Which type of software change is intended for rapid deployment to fix critical issues?

A hotfix is a type of software change that is specifically developed for rapid deployment to address critical issues, such as security vulnerabilities or significant bugs that impact functionality, performance, or user experience. The key characteristic of a hotfix is its immediacy; it is often deployed outside the standard update cycle to quickly mitigate a problem that requires immediate attention.

Hotfixes are designed to be lightweight and may not include extensive testing or comprehensive feature updates, as their primary goal is to resolve urgent issues swiftly. This differentiates them from version updates and patches, which might involve more extensive changes or enhancements in addition to fixing issues. A rollback, on the other hand, refers to reverting a system to a previous state, which does not apply to the concept of deploying a fix for immediate problems.