ESXi 7.0 Update 3w to ESXi 8.x is currently not supported

[Guillermo Argañaras]

Dear all, good afternoon. You saw this new build released on July 15 due to vulnerabilities. What do you think about this message left behind?

Upgrade Notes

Upgrade from ESXi 7.0 Update 3w to ESXi 8.x is currently not supported but an upgrade path will be available with a future ESXi 8.x release.

Source: VMware ESXi 7.0 Update 3w Release Notes

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VMware ESXi 7.0 Update 3w Release Notes If your source system contains hosts of versions between ESXi 7.0 Update 2 and Update 3c, and Intel drivers, before upgrading to ESXi 7.0 Update 3w, see the What's New section of the VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3c Release Notes, because all content in the section is also applicable for vSphere 7.0 Update 3w. View this on Broadcom >

[Nathan Watts]

If you are asking about the upgrade to 8.x, this is the normal, has always been a thing, Back in Time upgrade restrictions have been in place on VMware products since I can remember, you have never been allowed to upgrade to a release that was earlier than the release you are on.

There will be an update soon that will allow you to get to 8. 

You should be ready to move to vSphere 8/VCF 5.2 at any next release/update.

[Guillermo Argañaras]

thanks you Nathan! 

[Alexandru Capras]

Yeah, it's a known issue… like Nathan said, it's been around forever.

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/312157/vcenter-server-backintime-release-upgrad.html

That said, security should take priority.

If support is also a concern (like it was for me) you could upgrade directly to v8 before patching.
If not, just patch now and wait for the next 8.x release... there's still enough time to move to v8.

[Guillermo Argañaras]

thanks you Alexandru! 

[mike_tp]

Not entirely sure why this is considered a back-in-time issue though - according to the VMSA-2025-0013 advisory the fix for the vulnerabilities is in ESXi 7.0 Update 3w, and also in ESXi 8.0 Update 3f (and 2e), so unless there is extra tinkering in 7.0U3w that didn't make it into 8.0U3f shouldn't it allow this?

Similarly the VMSA-2025-0010 advisory states that vCenter vulnerabilities are fixed in 7.0U3v and 8.0U3e, but then the release notes for 7.0U3v say upgrade to 8.0U3e is not possible because of the back-in-time restriction, and this is more critical to us as we are planning to upgrade to 8.0 soon (and have patched to 7.0U3v) and obviously can't upgrade ESXi hosts either.

[Guillermo Argañaras]

Good morning Mike, we're in the exact same situation. There are clients who, due to their size, are taking a while to schedule and update to 8. So, for now, we're prioritizing security in some cases, and updating in others because we're running out of EOL time for 7.

 

Best regards.