- The kubelet now creates an iptables chain named `KUBE-IPTABLES-HINT` in
  the `mangle` table. Containerized components that need to modify iptables
  rules in the host network namespace can use the existence of this chain
  to more-reliably determine whether the system is using iptables-legacy or
  iptables-nft. ([#109059](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/109059), [@danwinship](https://github.com/danwinship))

- Kubeadm: allow the "certs check-expiration" command to not require the existence of the cluster CA key (ca.key file) when checking the expiration of managed certificates in kubeconfig files. ([#106929](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/106929), [@neolit123](https://github.com/neolit123)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle]

- `kubectl rollout undo` now returns errors when attempting to rollback a deployment to a non-existent revision ([#70039](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/70039), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt))

- kubeadm: removed preflight check for existence of the conntrack binary, as conntrack is no longer a kube-proxy dependency in version 1.32 and newer. ([#126953](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/126953), [@aroradaman](https://github.com/aroradaman))

hastily, just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether.

`That WAS a narrow escape!' said Alice, a good deal frightened at
the sudden change, but very glad to find herself still in
existence; `and now for the garden!' and she ran with all speed
back to the little door:  but, alas! the little door was shut
again, and the little golden key was lying on the glass table as

- CloudNodeLifecycleController will check node existence status before shutdown status when monitoring nodes. ([#90737](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/90737), [@jiahuif](https://github.com/jiahuif)) [SIG Apps and Cloud Provider]

    * This result into:
    * - 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)

- Fixed bug that caused a resource to include patch directives when using strategic merge patch against a non-existent field. ([#117568](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/117568), [@alexzielenski](https://github.com/alexzielenski))

- Fixed a bug in the scheduler where it would crash when prefilter returns a non-existent node. ([#124933](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/124933), [@AxeZhan](https://github.com/AxeZhan)) [SIG Scheduling and Testing]
- Fixed a bug that Pods could stuck in the unschedulable pod pool 

* kubeadm: Fix a bug on some OSes where the kubelet tried to mount a volume path that is non-existent and on a read-only filesystem  ([#55320](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/55320), [@andrewrynhard](https://github.com/andrewrynhard))