- Replaced deprecated package `k8s.io/utils/pointer` with `k8s.io/utils/ptr` for the apiextensions-apiserver apiextensions. ([#132723](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/132723), [@PatrickLaabs](https://github.com/PatrickLaabs))

func StringData(str string) *byte
</pre>

<p>
A <code>Pointer</code> is a <a href="#Pointer_types">pointer type</a> but a <code>Pointer</code>
value may not be <a href="#Address_operators">dereferenced</a>.
Any pointer or value of <a href="#Underlying_types">underlying type</a> <code>uintptr</code> can be
<a href="#Conversions">converted</a> to a type of underlying type <code>Pointer</code> and vice versa.

### Cluster Lifecycle

- kubeadm: fixed nil pointer dereference caused by a bug in url parsing ([#74454](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/74454), [@bart0sh](https://github.com/bart0sh))

- Added new option to the `InterPodAffinity` scheduler plugin to ignore existing
  pods` preferred inter-pod affinities if the incoming pod has no preferred inter-pod
  affinities. This option can be used as an optimization for higher scheduling throughput
  (at the cost of an occasional pod being scheduled non-optimally/violating existing
  pods preferred inter-pod affinities). To enable this scheduler option, set the

* Added bool type support for jsonpath. ([#39063](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/39063), [@xingzhou](https://github.com/xingzhou))
* Preventing nil pointer reference in client_config ([#40508](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/40508), [@vjsamuel](https://github.com/vjsamuel))

- Fix missing "apiVersion" for "involvedObject" in Events for Nodes. ([#87537](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/87537), [@uthark](https://github.com/uthark)) [SIG Apps and Node]
- Fix nil pointer dereference in azure cloud provider ([#85975](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/85975), [@ldx](https://github.com/ldx)) [SIG Cloud Provider]

## Changelog since v1.12.5

### Other notable changes

* kubeadm: fixed nil pointer dereference caused by a bug in url parsing ([#74454](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/74454), [@bart0sh](https://github.com/bart0sh))

### Other notable changes

* Fixed a regression where the kubelet would fail to update the ready status of pods. ([#86191](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/86191), [@tedyu](https://github.com/tedyu))
* Fix nil pointer dereference in azure cloud provider ([#85975](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/85975), [@ldx](https://github.com/ldx))

* fix parse devicePath issue on Azure Disk ([#74499](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/74499), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx))
* kubeadm: fixed nil pointer dereference caused by a bug in url parsing ([#74454](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/74454), [@bart0sh](https://github.com/bart0sh))

- Ignore context canceled from validate and mutate webhook ([#120019](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120019), [@divyasri537](https://github.com/divyasri537)) [SIG API Machinery]
- Kubeadm: fix nil pointer when etcd member is already removed ([#120012](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120012), [@neolit123](https://github.com/neolit123)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle]

### Other (Cleanup or Flake)