PostgreSQL 12 end of life
PostgreSQL 12 reached end of life on 21 November 2024, five years after its October 2019 release. The final minor release was 12.22. The community ships no further security, bug-fix or corruption fixes on the 12 line. Upgrade to a supported major version, or buy extended support to stay patched on 12 while you plan the move.
What now
Which vendors provide PostgreSQL 12 security patches now that support has ended?
PostgreSQL 14 extended support after 12 November 2026- End of life
- 21 November 2024
- Released
- Oct 2019
- Final release
- 12.22
- Successor
- PostgreSQL 17 or 18
Date published by PostgreSQL versioning policy. We do not publish a lifecycle date we cannot source. Dates checked on endoflife.date and postgresql.org on 20 October 2026.
Last reviewed
PostgreSQL versions: release and end-of-life dates
| Version | Released | End of life | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL 17 | 26 Sept 2024 | 8 November 2029 | Supported |
| PostgreSQL 16 | 14 Sept 2023 | 9 November 2028 | Supported |
| PostgreSQL 15 | 13 Oct 2022 | 11 November 2027 | Approaching |
| PostgreSQL 14 | 30 Sept 2021 | 12 November 2026 | Approaching |
| PostgreSQL 13 | 24 Sept 2020 | 13 November 2025 | End of life |
| PostgreSQL 12 (this page) | 3 Oct 2019 | 21 November 2024 | End of life |
| PostgreSQL 11 | 18 Oct 2018 | 9 November 2023 | End of life |
End-of-life dates are published by each project and checked against endoflife.date.
What actually stops on 21 November 2024
- All community minor releases on the 12 line, security and bug-fix alike.
- Fixes for data-corruption bugs, which for a database is the exposure that matters most.
- Packaging for the 12 line on current operating systems from the community repositories.
What actually breaks in the upgrade
12 to current crosses five majors
Estates on 12 in 2026 are more than a year past the date. The jump to 17 or 18 is a single pg_upgrade regardless of how many majors it crosses, but the extension and behaviour audit widens with every version skipped.
Collation changes are the silent one
Upgrades that cross a glibc collation change can leave text indexes subtly wrong rather than broken. Reindexing text and varchar indexes after any major upgrade that also moves the OS is not optional, and it is the step most often skipped.
CVEs fixed since PostgreSQL 12 ended
PostgreSQL 12 ended on 21 November 2024 with 12.22, so all three 2026 minor-release sets came after it. They fixed 44 CVEs, and PostgreSQL scored 28 of them 7.0 or higher. None of those fixes has a release for 12. The project's advisories list versions 14 to 18 as affected, so 12 was not assessed. That is not a finding that it is safe.
2026 PostgreSQL security fixes and what 12 received
| Released | Fixed in supported lines | CVEs fixed | Scored 7.0 or higher | Fix for 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 February 2026 | 18.2 to 14.21 | 5 | 4 | No release |
| 14 May 2026 | 18.4 to 14.23 | 11 | 6 | No release |
| 13 August 2026 | 18.6 to 14.24 | 28 | 18 | No release |
Source: the CVE table on postgresql.org/support/security, counted on 20 October 2026. Scores are PostgreSQL's own as the CNA. Counts cover 2026 only; fixes published between 21 November 2024 and the end of 2025 are not included.
Your options, costed honestly
Including the ones that do not involve buying anything from us.
| Option | What it is | Effort | Cost | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pg_upgrade to 17 or 18 | One upgrade, five majors, minutes of downtime with --link. | Depends on extension count, rehearsal time and downtime window | Engineering time | The right answer. The extension audit is the work. |
| Extended support on 12 | Backported security and corruption fixes on the 12 line. | Days | Subscription | Right when an application vendor certification blocks the move. |
| Stay unpatched | Over a year of unpatched server CVEs and corruption fixes. | None | Zero now | Hard to defend for anything holding regulated data. |
What OSSeva does for PostgreSQL 12
OSSeva patches this line
OSSeva backports security and corruption fixes to PostgreSQL 12 and ships signed packages and images. As with 13, third-party extensions sit with their maintainers and we tell you which is which before you buy.
PostgreSQL extended supportWhat your auditor will say
Requirement 6.3.3. More than a year of unpatched database CVEs is a straightforward finding.
Integrity controls under 164.312(c) are engaged by the absence of corruption fixes, not only by security patches.
When did PostgreSQL 12 reach end of life?
21 November 2024, five years after its release in October 2019. The final minor release was 12.22.
Is PostgreSQL 12 still supported?
Not by the community. No further minor releases of any kind are published on the 12 line.
What should I upgrade PostgreSQL 12 to?
17 or 18 directly. pg_upgrade handles multiple majors in one step, so there is no benefit to an intermediate hop, and 14 itself goes end of life on 12 November 2026.
Do I need to reindex after a PostgreSQL major upgrade?
If the upgrade also moves the operating system or glibc version, yes: text and varchar indexes should be rebuilt. Collation changes can leave indexes subtly incorrect rather than obviously broken, which makes this the easiest step to skip and the most expensive to miss.
Can I get security patches for PostgreSQL 12?
Yes, from a third-party extended support provider. OSSeva backports security and corruption fixes to the 12 line.
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