* Requests with the query parameter `?watch=` are treated by the API server as a request to watch, but authorization and metrics were not correctly identifying those as watch requests, instead grouping them as list calls. ([#48583](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/48583), [@smarterclayton](https://github.com/smarterclayton))

- Commands like `kubectl apply` now return errors if schema-invalid annotations are specified, rather than silently dropping the entire annotations section. ([#83552](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/83552), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt))

- Fixed a race condition in `kube-proxy` when using LocalModeNodeCIDR, to avoid dropping Services traffic if the object node is recreated when `kube-proxy` is starting. ([#118499](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/118499), [@aojea](https://github.com/aojea))

* Implement graceful shutdown of the kube-apiserver by waiting for open connections to finish before exiting. Moreover, the audit backend will stop dropping events on shutdown. ([#53695](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/53695), [@hzxuzhonghu](https://github.com/hzxuzhonghu))

- The metrics `etcd_request_duration_seconds` and `etcd_bookmark_counts` now differentiate by group resource instead of object type, allowing unique entries per `CustomResourceDefinition`, instead of grouping them all under `*unstructured.Unstructured`. ([#112042](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/112042), [@ncdc](https://github.com/ncdc))

PodReady++ feature now has `kubectl` CLI support.

Progress was made towards finalizing the IPv6 dual stack support KEP and support for topological routing of services.

### SIG Node

* Added a new `kubeadm upgrade node config` command. ([#64624](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/64624), [@luxas](https://github.com/luxas))
* kubeadm now makes the CoreDNS container more secure by dropping (root) capabilities and improves the integrity of the container by running the whole container in read-only.  ([#64473](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/64473), [@nberlee](https://github.com/nberlee))

### Other notable changes

* AWS: Fix problems with >2 security groups ([#23340](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/23340), [@justinsb](https://github.com/justinsb))
* IngressTLS: allow secretName to be blank for SNI routing ([#23500](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/23500), [@tam7t](https://github.com/tam7t))
* Heapster patch release to 1.0.2 ([#23487](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/23487), [@piosz](https://github.com/piosz))

- Improved memory usage of `kube-scheduler` by dropping the `.metadata.managedFields` field that `kube-scheduler` doesn't require. ([#119556](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/119556), [@linxiulei](https://github.com/linxiulei))

* Create a new Deployment in kube-system for every version. ([#23512](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/23512), [@Q-Lee](https://github.com/Q-Lee))
* IngressTLS: allow secretName to be blank for SNI routing ([#23500](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/23500), [@tam7t](https://github.com/tam7t))