diff --git a/Tests/test_imagefont.py b/Tests/test_imagefont.py
index 06ed42658..264c97e48 100644
--- a/Tests/test_imagefont.py
+++ b/Tests/test_imagefont.py
@@ -998,3 +998,15 @@ def test_render_mono_size():
 
     draw.text((10, 10), "r" * 10, "black", ttf)
     assert_image_equal_tofile(im, "Tests/images/text_mono.gif")
+
+
+def test_freetype_deprecation(monkeypatch):
+    # Arrange: mock features.version_module to return fake FreeType version
+    def fake_version_module(module):
+        return "2.7"
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(features, "version_module", fake_version_module)
+
+    # Act / Assert
+    with pytest.warns(DeprecationWarning):
+        ImageFont.truetype(FONT_PATH, FONT_SIZE)
diff --git a/docs/deprecations.rst b/docs/deprecations.rst
index 07d845dd6..36f74a64f 100644
--- a/docs/deprecations.rst
+++ b/docs/deprecations.rst
@@ -12,6 +12,20 @@ Deprecated features
 Below are features which are considered deprecated. Where appropriate,
 a ``DeprecationWarning`` is issued.
 
+FreeType 2.7
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. deprecated:: 8.1.0
+
+Support for FreeType 2.7 is deprecated and will be removed in Pillow 9.0.0 (2022-01-02),
+when FreeType 2.8 will be the minimum supported.
+
+We recommend upgrading to at least FreeType `2.10.4`_, which fixed a severe
+vulnerability introduced in FreeType 2.6 (CVE-2020-15999_).
+
+.. _2.10.4: https://sourceforge.net/projects/freetype/files/freetype2/2.10.4/
+.. _CVE-2020-15999: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-15999
+
 Image.show command parameter
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/docs/releasenotes/8.1.0.rst b/docs/releasenotes/8.1.0.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..819bb30e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/releasenotes/8.1.0.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+8.1.0
+-----
+
+Deprecations
+============
+
+FreeType 2.7
+^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Support for FreeType 2.7 is deprecated and will be removed in Pillow 9.0.0 (2022-01-02),
+when FreeType 2.8 will be the minimum supported.
+
+We recommend upgrading to at least FreeType `2.10.4`_, which fixed a severe
+vulnerability introduced in FreeType 2.6 (:cve:`CVE-2020-15999`).
+
+.. _2.10.4: https://sourceforge.net/projects/freetype/files/freetype2/2.10.4/
+
+API Changes
+===========
+
+TODO
+^^^^
+
+TODO
+
+API Additions
+=============
+
+TODO
+^^^^
+
+TODO
+
+Security
+========
+
+TODO
+
+Other Changes
+=============
+
+TODO
+^^^^
+
+TODO
diff --git a/docs/releasenotes/index.rst b/docs/releasenotes/index.rst
index 5c74bed9b..18d2d9576 100644
--- a/docs/releasenotes/index.rst
+++ b/docs/releasenotes/index.rst
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ expected to be backported to earlier versions.
 .. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 2
 
+  8.1.0
   8.0.1
   8.0.0
   7.2.0
diff --git a/src/PIL/ImageFont.py b/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
index 3a8a309c6..78f8d8cde 100644
--- a/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
+++ b/src/PIL/ImageFont.py
@@ -28,9 +28,12 @@
 import base64
 import os
 import sys
+import warnings
 from io import BytesIO
 
-from . import Image
+from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
+
+from . import Image, features
 from ._util import isDirectory, isPath
 
 LAYOUT_BASIC = 0
@@ -164,6 +167,15 @@ class FreeTypeFont:
         self.index = index
         self.encoding = encoding
 
+        freetype_version = parse_version(features.version_module("freetype2"))
+        if freetype_version < parse_version("2.8"):
+            warnings.warn(
+                "Support for FreeType 2.7 is deprecated and will be removed in Pillow "
+                "9 (2022-01-02). Please upgrade to FreeType 2.8 or newer, preferably "
+                "FreeType 2.10.4 which fixes CVE-2020-15999.",
+                DeprecationWarning,
+            )
+
         if layout_engine not in (LAYOUT_BASIC, LAYOUT_RAQM):
             layout_engine = LAYOUT_BASIC
             if core.HAVE_RAQM: