Still on Vault 2025 or Earlier? FIPS Just Made Your Upgrade a Compliance Issue

For many organizations, a Vault™  upgrade is a planned improvement rather than an urgent one, scheduled around project deadlines and IT priorities. For teams that work with government customers, that schedule may no longer be theirs to set.

Autodesk Vault 2027 is the first release that supports FIPS mode. Autodesk's own support guidance is direct about it: FIPS is not supported in any version of Vault before 2027. If your contracts, your customers, or your own IT security team require FIPS-approved cryptography, an older Vault is now the thing standing in the way.

The short version: Need FIPS? You need Vault 2027 or newer. There's no patch, service pack, or workaround for earlier releases.

Why this is landing on your desk now

FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) 140-2 is the U.S. government standard for the cryptography that protects data in transit and at rest. For a long time it felt like an IT checkbox. It doesn't anymore.

Here's where we see the pressure coming from:

• Government contracts. Work involving Controlled Unclassified Information typically points back to NIST SP 800-171, which calls for FIPS-validated cryptography. Your engineering data lives in Vault, so Vault is in scope.
• Customer flow-down. Even if you're not the prime contractor, primes are pushing security requirements down to their suppliers. Expect it in questionnaires and audits.
• Your own IT policy. Many organizations are turning on FIPS mode in Windows across the board. With older Vault releases, Autodesk's guidance is that the Windows FIPS policy must be disabled. That puts your PDM system in direct conflict with your security policy.

That last one catches people off guard. Vault doesn't have to be the target of an audit to become a problem. It just has to be the system IT can't lock down.

This is a stack upgrade, not just a Vault upgrade

Here's the part that makes planning matter. According to Autodesk, FIPS mode in Vault requires the following versions or higher:

• Autodesk Vault 2027
• SQL Server 2022
• Windows Server 2022 for both SQL Server and Vault Server
• Windows 11 on Vault Client machines

If you're a few Vault versions behind, there's a good chance some of the infrastructure underneath is too. A server running an older SQL Server or Windows Server release turns a software update into a platform project, with budget, hardware, and IT scheduling attached.

Better to find that out now than the week a contract requirement comes due.

Where these upgrades go sideways

The Vault upgrade itself is usually the easy part. What breaks is everything connected to it.

• Integrations and add-ins. Job Processor extensions (including coolOrange powerJobs), ERP connectors, custom apps, and third-party tools all have to support FIPS-compliant algorithms. Anything that doesn't may stop connecting once FIPS is on.
• Mismatched machines. Vault Client follows the Windows FIPS policy on each workstation, and Vault Server follows the policy on the server. If the two sides don't match, users get login and connection errors.
• Skipped versions. Jumping several releases at once means more migration steps, more data to validate, and more chances for a surprise. It's very doable, but it needs a solid migration plan.
• No test environment. Enabling FIPS in production without testing first is the fastest way to lose a day of engineering productivity.

A practical path to Vault 2027 with FIPS

Here's the sequence we recommend:

1. Confirm the requirement. Find out exactly what your contracts or IT policy call for, and by when. That sets your timeline.
2. Inventory your environment. Document your current Vault version, SQL Server, server OS, client OS, and every integration that touches Vault.
3. Run a gap check. Compare what you have against the 2027 FIPS requirements. This tells you whether you're looking at a Vault upgrade or a full platform refresh. Our Upgrade Assistance team can run this check with you.
4. Upgrade in a test environment first. Migrate a copy of your vault, enable FIPS, and run real workflows: login, check-in/check-out, search, lifecycle changes, and Job Processor tasks.
5. Roll out consistently. Upgrade and configure server and client machines together so FIPS policy matches everywhere.
6. Validate in production. Review ADMS and IIS logs for authentication errors and confirm connected tools still work.

Want the technical deep dive? Our earlier post covers what FIPS mode does inside Vault, how it affects authentication and secure communication, and what to test after you turn it on: Autodesk Vault 2027 Adds FIPS Mode Support for Security-Conscious Organizations.

Don't let your PDM system be the audit finding

Upgrading Vault has always made sense for new features and better performance. FIPS gives government-facing teams a firmer reason, and a firmer deadline.

And if the upgrade has you rethinking how product data moves through your organization more broadly, our PDM and PLM guide for manufacturers is a good next read.

The teams that handle this well start early, scope the whole stack, and test before they flip the switch. The teams that struggle find out about SQL Server 2022 the same week the audit lands.

Talk to a Hagerman Vault advisor

Not sure how far your environment is from FIPS-ready? A Hagerman Vault advisor can review your current setup, map out what a 2027 upgrade involves for you, and help you build a timeline that fits your contract requirements, without disrupting your engineering team.

Ready to see where you stand?