Releases

Vitess v24.0.1 is a focused patch release fixing a VTGate query planner bug with DML subqueries, reverting a problematic VTOrc flag, and resolving flaky VTTablet unit tests.

• breakingRemove VTOrc --cells-to-watch flag if you added it

  The 'cells to watch' flag introduced in #19354 has been reverted. If you added this flag to your VTOrc configuration or startup scripts after upgrading to v24.0.0, remove it before upgrading to v24.0.1 — VTOrc will fail to start with an unrecognized flag error.

• enhancementUpgrade if you use DML subqueries through VTGate

  A query planner bug affected IN/NOT IN subqueries inside DML statements (INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE). Merged subqueries weren't being substituted correctly via ListArg placeholders, which could produce wrong query behavior. If your application runs DML with subqueries routed through VTGate, this patch directly addresses that correctness issue — upgrade promptly.

v23.0.4 is a stability-focused patch release fixing multiple panics in VTOrc, VTGate, and ERS, plus critical VReplication and routing rule bugs that could silently misdirect traffic.

• securityGo upgraded to 1.25.9 — check your custom builds

  The Go runtime was bumped from 1.25.8 to 1.25.9 within this release cycle. If you build Vitess from source or maintain custom images, rebuild against go1.25.9 to pick up any runtime-level fixes included in that Go patch release.

• breakingUpgrade immediately if you use ERS or semi-sync replication

  Three separate ERS bugs were fixed: nil pointer panics during errant GTID detection, broken cancellation logic, and IO threads not restarting on replicas after ERS failure. Any of these can leave your cluster in a degraded state after a failover. If you run semi-sync with VTOrc, the ReplicationStopped + PrimarySemiSyncBlocked deadlock fix is equally critical — it could stall recovery entirely. Upgrade before your next planned maintenance window at the latest.

• enhancementRouting rule and schema-tracker fix affects multi-keyspace setups

  VTGate was not rebuilding routing rules after schema-tracker updates, and was dropping the target keyspace during routing rule AST rewrites. Both are silent bugs — queries appear to work but may land on the wrong keyspace. If you use routing rules with multiple keyspaces, validate query routing behavior after upgrading to confirm traffic is going where you expect.

Vitess v24 ships structured JSON logging by default, window function pushdown for sharded keyspaces, OpenTelemetry tracing, and a security fix for backup manifest command injection. 460 PRs merged.

• securityBackup MANIFEST command injection is now blocked by default

  Prior to v24, an attacker with write access to backup storage could modify the MANIFEST file to inject arbitrary shell commands that VTTablet would execute during restore. This is now blocked — the MANIFEST decompressor field is ignored unless you explicitly pass --external-decompressor-use-manifest. If you're on v23 or earlier, treat backup storage access controls as a security boundary and audit who can write to it.

• breakingAudit backup restore configs for MANIFEST decompressor

  If your VTTablet restore process relied on the decompressor command stored in backup MANIFESTs (i.e., you never set --external-decompressor but backups still decompressed), restores will silently skip decompression in v24 and likely fail. Add --external-decompressor-use-manifest to your VTTablet config to preserve old behavior, but read the security advisory first: a compromised backup store could execute arbitrary commands on your tablet. Evaluate whether you actually need this or can pass --external-decompressor explicitly instead.

• breakingRemove deprecated VTOrc API endpoint and metric references

  The /api/replication-analysis endpoint returns 404 in v24 — any monitoring scripts, Grafana dashboards, or alerting rules hitting that URL will break silently or with errors. Switch to /api/detection-analysis (same params, same response format). Also replace DiscoverInstanceTimings with DiscoveryInstanceTimings in dashboards. Do this before deploying v24 to production.

• enhancementMigrate tracing to OpenTelemetry now, not in v25

  opentracing-jaeger and opentracing-datadog are deprecated in v24 and will be removed in v25. The migration is straightforward: replace --tracer opentracing-jaeger with --tracer opentelemetry, and swap --jaeger-agent-host host:port for --otel-endpoint host:4317. Jaeger v1.35+ accepts OTLP on port 4317 by default. Datadog users should point to the Agent's OTLP ingestion endpoint. Do this upgrade cycle, not the next one.

• enhancementAdd --cell flag to VTOrc now

  --cell is optional in v24 but becomes required in v25. Multi-cell deployments especially should add it now — startup validation against the topology will catch misconfiguration early, and it unblocks future cross-cell recovery logic in VTOrc. One flag, no downtime, avoids a forced change next release.

Security-focused release addressing two critical CVEs related to backup MANIFEST file vulnerabilities that could allow arbitrary command execution and path traversal attacks.

• securityImmediate upgrade required for CVE-2026-27965 and CVE-2026-27969

  Two critical CVEs allow attackers with backup storage write access to execute arbitrary commands and perform path traversal attacks. Upgrade immediately to v22.0.4 and review backup storage access controls to ensure only trusted entities have write permissions.

• securityAudit and secure backup storage access

  Since these vulnerabilities require write access to backup storage, review who has write permissions to your backup locations. Implement proper access controls and consider using immutable backup storage where possible to prevent tampering.

• breakingUpdate VTTablet configuration if using MANIFEST-based decompressors

  External decompressor commands from MANIFEST files are ignored by default. If your restore process relies on this behavior, add the --external-decompressor-use-manifest flag to your VTTablet configuration, but understand this reintroduces security risks.

Vitess v23.0.3 is a critical security release addressing two CVEs related to backup restore vulnerabilities, with breaking changes to external decompressor handling.

• securityImmediate Upgrade Required for Backup Security

  This release fixes critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-27965, CVE-2026-27969) that allow attackers with backup storage write access to execute arbitrary commands or perform path traversal attacks. Upgrade immediately if you use Vitess backups, especially in environments where backup storage might be compromised. Review backup storage access controls and audit recent backup operations for suspicious activity.

• breakingUpdate VTTablet Configuration for External Decompressors

  If your backup/restore process relies on external decompressors defined in MANIFEST files, you must add the --external-decompressor-use-manifest flag to your VTTablet configuration. Without this flag, restores will fail if they depend on MANIFEST-specified decompressors. Review your backup strategy and explicitly configure decompressor commands instead of relying on MANIFEST files for better security.

• enhancementStrengthen Backup Security Posture

  Take this opportunity to review and harden your backup security practices. Implement strict access controls on backup storage, use dedicated service accounts with minimal permissions, and consider encrypting backup storage. The new security model provides better isolation but requires explicit configuration of decompression tools rather than trusting backup metadata.