Magento 2.4.2 Commerce Release Notes

Magento developers have recently introduced remarkable advancements in the e-commerce industry which is Magento’s version 2.4.2. Here is a notable milestone, offering substantial improvements in performance, security, and overall functionality for e-commerce stores. This upgrade not only enhances the Magento platform but also greatly benefits other related platforms. By upgrading your e-commerce store to this version, you can ensure enhanced customer experiences, providing shoppers with a seamless and enjoyable journey on your website.

Looking for
Upgrade Services?

Upgrade your Magento 2 store to the latest version for new features and security - with the help of our dedicated experts.

Upgrade now

Magento 2.4.2 Release Date

Great news for both Magento store owners and developers! The release of Magento, 2.4.2 version, comes with numerous improvements. It addresses around 290 GitHub issues, providing over 280 fixes for the core code, and includes more than 30 significant security enhancements. Furthermore, the release notes for Magento’s Open Source 2.4.2 highlight the security enhancements related to supporting the Same Site attribute for all cookies. The release notes also provide clarification regarding the support for Elasticsearch 7.9.x and Redis 6.x. The primary objective of the Magento 2.4.2 release is to offer robust enhancements to store owners, aiming to boost store conversion rates and provide an enhanced user experience for customers during the shopping process.

Magento 2.4.2 Releases Highlights

Security Enhancements

The Magento 2.4.2 release includes over 35 security enhancements to close RCE and XSS vulnerabilities. This is considered the most impressive improvement for Magento store owners. Fortunately, although there are no attacks related to these issues, you must install this security update to avoid unwanted risks that male actors can exploit.

Always keep in mind that these issues all require admin access, so it’s better to protect your backend area with 2-factor authentication, IP whitelist, VPN, password strong password as well as a unique administrative address.

Some other security improvements include:

• SameSite attribute supports for all core cookies
• The ability to identify potentially malicious content through messages and an alert will appear
• Fix Core Content Security Policy (CSP) violations

Infrastructure enhancements

Both Magento 2.4.2 Commerce and Open Source versions bring improvements to core quality. They improve the quality of the framework with different functional areas such as:

• Customer Account
• Catalog
• CMS
• OMS
• Import/Export
• Promotions
• Targeting
• Cart and Checkout
• Staging and Preview

Platform improvements

Magento 2.4.2 version supports the following platforms:

• Varnish 6.4 and still compatible with version 6.x.
• Redis 6.x and still compatible with Redis 5.x.
• Elasticsearch 7.9.x and still compatible with 7.9.x
• Composer 2.x and still compatible with Composer 1.x, which is about to expire.

In addition, you should also note that the split database functionality has been deprecated. If you still take advantage of this feature, you need to revert or switch to a single item.

Performance improvements

This release is introduced as a performance enhancement to the API. In addition, the admin response time is also faster. More than that, due to various scalability improvements, Magento 2.4.2 version supports 20 times larger complex categories than before.

Site Audit Services

Mageplaza offers FREE site health check (15hrs) to help you identify any website flaws & weaknesses and fix them before they start costing you a fortune.

Explore More

PWA Studio

The Magento 2.4.2 release of PWA Studio includes some improvements below:

• Venia supports multiple languages, currencies and stores well.
• It brings improved extensibility to support the code change via extensions.
• Venia’s My Account includes the functionality relating to Wishlist, Saved Payments, Address Book, and Order History.
• Various performance optimizations and bug fixes

GraphQL

Magento 2.4.2 brings improved GraphQL coverage. Now is the time to take advantage of the following features:

• GraphQL in catalog permissions has the ability to restrict which items are returned for a product query. The shopper’s customer group is used as the basis for this activity.
• Due to the surge of generateCustomerTokenAsAdmin and the enhanced customer audience, it is easier to make remote purchases supported in Magento 2.4.2 than in versions of other platforms.
• Localization support across stores is an important part of Magento 2.4.2, that’s why it’s easier to change language, currency, and shopping cart.
• GraphQL Schema optimizes product data retrieval for configurable products.
• Magento GraphQL supports unions.
• Magento 2.4.2 stopped working with integer object IDs. Currently, the system will rely on the uid properties of the ID type.

ProductInterface and CategoryInterface are improved with the staging attribute. It just got easier to determine if a product is staged. In addition, the system can also show its related campaign information.

Media Gallery

The Media Gallery associated with the role resource is new in Magento version 2.4.2. Besides, it can also provide optimized images in the content.

Building on the first feature, it allows you to limit admin access to the Media Gallery and assign the following roles:

• Upload assets
• Change assets details
• Insert media assets into content
• Delete assets
• Edit folder structure

Web-optimized image rendering enables high-resolution image replacement. While the original image is preserved in the Media Gallery, the image rendering is dynamically generated each time the image is inserted into the content.

Magento Functional Testing Framework (MFTF)

Now Magento 2.4.2 provides Magento Functional Testing Framework version 3.2.1. You can take advantage of fault tolerance in both testings as well as creating test suites along with some minor improvements and bug fixes.

AWS S3 Enhancements

The Magento 2.4.2 release includes advanced support for Amazon Simple Storage Service (AWS S3) below:

• Object storage and future scalability.
• Store media files on AWS S3
• Added support for AWS S3 in most modules such as B2B, PageBuilder, and Adobe Stock Integration.

