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The tube, which I bought in December 2021, says
Batch 21E11
Expiry 05/2023
I'm taking this to mean that it was produced one month before purchase, and at this time still has 15 months before expiry.
I cut an ample hole and, one minute later, squeezed, but it protrudes from the wrong end, as you see in the picture.
What might be the cause of this? Does it mean that it has solidified near the nozzle end?
Did you cut the end, but not poke a hole in the seal down the nozzle at the end of the main tube?
That seems like the most likely reason for the set of things that happened here. Many caulking guns have a pin for the job of piercing that seal built onto them. Otherwise you need a stiff wire or long nail for it.
Most, if not all, caulk guns are equipped with an "opening rod" for breaking the seal in a tube of caulk, silicone, or whatever product you are using.
By leaving that seal intact you have created a situation in which the resistance to exit out the back is less than the front.
Sometimes this rod is too big for your desired tip size so you need to find something thinner which can puncture the seal.
21E11is much more likely to be the 11th week in 2021 (e.g. perhaps batch "E", week 11 of 2021) than it is to be the 11th month in 2021. However, there's nothing that really says that "Batch" number includes a human-readable date code, even though the21tends to lend itself to being interpreted that way (i.e. it's quite likely to be a date code with a batch within the date, but we don't actually know that).