NetBSD End of Life (EOL) Dates & Support Timeline
Complete end-of-life dates, support windows, and security status for all NetBSD versions. Data sourced from endoflife.date and official vendor documentation. Updated at every deploy.
| Version | Latest Release | Release Date | EOL Date | Days | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.6.2 | Oct 26, 1994 | May 17, 2006 | 7342 days past EOL | EOL |
| 2 | 2.1 | Dec 9, 2004 | Aug 21, 2008 | 6515 days past EOL | EOL |
| 3 | 3.1 | Dec 23, 2005 | May 30, 2009 | 6233 days past EOL | EOL |
| 4 | 4.0.1 | Dec 19, 2007 | No EOL date | Supported | Active |
| 5 | 5.2.3 | Apr 29, 2009 | Nov 11, 2015 | 3877 days past EOL | EOL |
| 6 | 6.1.5 | Oct 17, 2012 | Aug 23, 2018 | 2861 days past EOL | EOL |
| 7 | 7.2 | Sep 25, 2015 | Jun 30, 2020 | 2184 days past EOL | EOL |
| 8 | 8.3 | Jul 17, 2018 | May 4, 2024 | 780 days past EOL | EOL |
| 9 | 9.4 | Feb 14, 2020 | TBD | Supported | Active |
| 10 | 10.1 | Mar 28, 2024 | TBD | Supported | Active |
What does NetBSD end of life mean for your organization?
When a version of NetBSD 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 NetBSD 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 NetBSD 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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