PHP 8.2 reaches the end of its security support on 31 December 2026. After that date, the PHP team will no longer release security fixes for version 8.2.
What does that mean for your site? Your site will keep running — nothing switches off on 1 January. But from that point on, any new security hole found in PHP 8.2 will not be patched. The longer you stay on it, the larger the window of risk becomes, especially for a public-facing site.
What to do
First, find out which PHP version your site runs. Your hosting control panel shows it, or your host can tell you in a minute. Second, plan a move to PHP 8.3. Joomla 5 and Joomla 6 both run well on PHP 8.3, and it has security support well into the future. Third, test the change on staging first. A PHP version change can break an old extension or a piece of custom code — better to find that on a copy than on the live site. Fourth, switch PHP on the live site, then test again: pages, login, forms and extensions.
Don’t wait for something to break. A planned PHP move is a small, controlled job. An emergency fix after a problem appears is not.
Not sure which PHP version you’re on, or whether your extensions are ready? A free site check will tell you.