Patching & Upgrades Program - Definition of Unsupported ReleaseIssue The ServiceNow Patching Program updates customer instances to required patch versions throughout the year. With this program, instances get the latest security, performance, and functional fixes. Most importantly, patching remediates known security vulnerabilities and is an essential component of any patch management process. Unsupported Releases are ServiceNow versions that have reached their End-Of-Life status, as they are no longer patchable to the latest product features and/or bug fixes. Customer instances on unsupported releases should be planned to be upgraded as soon as possible, as they do not have the most current features, availability, performance, and security version of the legally defined Subscription Service. Please be aware of the following: While ServiceNow will continue to provide technical support for cases, customers may be required to upgrade to a supported release family to correct a defect. ServiceNow is not obligated to provide patches or hotfixes for a non-supported release family.Any service level agreements and associated service credits, support targets, and/or recovery time objectives or recovery point objectives are not applicable to non-supported release families.ServiceNow can apply an upgrade to a supported release family if necessary, in our reasonable judgment, to maintain the availability, security, or performance of the Subscription Service with short or no notice, which means, if necessary to protect our customer base, an upgrade could be applied ahead of any previously scheduled upgrade.Related LinksMore information about the ServiceNow upgrade policy and the currently supported ServiceNow product versions can be found in the documents below: Subscription Service Guide Customer Agreements Patching & End of Life Upgrades Community Upgrade Your Instance ServiceNow Release Cycle