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Why it Matters

Even if an extension is not officially marked as abandoned, a long period without new releases (over 24 months) is a red flag. Magento and PHP evolve quickly — an extension frozen for years may contain undisclosed vulnerabilities, be incompatible with current platform versions, or break with upcoming changes.

Flagging extensions with no release activity for more than 24 months helps identify “silent abandonware” before it becomes a security and stability risk.

Verification Steps

Release activity check

# Inspect extension release history
composer show vendor/extension -a | grep versions

# Check Packagist or GitHub tags
git ls-remote --tags https://github.com/vendor/extension.git

# Expected: latest release date is within the past 24 months

Remediation / Fix Guidance

  1. Maintain an extension inventory with last release dates.
  2. If an extension has no release in >24 months:
    • Plan migration to a newer or actively maintained alternative.
    • Review code quality and apply internal fixes if you must keep it temporarily.
    • Mark as “high risk” in your dependency policy until replaced.
  3. Prefer extensions with active maintenance and frequent compatibility updates.

Examples

Fail Example
# composer show vendor/module -a
versions : * 1.0.0 (released 2021-01-15)
# Current date: 2025-10-01 → 4 years old, no new release → FAIL
Pass Example
# composer show vendor/module -a
versions : * 2.3.5 (released 2025-03-12)
# Updated within 24 months → PASS

References