* the loop to correctly handle acquiring the write lock with deferred
    * unlock to run at that function's completion, following the normal
    * golang lock/deferred-unlock pattern.
* Avoid creating new controller revisions for statefulsets when cache is stale ([#67039](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/67039), [@mortent](https://github.com/mortent))

- Fix a bug that `--disabled-metrics` doesn't function well. (#106391, @Huang-Wei) [SIG API Machinery, Cluster Lifecycle and Instrumentation]
- Fix a panic in kubectl when creating secrets with an improper output type (#106354, @lauchokyip) [SIG CLI]
- Fix concurrent map access causing panics when logging timed-out API calls. (#106113, @marseel) [SIG API Machinery]

* fix incorrect error info when creating an azure file PVC failed ([#56550](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/56550), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx))
* Retry 'connection refused' errors when setting up clusters on GCE. ([#57394](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/57394), [@mborsz](https://github.com/mborsz))

- Callers of `wait.ExponentialBackoffWithContext` now must pass a `ConditionWithContextFunc` to be consistent with the signature and avoid creating a duplicate context. If your condition does not need a context you can use the `ConditionFunc.WithContext()` helper to ignore the context, or use `ExponentialBackoff` directly. ([#115113](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/115113), [@...

### SIG Apps

- The service controller will now retry creating the load balancer when `persistUpdate` fails due to conflict. ([#68087](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/68087), [@grayluck](https://github.com/grayluck))

* Allow kubernetes components to react to SIGTERM signal and shutdown gracefully. ([#57756](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/57756), [@mborsz](https://github.com/mborsz))
* fix incorrect error info when creating an azure file PVC failed ([#56550](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/56550), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx))

- Fixed kubelet creating extra sandbox for pods with RestartPolicyOnFailure after all containers succeeded ([#92614](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/92614), [@tnqn](https://github.com/tnqn)) [SIG Node and Testing]

- Fix: resize Azure disk issue when it's in attached state ([#96705](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/96705), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx)) [SIG Cloud Provider]
- Fixed kubelet creating extra sandbox for pods with RestartPolicyOnFailure after all containers succeeded ([#92614](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/92614), [@tnqn](https://github.com/tnqn)) [SIG Node and Testing]

* Support configuring the Azure load balancer idle connection timeout for services ([#66045](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/66045), [@cpuguy83](https://github.com/cpuguy83))
* Let service controller retry creating load balancer when persistUpdate failed due to conflict. ([#68087](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/68087), [@grayluck](https://github.com/grayluck))

- kubeadm has graduated `kubeadm alpha phase` commands to `kubeadm init phase`. This means that the phases of creating a control-plane node are now tightly integrated as part of the `init` command. Alpha features, not yet ready for GA are still kept under `kubeadm alpha` and we appreciate feedback on them.