ASA 5545-X Software lifecycle

[alessandro.s]

Hi All,

i need help in understanding ASA 5545-X lifecycle as we are still working with an HA pair.

I see, from the EoL/EoS notices, (https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/asa-5500-series-next-generation-firewalls/eos-eol-notice-listing.html) there's no announcement for this model but the last available software from Cisco site is 9.14.4 Interm, released on April 25th 2024 (https://software.cisco.com/download/home/284143130/type/280775065/release/9.14.4%20Interim), but since that date several Vulnerability Advisory was published, and in most of them the fix consists in upgrading the appliances to 9.16 train. So, my question is why there's no new maintenance software for ASA 5545-X, based on the fact that there's no EoL/EoS announcement?

Thanks in advance!

[Rob Ingram]

@alessandro.s I think this notice relates to the 5545-X even though it does not explictly state "-X" model in the title, it does refer to the hardware as 5545-X in the "End of Signature Release Date:" section. In which case last date of support is next week (30 Sept 2025).

You should look to replace the hardware asap, possibly the 1200 or 3100 series hardware.

[Marvin Rhoads · Accepted solution]

@alessandro.s,

The link posted by @Rob Ingram actually refers to the IPS signatures used by the Firepower service module.

For the base ASA software, the following bulletin applies:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/security/asa-firepower-services/eos-eol-notice-c51-743545.html

Specifically, September 4 2021 was "The last date that Cisco Engineering may release any final software maintenance releases or bug fixes. After this date, Cisco Engineering will no longer develop, repair, maintain, or test the product software."

So, they actually provided updated AFTER the officially published LDOS to address what they felt were critical issues despite their published EoX notice.

[alessandro.s]

Hi Marvin,

thanks for your kind treply, i was not expecting to see an EoL announcement for the hardware inside a notice about a subscription, but i realized, now, that the announcement talks about "Appliances AND Subscription" i surely will pay more attentionin the future.

Many thanks