Supported Releases

This page lists the status, timeline and policy for currently supported releases. Supported releases of Istio include releases that are in the active maintenance window and are patched for security and bug fixes. Subsequent patch releases on a minor release do not contain backward incompatible changes.

Support policy

We produce new builds of Istio for each commit. Around once a quarter, we build a minor release and run through several additional tests as well as release qualification. We release patch versions for issues found in minor releases.

The various types of releases represent a different product quality level and level of assistance from the Istio community. In this context, support means that the community will produce patch releases for critical issues and offer technical assistance. Separately, 3rd parties and partners may offer longer-term support solutions.

TypeSupport LevelQuality and Recommended Use
Development BuildNo supportDangerous, may not be fully reliable. Useful to experiment with.
Minor ReleaseSupport provided until 6 weeks after the N+2 minor release (ex. 1.11 supported until 6 weeks after 1.13.0 is released)
PatchSame as the corresponding Minor releaseUsers are encouraged to adopt patch releases as soon as they are available for a given release.
Security PatchSame as a Patch, but contains a security fix. Sometimes security patches will contain additional code/fixes in addition to the security fixes.Given the nature of security fixes, users are strongly encouraged to adopt security patches after release.

You can find available releases on the releases page, and if you’re the adventurous type, you can learn about our development builds on the development builds wiki. You can find high-level releases notes for each minor and patch release here.

Naming scheme

Our naming scheme is as follows:

  1. <major>.<minor>.<patch>

where <minor> is increased for each release, and <patch> counts the number of patches for the current <minor> release. A patch is usually a small change relative to the <minor> release.

Control Plane/Data Plane Skew

The Istio control plane can be one version ahead of the data plane. However, the data plane cannot be ahead of control plane. We recommend using revisions so that there is no skew at all.

As of now, data plane to data plane is compatible across all versions; however, this may change in the future.

Support status of Istio releases

VersionCurrently SupportedRelease DateEnd of LifeSupported Kubernetes VersionsTested, but not supported
masterNo, development only1.26, 1.27, 1.28, 1.291.23, 1.24, 1.25
1.21YesMar 13, 2024~Dec 2024 (Expected)1.26, 1.27, 1.28, 1.291.23, 1.24, 1.25
1.20YesNov 14, 2023~Jul 2024 (Expected)1.25, 1.26, 1.27, 1.28, 1.291.23, 1.24
1.19YesSept 5, 2023~Apr 24, 2024 (Expected)1.25, 1.26, 1.27, 1.281.21, 1.22, 1.23, 1.24
1.18NoJun 3, 2023Jan 4, 20241.24, 1.25, 1.26, 1.271.20, 1.21, 1.22, 1.23
1.17NoFeb 14, 2023Oct 27, 20231.23, 1.24, 1.25, 1.261.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19, 1.20, 1.21, 1.22
1.16NoNov 15, 2022Jul 25, 20231.22, 1.23, 1.24, 1.251.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19, 1.20, 1.21
1.15NoAug 31, 2022Apr 4, 20231.22, 1.23, 1.24, 1.251.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19, 1.20, 1.21
1.14NoMay 24, 2022Dec 27, 20221.21, 1.22, 1.23, 1.241.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19, 1.20
1.13NoFeb 11, 2022Oct 12, 20221.20, 1.21, 1.22, 1.231.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19

Supported releases without known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs)

Istio does not guarantee that minor releases that fall outside the support window have all known CVEs patched. Please keep up-to-date and use a supported version.

Minor ReleasesPatched versions with no known CVEs
1.21.x1.21.0
1.20.x1.20.3+
1.19.x1.19.7+

Supported Envoy Versions

Istio’s data plane is based on Envoy.

The relationship between the two project’s versions:

Istio versionEnvoy release branch
1.21.xrelease/v1.29
1.20.xrelease/v1.28
1.19.xrelease/v1.27

You can find the precise Envoy commit used by Istio in istio/proxy.