- `kubeproxy_conntrack_reconciler_deleted_entries_total` metric can be used to track cumulative sum of conntrack flows cleared by reconciler. ([#130204](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/130204), [@aroradaman](https://github.com/aroradaman))

- Updated CNI plugins to v1.7.1 ([#131602](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/131602), [@adrianmoisey](https://github.com/adrianmoisey)) [SIG Cloud Provider, Node and Testing]
- Updated `conntrack` reconciler to consider a Service’s target port during cleanup of stale flow entries. ([#130542](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/130542), [@aroradaman](https://github.com/aroradaman))

- New staging repo has been created for the `EndpointSlice` reconciler. ([#118953](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/118953), [@mskrocki](https://github.com/mskrocki))

    * - clusters moving from IPv4 to duakstack will require no changes
    * - clusters moving from IPv6 (while not seen in the wild, we can not rule out their existence) to dualstack will require deleting backend pools (the reconciler will take care of creating correct backendpools)
* Promotes VolumePVCDataSource (Cloning) feature to beta for 1.16 release  ([#81792](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/81792), [@j-griffith](https://github.com/j-griffith))

- Fix endpoint reconciler not being able to delete the apiserver lease on shutdown ([#114137](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/114137), [@aojea](https://github.com/aojea)) [SIG API Machinery]

## Changelog since v1.26.0-rc.0

## Changes by Kind

### Bug or Regression

- Fix endpoint reconciler not being able to delete the apiserver lease on shutdown ([#114122](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/114122), [@aojea](https://github.com/aojea)) [SIG API Machinery]

   ([#123273](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/123273), [@mimowo](https://github.com/mimowo))
- Added alpha-level support for the SuccessPolicy in Jobs.

- kube-proxy now reconciles Service/Endpoint changes with conntrack table and cleans up only stale UDP flow entries ([#127318](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/127318), [@aroradaman](https://github.com/aroradaman)) [SIG Network and Windows]

- Updated `etcd` to `v3.6.5`. ([#134251](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/134251), [@joshjms](https://github.com/joshjms)) [SIG API Machinery, Cloud Provider, Cluster Lifecycle, Etcd and Testing]
- Updated `kubectl auth reconcile` to retry reconciliation when a conflict error occurs. ([#133323](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/133323), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt)) [SIG Auth and CLI]

  commands apply to uninitialized objects. See the
  [initializer documentation](https://kubernetes.io/docs/admin/extensible-admission-controllers/) for more details.

- Added RBAC reconcile commands with `kubectl auth reconcile -f FILE`. When
  passed a file which contains RBAC roles, rolebindings, clusterroles, or
  clusterrolebindings, this command computes covers and adds the missing rules.