- Simple script based hyperkube image that bundles all the necessary binaries. This is an equivalent replacement for the image based on the go based hyperkube command + image. ([#84662](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/84662), [@dims](https://github.com/dims))

- Bumped `distroless-iptables` to `0.3.2` based on Go `1.21.1`. ([#120527](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120527), [@cpanato](https://github.com/cpanato))
- Bumped `distroless-iptables` to `0.3.3` based on Go `1.21.2`. ([#121073](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/121073), [@cpanato](https://github.com/cpanato))

  * Passed all the Kubernetes 1.7 end-to-end conformance test suites.
  * Verification against Kubernetes 1.8 is planned soon after the release.

* [stable] [frakti](https://github.com/kubernetes/frakti): CRI implementation for hypervisor-based runtimes is now v1.1. [[@feiskyer](https://github.com/feiskyer)]

  `application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf` at a later time.

## Major updates and release themes

* Kubernetes now supports up to 5,000 nodes via etcd v3, which is enabled by default.
* [Role-based access control (RBAC)](https://kubernetes.io//docs/admin/authorization/rbac) has graduated to beta, and defines secure default roles for control plane, node, and controller components.

- With this new stable feature, Kubernetes supports the scaling of containerized applications with Azure VMSS, including the ability to integrate it with cluster-autoscaler to automatically adjust the size of the Kubernetes clusters based on the same conditions.

### SIG-cli

*   Azure-based clusters now support unlimited mount points. ([#54668](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/54668)) ([#53629](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/53629),[ @andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx))

- Added support in the kubelet's image pull credential tracking for service account-based verification. When an image was pulled using service account credentials via external credential providers, subsequent Pods using the same service account (UID, name, and namespace) could access the cached image without re-authentication for the lifetime...

- Fixes a problem with 63-second or 1-second connection delays with some VXLAN-based
  network plugins which was first widely noticed in 1.16 (though some users saw it
  earlier than that, possibly only with specific network plugins). If you were previously

### Other (Cleanup or Flake)

- Bump distroless-iptables to 0.2.8 based on Go 1.20.11 ([#121975](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/121975), [@cpanato](https://github.com/cpanato)) [SIG Testing]

* IPVS proxier mode now support connection based graceful termination. ([#66012](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/66012), [@Lion-Wei](https://github.com/Lion-Wei))