Documentation for IDF v5.2.8 is available at https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v5.2.8/
ESP-IDF v5.2.8 is a bugfix update for ESP-IDF v5.2 and also the last bug fix release of ESP-IDF v5.2. According to ESP-IDF Support Period Policy, ESP-IDF v5.2 release branch reached end-of-life in August 2026. With EOL, new features, bug fixes, and security fixes will no longer be supported on this branch. Customers who are currently using ESP-IDF v5.2 release branch are encouraged to upgrade their projects to more recent ESP-IDF releases, such as ESP-IDF v6.0.3.
Obtaining v5.2.8
For full installation instructions, see the ESP-IDF Programming Guide.
Using EIM
The recommended way to obtain and install ESP-IDF v5.2.8 is through the ESP-IDF Installation Manager (EIM). EIM supports obtaining ESP-IDF releases from Espressif mirrors as well as directly from Git repositories.
eim install -i v5.2.8
Using git
To download this release using git, use the following command:
git clone -b v5.2.8 --recursive https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf.git esp-idf-v5.2.8
To install ESP-IDF build tools, use EIM:
eim install -p esp-idf-v5.2.8
or the legacy installation method.
Download an archive with submodules included
Attached to this release is an esp-idf-v5.2.8.zip archive. It includes .git directory and all the submodules, so can be used out of the box. This archive is provided for users who have connectivity issues preventing them from cloning from GitHub. To reduce the size of the archive, the .git directory doesn't include the history of commits older than one year. Users who need to use git checkout to access an older release of IDF will have to use git fetch first to download the remaining part of the history.
This archive can also be downloaded from Espressif's download server: https://dl.espressif.com/github_assets/espressif/esp-idf/releases/download/v5.2.8/esp-idf-v5.2.8.zip
Same as when downloading the release using git, you need to install the build tools using either EIM or the legacy installation method.
Note that the source files attached to this release will not work due to our use of git submodules.
Major changes
Vulnerability Fixes
- BLE/NimBLE: Pull upstream changes for fixes of various CVEs (7cb3f68) [CVE-2026-45811, CVE-2026-45815, CVE-2026-45816, CVE-2026-46452]
Breaking changes
- Security/Secure Boot: Disabled ECDSA Secure Boot V2 for ESP32-H2, ESP32-C5, ESP32-P4 which are in Mass Production stage, ( and some preview SoC ESP32-H4, ESP32-S31, ESP32-H21). This was done due to a security vulnerability found in the ECDSA based Secure Boot flow, more details will be available in the Chip Errata. (b50a0fd)
Changelog
This full changelog of v5.2.8 release is on The ESP Release Notes site now.