VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5 End of Life: May 31, 2025

The Clock Is Ticking on VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5 — Plan Your Exit or Secure Your Support by May 31, 2025

VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5 reaches end of life on May 31, 2025. That is roughly six months from today — and for most IT organizations, six months is barely enough time to complete a controlled migration, let alone a full-stack upgrade. This is not a long-term support (LTS) release, so there is no extended support window. Once the date passes, Broadcom (the current VMware owner) will cease all active support and security patches for version 4.5.

What Is Actually Ending?

VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5 is the software-defined stack that integrates vSphere, vSAN, NSX, and vRealize Suite into a single platform. The end-of-life date applies to the entire 4.5 release line. The latest available build is 4.5.2, but that version shares the same lifecycle end date — no further patches will be issued after May 31, 2025.

Because 4.5 is not an LTS release, there is no vendor-provided path to receive security updates beyond that date. Any organization still running 4.5 on June 1, 2025, will be in an unsupported state, with no access to technical support or vulnerability fixes from VMware.

A Realistic Migration Timeline – Worked Backwards from May 31, 2025

Six months sounds like a generous runway, but the typical migration steps consume most of that time. Here is a realistic backwards schedule:

• May 2025 – Parallel-run validation, final cutover, decommission of old environment. (This is the last month — tight.)
• March – April 2025 – Execution of migration: live migration of workloads, storage reconfiguration, network re-IP or NSX re-wiring, testing.
• January – February 2025 – Detailed planning, proof-of-concept, infrastructure procurement (if upgrading hardware or licensing), sandbox testing.
• December 2024 – Decision deadline. If you haven’t decided on a path by now, you lose the ability to run a comfortable migration.

Procurement cycles alone can eat 4–8 weeks, especially if you need to negotiate new VMware subscription contracts (Broadcom’s new licensing model). Change freezes during December holidays and quarter-end blackout periods can further compress the available window.

Risks of Running Past May 31, 2025 Without Support

Operating without a support contract after the end-of-life date introduces several concrete risks:

• No security patches. Any vulnerability discovered in vSphere, vSAN, or NSX components after May 31, 2025, will remain unpatched on 4.5. Attackers actively scan for exposed hypervisors and management interfaces.
• No technical support. If a cluster fails or a critical bug appears, you cannot call VMware for help. Your only recourse is community forums or internal expertise.
• Compliance exposure. Regulatory frameworks (PCI DSS, SOC 2, HIPAA) often require vendor-supported software for critical infrastructure. Running unsupported software can invalidate audit assertions.
• No interoperability updates. Future hardware, firmware, or third-party software may not be tested or certified with 4.5, forcing you to stay on outdated components.

Locking in Third-Party Support Removes the Deadline Pressure

You do not have to rush a migration if moving workloads is not feasible within six months. Third-party maintenance providers like 3rd Party Support can continue to support VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5 well past the vendor’s end-of-life date. This is not a “stopgap” — it is a deliberate alternative that lets you:

• Migrate on your own schedule. If you have a 12- or 18-month roadmap, third-party support covers the gap without forcing a premature upgrade.
• Stay on a stable version. Some teams deliberately prefer to avoid the churn of new releases. Third-party support allows you to freeze the environment at 4.5.2 and still receive security patches and break-fix assistance.
• Avoid costly emergency upgrades. The alternative — rushing a migration to meet a deadline — often leads to higher costs, unplanned downtime, and integration mistakes.

Third-party support does not replace a full migration strategy, but it removes the hard deadline. You can plan the upgrade when it makes sense for your business, not when the vendor’s calendar forces it.

Next Steps

If you are still on VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5, you have a narrow window to make a deliberate choice. Either accelerate your migration to a supported version (e.g., VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x) or secure third-party support before the May 31, 2025 cutoff.

Contact us to discuss how third-party support can keep your 4.5 environment running safely, with the same level of critical patches and technical assistance you rely on today — without the calendar pressure.

Sources

• VMware Cloud Foundation lifecycle information: endoflife.date/vmware-cloud-foundation
• VMware Cloud Foundation product page on 3rd Party Support: /software/vmware