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.
- 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 We do not publish a lifecycle date we cannot source.
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.
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. | Days plus a rehearsal | 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.
PostgreSQL 12: common questions
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.
Still running PostgreSQL 12?
Tell us the versions and the estate size. We will tell you honestly whether to upgrade or to buy cover — and we say 'upgrade' more often than you would expect.