- If a user attempts to add an ephemeral container to a static pod, they will now get a visible validation error. ([#114086](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/114086), [@xmcqueen](https://github.com/xmcqueen))

- `kube-apiserver` added two new metrics `authorization_attempts_total` and `authorization_duration_seconds`
  that allow users to monitor requests to authorization webhooks, split by result. ([#117211](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/117211), [@HirazawaUi](https://github.com/HirazawaUi))

- `dra`: the scheduler plugin now avoids additional scheduling attempts in some cases by falling back to SSA after a conflict. ([#120534](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120534), [@pohly](https://github.com/pohly))

  Jobs created before the feature was enabled are still tracked without finalizers.
  Jobs tracked with finalizers have the annotation batch.kubernetes.io/job-tracking.
  If the annotation is present and the user attempts to remove it, the control plane adds it back.
  The annotation `batch.kubernetes.io/job-tracking` is now deprecated.