Debian Linux 11 Ends Five Years of Official Support in August 2026

The Debian Project has announced that Debian Linux 11 will officially end its Long-Term Support (LTS) phase on August 31, 2026. This marks the conclusion of the operating system's approximately five-year official lifecycle, which began with its release on August 14, 2021.

Following the end of LTS in August 2026, Debian 11 will no longer receive new security updates. This could leave systems vulnerable if they are not upgraded to a supported version. Typically, Debian stable releases follow a support model of three years of regular support followed by two years of LTS.

For Debian 11, the security and release teams handled maintenance for the first three years. From August 15, 2024, the LTS team took over, providing security updates for various architectures until the August 31, 2026, deadline.

It's important to note that not all software packages are supported during the LTS phase; for example, gaming packages and those explicitly marked as unsupported are excluded. For organizations requiring continued support for Debian 11, Extended Long-Term Support (ELTS) services are available through third parties. The Freexian team has taken over ELTS, planning to offer security maintenance from September 1, 2026, to June 30, 2031. This is a commercial offering and not part of the official Debian project.

Users are advised to migrate to newer versions like Debian 12 or Debian 13 for continued security support. Debian 12's free security support extends until June 30, 2028, and Debian 13's until June 30, 2030.