HiveMQ 4.48.x to 4.49.x Migration Guide

This is a minor HiveMQ upgrade. HiveMQ 4.49 is a drop in replacement for HiveMQ 4.48.x.

You can learn more about all the new features HiveMQ 4.49 introduces in our release blogpost.

HiveMQ is prepackaged with all HiveMQ Enterprise Extensions (disabled), HiveMQ Data Hub, the open-source MQTT CLI tool, and the HiveMQ Swarm load-testing tool (MQTT CLI and HiveMQ Swarm are located in the tools folder of your HiveMQ installation).

HiveMQ 4.28 is the current HiveMQ LTS release. If you have not already done so, we recommend upgrading to HiveMQ version 4.28 or above.
To upgrade from the previous 4.9 LTS to HiveMQ 4.29 and above, you must first upgrade to the new 4.28 LTS version.
For more information, see the HiveMQ 4.9 to 4.28 Migration Guide, HiveMQ Rolling Upgrade Policy^, and our Managing HiveMQ Releases and Support blog post.
When you migrate from one HiveMQ version to another, we recommend that you review the upgrade information for each version between your current HiveMQ version and the target HiveMQ version.
Note changes that are relevant to your use case and adjust your configuration as needed.

Critical Java Security Update

TLS_RSA Deprecation in JDK-21.0.10 and JDK-25 Can Cause MQTT Connection Failures

+ Oracle introduced critical security updates in JDK-21.0.10 and JDK-25:

  • TLS_RSA cipher suites are disabled by default The JVM now rejects these cipher suites during TLS handshakes due to a lack of forward secrecy.

  • SHA-1 signatures disabled for TLS 1.2 / DTLS 1.2 The JVM no longer accepts SHA-1 signatures during handshakes because the algorithm is no longer considered cryptographically secure.

    This update improves platform security but removes compatibility with legacy MQTT clients that depend on RSA key-exchange ciphers.

    These changes are introduced by the Java platform vendor Oracle, not by HiveMQ.
    However, they directly affect how MQTT clients connect to any HiveMQ deployment running on the updated JDK.

    If you plan to upgrade to JDK 21.0.10 (released January 20, 2026) or JDK 25 (released September 16, 2025), read this article to understand the impact and prepare your HiveMQ deployment.

HiveMQ Platform Docker Images Upgraded to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The HiveMQ Platform Docker images now run on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat). This upgrade from Ubuntu 22.04 LTS to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ensures that your deployments benefit from the latest security enhancements, refreshed system libraries, and an extended Long-Term Support window.

If you build custom Docker images on top of the HiveMQ base image, we recommend testing your images against the new base before deploying to production.

This change only affects deployments that use HiveMQ Platform Docker images. Bare-metal and VM-based deployments are not affected.

Known Issues

HiveMQ 4.49 has no known issues.

Upgrade a HiveMQ Cluster

Rolling upgrades are supported, and it is possible to run HiveMQ version 4.48 and version 4.49 simultaneously in the same cluster. By default, the HiveMQ cluster enables all new cluster features when all nodes are upgraded to the new version. No manual intervention is required.

Please follow the instructions in our user guide to ensure a seamless and successful rolling upgrade.

Upgrade a Single-node HiveMQ Instance

  • Create a backup of the entire HiveMQ 4.48.x installation folder from which you want to migrate.

  • Install HiveMQ 4.49 as described in the HiveMQ Installation Guide.

  • Migrate the content of the config.xml and license files from your old HiveMQ 4.48.x installation.

  • To migrate your persistent data, copy everything from the data folder of your backup to the data folder of the new HiveMQ 4.49 installation.

HiveMQ Configuration File Changes

HiveMQ prevents the startup if your configuration file contains invalid values. For more information, see Configuration Validation.

HiveMQ Persistent Data Migration

When you migrate, HiveMQ automatically updates the file storage formats of all the data that you copied into your new data folder.

To migrate the persistent data, you must copy everything in the data folder of the previous HiveMQ 4.48.x installation to the data folder of your new HiveMQ 4.49 installation.

Linux example
cp -r /opt/hivemq-4.48.0/data/* /opt/hivemq-4.49.0/data/

The first time you start HiveMQ 4.49, the file storage formats of the persistent data from your previous installation are automatically updated in the new persistent storage.