* Update the GCE windows node image to include hot fixes since July. ([#81233](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/81233), [@YangLu1031](https://github.com/YangLu1031))
* switch to VM Update call in attach/detach disk operation, original CreateOrUpdate call may lead to orphaned VMs or blocked resources ([#81208](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/81208), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx))

provisioned PVs, if its volume source is CSI type or it has migrated annotation, when it's deleted, the PersisentVolume controller won't changes its phase to the Failed state. 
  
  With this patch, the external provisioner can remove the finalizer in next reconcile loop. Unfortunately if the provious existing pv has the Failed state, this patch won't take effort. It requires users to remove finalizer. ([#125767](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/125767), [@carlory](https:/...

  Similarly you can also access  kubelet's `/pods` endpoint to fetch a list of Pods bound to that node by granting the caller `nodes/pods` permission in RBAC.
  Similarly you can also access kubelet's `/configz` endpoint to fetch kubelet's configuration by granting the caller `nodes/configz` permission in RBAC.

- Fixed two regressions introduced by the PodDisruptionConditions feature (on by default in 1.26):
  - pod eviction API calls returned spurious precondition errors and required a second evict API call to succeed

### Bug or Regression

- Currently, NodeAdded QueueingHint could not always be called because of the internal feature called preCheck.
  It's definitely not something expected for plugin developers,
  and we're trying to eventually remove preCheck completely to fix this.

  - The disk-cached discovery client is moved from k8s.io/client-go/discovery to k8s.io/client-go/discovery/cached/disk.
The memory-cached discovery client is moved from k8s.io/client-go/discovery/cached to k8s.io/client-go/discovery/cached/memory.
([#72214](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/72214), [@caesarxuchao](https://github.com/caesarxuchao))

- Fixed two regressions introduced by the `PodDisruptionConditions` feature (on by default in 1.26):
  - pod eviction API calls returned spurious precondition errors and required a second evict API call to succeed

- Fix a data race in authentication between AuthenticatedGroupAdder and cached token authenticator. ([#109969](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/109969), [@sttts](https://github.com/sttts)) [SIG API Machinery and Auth]

### Bug or Regression

- Fix the regression that introduced 34s timeout for DELETECOLLECTION calls ([#115482](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/115482), [@tkashem](https://github.com/tkashem)) [SIG API Machinery]

  - Speed up binpacking by reducing the number of PreFilter calls (call once per pod instead of #pods*#nodes times)
  - Speed up finding unneeded nodes by 5x+ in very large clusters by reducing the number of PreFilter calls
  - Expose `--max-nodes-total` as a metric
  - Errors in `IncreaseSize` changed from type `apiError` to `cloudProviderError`