- From now on, the HPA controller will return an error for the container resource metrics when the feature gate "HPAContainerMetrics" is disabled. As a result, HPA with a container resource metric performs no scale-down and performs only scale-up based on other metrics. ([#116043](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/116043), [@sanposhiho](https://github.com/sanposhiho)) [SIG API Machinery, Apps and Autoscaling]

``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR

- Fix panic if there are more terminating pods than active pods ([#122267](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/122267), [@kannon92](https://github.com/kannon92)) [SIG Apps]
- Fix: statle smb mount issue when smb file share is deleted and then unmount ([#121851](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/121851), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx)) [SIG Storage]
- Fixed a regression since 1.27.0 in scheduler framework when running score plugins. 

- Fixed some invalid and unimportant log calls. ([#121249](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/121249), [@pohly](https://github.com/pohly)) [SIG Cloud Provider, Cluster Lifecycle and Testing]
- Fixed stale SMB mount issue when SMB file share is deleted and then unmounted. ([#121851](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/121851), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx))