- Cleanup subnet in frontend IP configs to prevent huge subnet request bodies in some scenarios. ([#98290](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/98290), [@nilo19](https://github.com/nilo19)) [SIG Cloud Provider]

### Bug or Regression

- An inefficient lock in EndpointSlice controller metrics cache has been reworked. Network programming latency may be significantly reduced in certain scenarios, especially in clusters with a large number of Services. ([#107169](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/107169), [@robscott](https://github.com/robscott)) [SIG Apps and Network]

- QueueingHint implementation for NodeAffinity is reverted because we found potential scenarios where events that make Pods schedulable could be missed. ([#122285](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/122285), [@sanposhiho](https://github.com/sanposhiho)) [SIG Scheduling]

                th.close();
            } else {
                // Let connection pooling handle cleanup - this improves performance
                // for scenarios where the same file or directory is accessed multiple times
                log.trace("Tree handle released to connection pool for reuse");
                // The connection pool will handle cleanup based on its own timeout settings

- QueueingHint implementation for NodeAffinity is reverted because we found potential scenarios where events that make Pods schedulable could be missed. ([#122327](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/122327), [@sanposhiho](https://github.com/sanposhiho)) [SIG Scheduling]

    deletion of the Node object, deletion of the instance in the cloud provider,
    or force deletion of the pod from the api-server).
    This helps prevent "split brain" scenarios in clustered applications by
    ensuring that unreachable pods will not be presumed dead unless some
    "fencing" operation has provided one of the above indications.

    void testIsTrustedDomain_DfsDisabled() throws SmbAuthException {
        // Scenario: DFS is disabled in the configuration.
        when(mockConfig.isDfsDisabled()).thenReturn(true);
        assertFalse(dfsImpl.isTrustedDomain(mockContext, "anydomain.com"));
    }

    @Test
    void testIsTrustedDomain_NoUserDomain() throws SmbAuthException {
        // Scenario: The user credentials do not specify a domain.

     * Tests that <code>a:2.0</code> wins in the scenario:
     * <pre>
     * a:1.0
     * a:2.0
     * </pre>
     */
    @Test
    void testEqual() {
        ResolutionNode a1n = createResolutionNode(a1);
        ResolutionNode a2n = createResolutionNode(a2);

        assertResolveConflict(a2n, a1n, a2n);
    }

    /**
     * Tests that <code>a:2.0</code> wins in the scenario:
     * <pre>
     * a:2.0
     * a:1.0

- DRA kubelet: Fixed the kubelet to also clean up `ResourceSlices` in some additional failure scenarios (driver was removed forcibly or crashed and did not restart). ([#132058](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/132058), [@pohly](https://github.com/pohly)) [SIG Node and Testing]

     * Tests that <code>a:1.0</code> wins in the scenario:
     * <pre>
     * a:1.0
     * a:2.0
     * </pre>
     */
    @Test
    void testEqual() {
        ResolutionNode a1n = createResolutionNode(a1);
        ResolutionNode a2n = createResolutionNode(a2);

        assertResolveConflict(a1n, a1n, a2n);
    }

    /**
     * Tests that <code>a:2.0</code> wins in the scenario:
     * <pre>
     * a:2.0
     * a:1.0