VMware Tools End of Life (EOL) Dates & Support Timeline
Complete end-of-life dates, support windows, and security status for all VMware Tools versions. Data sourced from endoflife.date and official vendor documentation. Updated at every deploy.
VMware Tools 13.1 is supported until August 12, 2028, its end-of-support date. The next VMware Tools version to reach end of life is 12.0, on March 1, 2027. 7 of 15 tracked VMware Tools versions are past end of life; the most recent to reach it, 11.3, did so on June 17, 2026. The full VMware Tools lifecycle, with every version's release and end-of-support date, is in the table below.
Running an EOL version? Get matched with support options — free ↓| Version | Latest Release | Release Date | EOL Date | Days | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.1 | 10.1.15 | Oct 25, 2016 | Nov 15, 2021 | 1791 days past EOL | EOL |
| 10.2 | 10.2.1 | — | Dec 14, 2022 | 1397 days past EOL | EOL |
| 10.3 | 10.3.26 | — | Jun 30, 2024 | 833 days past EOL | EOL |
| 11.0 | 11.0.6 | Sep 19, 2019 | Sep 19, 2024 | 752 days past EOL | EOL |
| 11.1 | 11.1.5 | May 7, 2020 | May 7, 2025 | 522 days past EOL | EOL |
| 11.2 | 11.2.6 | Oct 15, 2020 | Oct 15, 2025 | 361 days past EOL | EOL |
| 11.3 | 11.3.5 | Jun 17, 2021 | Jun 17, 2026 | 116 days past EOL | EOL |
| 12.0 | 12.0.6 | Mar 1, 2022 | Mar 1, 2027 | 141 days remaining | Warning |
| 12.1 | 12.1.5 | Aug 23, 2022 | Aug 23, 2027 | 316 days remaining | Active |
| 12.2 | 12.2.6 | Mar 7, 2023 | Mar 7, 2028 | 513 days remaining | Active |
| 12.3 | 12.3.5 | Aug 31, 2023 | Aug 31, 2028 | 690 days remaining | Active |
| 12.4 | 12.4.5 | Mar 21, 2024 | Mar 21, 2029 | 892 days remaining | Active |
| 12.5 | 12.5.4 | Oct 8, 2024 | Oct 8, 2029 | 1093 days remaining | Active |
| 13.0 | 13.0.10.0 | Jun 17, 2025 | Sep 17, 2027 | 341 days remaining | Active |
| 13.1 | 13.1.5.0 | May 12, 2026 | Aug 12, 2028 | 671 days remaining | Active |
Live EOL badge for your README — updates automatically at every build.
[](https://endoflife.ai/vmware-tools)
VMware Tools lifecycle status — the real story
VMware Tools is the in-guest driver and service package for virtual machines on vSphere, Workstation and Fusion. Broadcom's Product Lifecycle portal prints a General Availability and an End of Service date for every VMware Tools build, and Broadcom's knowledge base says "VMware Tools releases and each VMware platform product release (vSphere, Workstation and Fusion) have independent support lifecycles". "End of support" here is that End of Service, the same column the portal prints for vCenter and ESXi as their end of general support; no End of Life (technical guidance) date is printed.
Builds are grouped by minor line; every build in a line carries the same end of service date in Broadcom's table. The 12.5 line, released October 2024, runs to October 2029 and is the longest-lived; the 13.0 line ends with vSphere 9.0 in September 2027 and 13.1 with vSphere 9.1 in August 2028. The long-lived 10.3 line, kept alive for older guest operating systems until build 10.3.26 in 2023, ended in June 2024. Where Broadcom prints no .0 build for a line (10.3, 10.2) no release date is shown.
These dates do not apply to open-vm-tools: Broadcom states the matrix "does not apply to open-vm-tools that is distributed by operating system vendors", which follows the Linux distribution's own lifecycle. CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog lists CVE-2023-20867 (VMware Tools authentication bypass used by UNC3886) and CVE-2025-41244 (Aria Operations and VMware Tools local privilege escalation).
VMware Tools release and support pattern
Across the 13 release lines with a published release date, VMware Tools has shipped a new line roughly every 7 months (median interval). A line typically stays supported for about 5 years from its release to its end-of-life date (measured on the 13 lines with both dates published).
Of the 15 release lines tracked, 7 are past end of life and 8 are still within support. The newest line, 13.1, was released May 12, 2026. The next scheduled end of life is 12.0 on March 1, 2027 — 141 days from this build. The longest-supported line currently published is 12.5, to October 8, 2029.
Computed from the tracked release data at every build — the figures above are the dates in the table, restated, not an editorial estimate.
VMware Tools security intelligence
CISA KEV history: VMware Tools is named in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog 2 times, most recently on 2025-10-30. Derived from CISA's live catalog at every build.
What does VMware Tools end of life mean for your organization?
When a version of VMware Tools 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: A CVE-based scan does not show the accumulation of unpatched vulnerabilities in EOL software. Some scanners flag unsupported versions of common products, but coverage varies, and none of them give you the date in advance. With a zero-day, nobody knows about the vulnerability. With EOL software, the vulnerability is public — listed, rated, and often weaponized — but no vendor patch is coming. This is one of the most dangerous gaps in enterprise security posture.
Organizations running EOL VMware Tools 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.
Your options when VMware Tools reaches end of life
There are four realistic paths. Which one is right depends far more on how long the system needs to keep running than on the version you are on today.
| Option | Best when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Move to a supported version | The system will outlive the current version's support window and you can schedule the work | Budget for compatibility testing, not just the upgrade itself — that is where the real cost sits |
| Replace the component | The project is unmaintained, or a better-supported alternative exists | The replacement has its own lifecycle and its own end-of-life date — you are changing vendors, not escaping the problem |
| Buy extended support | Migration is genuinely underway but cannot finish before the deadline, or the workload is frozen by certification or a third-party application | A bridge, not a destination — every year purchased is a year the migration still has to happen |
| Document accepted risk | The system is isolated, short-lived, or scheduled for retirement | Only defensible with real compensating controls and a written decision — auditors treat undocumented end-of-life software as a finding |
How to choose, in one question: how many more years does this system need to run? Under a year, extended support (where it exists) is usually cheaper than an emergency migration. One to three years, migrate — support purchased repeatedly costs more than doing the project once, and the project only gets harder as the version ages. Indefinitely, migrate now and plan the next migration before it surprises you.
Worth saying plainly, because vendors selling extended support rarely will: extended support is often the more expensive choice over a multi-year horizon. It is the right answer when a deadline is genuinely unreachable, not as a default. Compare the annual fee against the one-time cost of migrating before committing to either.
Formalizing decisions like this across your estate? Our free EOL policy template is a ready-to-adopt policy with risk tiers, remediation SLAs, and audit mapping — no signup, free to use and share.
Extended Support Options
If you cannot migrate immediately, extended support vendors provide continued security patches for EOL VMware Tools versions. This is a bridge, not a permanent solution — plan your migration in parallel.
VMware Tools has 7 versions past end of life — security patches have stopped, but CVE disclosures haven't. Extended support past the official date exists for many products in this position — whether it exists for VMware Tools is exactly what we check. Tell us where to reach you and we'll reply with matched options and pricing guidance — or an honest "no vendor covers this."