- Dropped support for `certificates/v1beta1` `CertificateSigningRequest` in `kubectl`. ([#134782](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/134782), [@scaliby](https://github.com/scaliby))
- Dropped support for `discovery/v1beta1` `EndpointSlice` in `kubectl`. ([#134913](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/134913), [@scaliby](https://github.com/scaliby))

- The errors in `k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta` now support for the `stdlibs` `errors.Is` matching, including when wrapped. ([#111808](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/111808), [@alvaroaleman](https://github.com/alvaroaleman))

`(*"k8s.io/client-go/rest".Request).{Do,DoRaw,Stream,Watch}` now require callers to pass a `context.Context` as an argument. The context is used for timeout and cancellation signaling and to pass supplementary information to round trippers in the wrapped transport chain. If you don't need any of this functionality, it is sufficient to pass a context created with `context.Background()` to these functions. The `(*"k8s.io/client-go/rest".Request).Context` method is removed now that all methods that execute...

- Improved CRI handling
  - crictl is no longer required in docker-only setups.
  - Better detection of installed CRI.
  - Better output for image pull errors.
- Improved air-gapped and offline support
  - kubeadm now handles air-gapped environments by using the local client version as a fallback.
  - Some kubeadm commands are now allowed to work in a completely offline mode.
- Certificate handling improvements:

* The `spec.SecurityContext.Sysctls` field is now dropped during creation of `Pod` objects unless the `Sysctls` feature gate is enabled. ([#72752](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/72752), [@rajathagasthya](https://github.com/rajathagasthya))
    * The `spec.AllowedUnsafeSysctls` and `spec.ForbiddenSysctls` fields are now dropped during creation of `PodSecurityPolicy` objects unless the `Sysctls` feature gate is enabled.

    - https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/92250
  
    To address this, the new debian-hyperkube-base image (v1.1.0) uses the
    debian-iptables base image (v12.1.0), which includes iptables-wrapper, a
    script used to determine the correct iptables mode to run in. ([#92494](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/92494), [@justaugustus](https://github.com/justaugustus)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle and Release]

    - https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/92250
  
    To address this, the new debian-hyperkube-base image (v1.1.0) uses the
    debian-iptables base image (v12.1.0), which includes iptables-wrapper, a
    script used to determine the correct iptables mode to run in. ([#92495](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/92495), [@justaugustus](https://github.com/justaugustus)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle and Release]

- In kubelet configuration, the `.memorySwap.swapBehavior` field now accepts a new value `NoSwap`, which becomes the default if unspecified. The previously accepted `UnlimitedSwap` value has been dropped.
   ([#122745](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/122745), [@kannon92](https://github.com/kannon92))

- Fixes a bug where a partial EndpointSlice update could cause node name information to be dropped from endpoints that were not updated. ([#108203](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/108203), [@robscott](https://github.com/robscott)) [SIG Network]

- `apiserver_dropped_requests` is dropped from this release since `apiserver_request_total` can now be used to track dropped requests. `etcd_object_counts` is also removed in favor of `apiserver_storage_objects`. `apiserver_registered_watchers` is also removed in favor of `apiserver_longrunning_requests`. ([#110337](https://git...