What Security Teams Wish Developers Knew About EOL Software

Developers often view running software as fine. But from a security team’s perspective, “it still works” is the most dangerous phrase in the building, especially when that software is end-of-life.

When support ends, so do the security updates. The longer it runs, the more CVEs it accumulates—and the more pressure falls on security teams to compensate for decisions they didn’t make. This post unpacks what security professionals want developers and engineering leads to understand about the real risk of EOL software.

Devs Ship. Security Inherits.

Developers push features, meet deadlines, and make tradeoffs in fast-moving teams. But when a framework reaches end-of-life, the tradeoff isn’t technical debt—it’s exploitable code in production.

Security teams are then forced to:

• Monitor unsupported frameworks for zero-days without vendor alerts
  
  
• Manually patch or sandbox risk-prone components
  
  
• Explain to auditors why critical CVEs remain unresolved
  
  
• Assume responsibility for something they didn’t choose or build
  
  

It’s a shared stack, but not always a shared plan.

CVE Coverage Gaps Multiply After EOL

Let’s say you're running Angular 16, Spring Boot 2.7, or Tomcat 9—all EOL. Those frameworks managed a long list of dependencies frozen in time. Even if your own code is clean, you're shipping with:

• Unpatched versions of Tomcat, Elasticsearch, Netty, Jetty
  
  
• Dependency trees that no longer get security updates
  
  
• Blind spots for SBOMs and vulnerability scans
  
  

Without active vendor support, security teams are flying without radar.

Manual Mitigation ≠ Sustainable Strategy

Security teams can try to manually override vulnerable packages, write custom alerts, or firewall risky behavior. But that’s duct tape on a cracked foundation.

It doesn’t scale, is not defensible in an audit, and drains already overextended teams.

The real solution? Don’t ask security to own what development won’t maintain.

HeroDevs: A Security Safety Net for EOL Software

HeroDevs’ Never-Ending Support (NES) exists to eliminate this security/compliance handoff problem. We:

• Track emerging CVEs across EOL frameworks and their dependencies
  
  
• Deliver validated patches and secure forks of unsupported software
  
  
• Maintain audit-friendly changelogs and update history
  
  
• Ensure continued security coverage—so devs can build, and security can breathe
  
  

It’s not a bandage—it’s structured, long-term support designed to relieve the security team's pressure and restore dev confidence.

Make Security a Shared Responsibility Again

Running EOL software without a patch plan isn't technical debt. It’s risk debt. And your security team knows it.

HeroDevs helps teams turn “we’ll migrate later” into “we’re covered now.”

Stop handing security teams unsupported code. Start giving them a plan

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