vulnerability. With EOL software, the vulnerability is public — listed, rated, and often weaponized — but no patch will ever exist. This is the most dangerous gap in enterprise security posture.
Organizations running EOL dom4j should treat it as a vulnerability class in their risk register, apply compensating controls (network segmentation, enhanced monitoring, access restriction), and prioritize migration to a supported version.
Extended Support Options
If you cannot migrate immediately, extended support vendors provide continued security patches for EOL dom4j versions. This is a bridge, not a permanent solution — plan your migration in parallel.
We work with vetted extended support vendors. Tell us what you need and we'll connect you with the right provider.
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