Emergency JDK patching concerns during LTS upgrades in AEM
In Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), questions can arise about the impact of emergency JDK 8 and JDK 11 patching on production and nonproduction environments, especially when an LTS upgrade is in progress. Organizations often need to understand whether the update affects application functionality, introduces a major Java version change, or requires additional action. To fix this issue, review the patching scope, maintenance schedule, and post-update validation requirements.
Description description
Environment
Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Managed Services environments running Java 8 or Java 11.
Symptoms
A security bulletin may be be received regarding emergency JDK 8 and 11 patching. Common concerns include:
- Whether emergency JDK patching will affect production and non-production AEM instances, especially if an LTS upgrade is underway in lower environments but not yet in production.
- Whether the patching activity will upgrade the JDK to a new major version or only apply security updates within the same major version.
- Whether any application changes or downtime are expected as a result of the patching activity.
No specific error messages or failures are typically reported. The inquiry focuses on the anticipated impact and operational considerations during scheduled maintenance windows.
Cause
This emergency patching activity addresses critical security vulnerabilities in Java 8 and Java 11. The update is limited to security patches within the same major version and isn’t expected to affect application functionality.
Resolution resolution
Follow these steps to resolve the issue:
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Review the scope of the JDK patching activity.
- The emergency patching updates Java 8 and Java 11 environments to the latest supported security patch level within the same major Java version (for example, Java 8 is updated to the latest Java 8 CPU release).
- There is no migration to a different major Java version as part of this activity.
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Review scheduled maintenance windows. Patching occurs during scheduled maintenance windows for both production and non-production environments. Service restarts might be required during this time.
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Validate application functionality after patching.
- After maintenance is complete, validate that your application is functioning as expected.
- No application changes are anticipated because the update remains within the same major Java version.
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If your production environment is upgraded to an AEM LTS version (which uses Java 21) before the patching window, contact Adobe Support to confirm whether JDK 8/11 patching is still required for your environment.
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If any issues are observed after the patching activity, contact Adobe Support for further assistance.