Lua End of Life (EOL) Dates & Support Timeline
Complete end-of-life dates, support windows, and security status for all Lua versions. Data sourced from endoflife.date and official vendor documentation. Updated at every deploy.
| Version | Latest Release | Release Date | EOL Date | Days | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 1.1 | Jul 8, 1994 | Feb 7, 1995 | 11459 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2.1 | 2.1 | Feb 7, 1995 | Nov 28, 1995 | 11165 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2.2 | 2.2 | Nov 28, 1995 | May 14, 1996 | 10997 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2.4 | 2.4 | May 14, 1996 | Nov 19, 1996 | 10808 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2.5 | 2.5.1 | Nov 19, 1996 | Jul 1, 1997 | 10584 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3.0 | 3.0 | Jul 1, 1997 | Jul 11, 1998 | 10209 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3.1 | 3.1 | Jul 11, 1998 | Jul 8, 1999 | 9847 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3.2 | 3.2.2 | Jul 8, 1999 | Feb 22, 2000 | 9618 days past EOL | EOL |
| 4.0 | 4.0.1 | Nov 6, 2000 | Jul 4, 2002 | 8755 days past EOL | EOL |
| 5.0 | 5.0.3 | Apr 11, 2003 | Jun 26, 2006 | 7302 days past EOL | EOL |
| 5.1 | 5.1.5 | Feb 21, 2006 | Feb 17, 2012 | 5240 days past EOL | EOL |
| 5.2 | 5.2.4 | Dec 16, 2011 | Mar 7, 2015 | 4126 days past EOL | EOL |
| 5.3 | 5.3.6 | Jan 12, 2015 | Sep 25, 2020 | 2097 days past EOL | EOL |
| 5.4 | 5.4.8 | Jun 29, 2020 | TBD | Supported | Active |
| 5.5 | 5.5.0 | Dec 22, 2025 | TBD | Supported | Active |
What does Lua end of life mean for your organization?
When a version of Lua 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 Lua 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 Lua 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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