- Fixed a bug in apiserver storage that could cause just-added finalizers to be ignored immediately following a delete request, leading to premature deletion. ([#77619](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/77619), [@caesarxuchao](https://github.com/caesarxuchao))

   * separate method to make it somewhat more likely to be unreachable.
   */
  private static void createUnreachableLatchFinalizer(CountDownLatch latch) {
    Object unused =
        new Object() {
          @SuppressWarnings({"removal", "Finalize"}) // b/260137033
          @Override
          protected void finalize() {
            latch.countDown();

- Fix job tracking with finalizers for more than 500 pods, ensuring all finalizers are removed before counting the Pod. ([#104666](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/104666), [@alculquicondor](https://github.com/alculquicondor))

* Fixed controller manager crash by making it tolerant to discovery errors.([#49767](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/49767), [@deads2k](https://github.com/deads2k))

* When a namespace is being deleted and spec.finalizers are still being processed, stop returning a 409 conflict error and instead return the object as we would during metadata.finalizer processing. ([#84122](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/84122), [@smarterclayton](https://github.com/smarterclayton))

- Fixes a bug where Services using finalizers may hold onto ClusterIP and/or NodePort allocated resources for longer than expected if the finalizer is removed using the status subresource ([#120654](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120654), [@aojea](https://github.com/aojea)) [SIG Testing]

    GcFinalization.awaitClear(finalizableWeakReference);

    Field sepFrqUserFinalizedF = sepFrqUserC.getField("finalized");
    Semaphore finalizeCount = (Semaphore) sepFrqUserFinalizedF.get(null);
    boolean finalized = finalizeCount.tryAcquire(5, SECONDS);
    assertTrue(finalized);

    Field sepFrqUserFrqF = sepFrqUserC.getField("frq");
    Closeable frq = (Closeable) sepFrqUserFrqF.get(null);
    frq.close();

* The OwnerReferencesPermissionEnforcement admission plugin now requires `update` permission on the `finalizers` subresource of the referenced owner in order to set `blockOwnerDeletion` on an owner reference. ([#49133](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/49133), [@deads2k](https://github.com/deads2k))

- Only declare Job as finished after removing all Pod finalizers to avoid orphan Pods ([#119160](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/119160), [@alculquicondor](https://github.com/alculquicondor)) [SIG Apps and Testing]

* Fix for [failure to delete federation controllers with finalizers](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/43828). ([#44084](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/44084), [@nikhiljindal](https://github.com/nikhiljindal))