Resources
Guides
Explanations written from Patcharo's sourced intelligence: how each vendor numbers, maintains and recommends its releases, and how to choose a version for a real environment.
- Palo Alto Networks
PAN-OS versions explained: release lines, maintenance releases and the -h1, -h2, -h3 suffixes
How to read a PAN-OS version number, what a hotfix suffix changes, where the vendor lists what each release fixes, and what the number alone can never tell you.
Updated 19 Oct 2026
- Palo Alto Networks
Choosing a PAN-OS upgrade target: guidance, latest release, fixes and compatibility
A method to pick the release to install on a Palo Alto Networks firewall: what the vendor's guidance is, what the newest release is, which release fixes what concerns you, and the constraints that decide between them.
Updated 19 Oct 2026
- Check Point
Check Point releases, Jumbo Hotfix Accumulators and Take numbers explained
What a major release, a Jumbo Hotfix Accumulator and a Take are, how Check Point designates recommended releases and Takes, what a Take's notes tell you about a vulnerability, and why Patcharo keeps three facts apart.
Updated 23 Oct 2026
- Check Point
Choosing a Check Point release and Take for your deployment
How to decide between staying on your release with a newer Take and moving to the recommended release, with the management server, the appliances, the fixes you need and the support dates as the deciding constraints.
Updated 19 Oct 2026
- Fortinet
FortiOS version numbering: branches, patch releases and the Feature and Mature labels
How a FortiOS version is numbered, what a branch is, what Fortinet means by a Feature release and a Mature release, how the recommended release per model differs from both, and where each fact is published.
Updated 19 Oct 2026
- Fortinet
Choosing a FortiOS release: recommended, fixed, supported, and the upgrade path to it
A method to choose the FortiOS release to install on a FortiGate: the recommended release for the model, the first fixed release of your advisories, the branch's life cycle, the supported models, FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, and the path the Upgrade Path Tool gives.
Updated 19 Oct 2026
- Cisco
Cisco Secure Firewall release trains: Threat Defense, Management Center and ASA versions explained
How Cisco numbers the releases of Secure Firewall Threat Defense, Management Center and ASA, what a train and a patch are, how the Management Center constrains the Threat Defense version, where the vendor states its suggested release, and what Patcharo reads.
Updated 19 Oct 2026
- Every vendor
Latest, recommended, fixed, end of support: four facts that never mean the same thing
The four words every version decision rests on, what each vendor means by them, how they contradict each other on a real device, and the order in which to read them.
Updated 19 Oct 2026