Magento 2.4.2 Commerce Release Notes

The Magento Commerce 2.4.2 release includes the following unique features:

GraphQL

GraphQL enhancements of Magento 2.4.2 Commerce also includes the following features:

• Support for multiple wishlists. GraphQL allows you to create, delete, and rename wish lists. At the same time, you can also move and copy items using innovative new technology.
• Support for RMA. Here customers can request returns in a more user-friendly way. Once the request is accepted, the customer can add a comment or follow it.
• Support for B2B includes companies, company credit and requisition.
  • Companies: You can use GraphQL to add administrators, users, teams, and roles.
  • Company credit: You can view the details of the company’s credit history.
  • Requisition: Magento 2.4.2 version allows using GraphQL to create, update and delete requisition lists as well as update, delete, add, copy, move items there or add required list items to the cart.

B2B

The Magento 2.4.2 version incorporates the release of the B2B module, namely v1.3.1. Its primary objective is to facilitate online payment for purchase orders (POs) and address various bug issues. By leveraging online payment methods, you can seamlessly finalize the payment for your POs. As a B2B buyer, you have the flexibility to select your preferred payment method for each order. Subsequently, a relevant prompt will be displayed during the checkout process. Once the PO is approved, the buyer will be prompted to provide payment details to complete the order fulfillment process. Some further updates of B2B include:

• Compatible with third-party payment methods.
• Email notification sent to the buyer to provide payment details for an approved purchase order (PO).
• Ability to overwrite existing payment method templates during initial checkout to maintain PCI compliance.
• Support for custom email templates.
• Introduction of an “Approved - Pending Payment” status for purchase orders.
• Customers are not able to add or remove discount codes during the final checkout step, ensuring the total order amount remains unchanged for approved POs. However, the buyer can still change the payment method at the end.

Page Builder

Page Builder content migration and CSS customization were improved in Magento 2.4.2 edition. Thanks to this, you will get the following enhancements:

• Magento provides the flexibility to customize content based on different viewports without the need for the “!important” directive.
• Transferring content to Page Builder is now effortless, and it no longer relies on default inline styles.
• You have the freedom to arrange content using various options such as columns, rows, tabs, dynamic blocks, HTML code, and blocks.
• Predefined margins and paddings are no longer required to be specified.

For more information about Magento 2.4.2 release notes, you can see the details here.

Magento 2.4.6 - the next version to date:

Magento has released version M2.4.6 with impressive changes including:

Security Improvements

While no confirmed attacks have taken place, it is highly advisable for administrators to take proactive measures to safeguard their administrative accounts. This includes implementing IP allow listing, utilizing a secure VPN connection, enabling two-factor authentication, and maintaining good password hygiene practices. By adopting these protective measures, administrators can enhance the security of their accounts and mitigate potential risks effectively. Platform Improvements: Magento version 2.4.6 introduces key enhancements:

• PHP 8.2 support added, with continued support for PHP 8.1.
• OpenSearch 2.5 tested and recommended, while OpenSearch 1.x is still supported.
• Elasticsearch 8.x integration included.
• Redis 7.0.x recommended as Redis 6.2 will reach end of life in 2024.

Performance & Scalability Enhancements

Magento 2.4.6 enhances performance and scalability with improvements such as limiting products in the grid, increasing import speed, optimizing order processing, and improving operations with 100+ customer segments, resulting in a faster and more efficient eCommerce experience.

GraphQL

In Magento 2.4.6, GraphQL enhancements include faster response times for product queries in categories with permissions, efficient rendering of category trees in stores with numerous categories, quicker response times for bulk cart operations queries, and support for order sorting in customer queries. These enhancements optimize the performance and functionality of GraphQL in Magento 2.4.6.

Braintree Payment Enhancements

Adobe Commerce/Magento 2.4.6 introduces multiple Braintree payment improvements, including displaying the Pay Later button and messages for Italy and Spain, enabling PayPal Vault, and adding Fraud Protection and ACH webhooks.

Improved Accessibility

This version prioritizes enhancing the storefront experience (PWA) by implementing descriptive accessible names, adding verbal descriptive labels to the Has Video search filters, and enabling full-page storefront functionality for keyboard-only users. The recent Magento 2.4.6 release brings significant performance, accessibility, and security improvements, enabling store owners to enhance the shopping experience for customers. It includes updates such as support for PHP 8.2, Redis 7.0, OpenSearch 2.x, ElasticSearch 8.x, and other core code enhancements. Upgrading to this version is highly recommended by Magento for a more robust ecommerce store and improved customer experience. Don’t wait,upgrade today!

The bottom line

Those are all the highlights of the Magento 2.4.2 release. Now is the time to take immediate action.

It’s better to upgrade your eCommerce store to this excellent version today. Don’t waste time overthinking; experience this particular version and make the most of the attractive features it offers you before updating to the version of Magento - version 2.4.2, which was just released in August 2021.

If you are concerned about the risks of upgrading your store to a new version, consider the Magento 2 Upgrade Service by Mageplaza to guarantee safe data and security of your store.

Our Magento uprgade service includes the following:

• Check if your website meets Magento 2 upgrade requirements
• Create and run the upgrade process on a staging site
• Fix errors during the upgrade process
• Deployment to the live site
• Conduct QA tests & bug fixing
• Solve compatibility issues

Only from $399, our Magento uprgade service can help you take your business to the next level!🚀

Upgrade your Magento store now