MinIO Reaches End of Life in February 2026; Docker ELS Offers Five Years of Extended Support

MinIO, an open-source object storage solution, reached end of life in February 2026, ceasing releases, bug fixes, and security patches. Docker Extended Lifecycle Support (ELS) addresses this issue by maintaining hardened images for up to five years past upstream end of life. Docker ELS ensures MinIO remains patched, compliant, and audit-ready, including fixes for CVEs and transitive dependencies within its Go dependency graph. This service extends to other end-of-life software, such as Node 18, Python 3.8, and older Airflow releases, helping organizations avoid audit findings and manage migrations on their own timelines. ELS is available as a paid add-on to Docker Hardened Images subscriptions.