Kubernetes February 2026 Patch Releases: v1.35.1, v1.34.4, v1.33.8, and v1.32.12

The Kubernetes project has shipped its February 2026 round of patch releases, issuing updates across all active minor version branches simultaneously. The four releases — v1.35.1, v1.34.4, v1.33.8, and v1.32.12 — follow the project's standard monthly patch cadence and deliver security and stability fixes backported from the main development branch.

What Is Covered

Each patch release addresses bug fixes and security issues applicable to its respective branch. The Kubernetes security team evaluates fixes based on severity and feasibility of backport, with security-related patches prioritized across all supported branches. Cluster operators running any of these minor versions should plan upgrades to the corresponding patch release.

Version Lifecycle Notes

Kubernetes maintains an N-2 support policy, meaning the three most recent minor releases receive security and bug fixes. With the February patch cycle, the supported branches are:

• v1.35 — Current stable minor version
• v1.34 — Previous stable minor version
• v1.33 — Oldest actively supported minor version
• v1.32 — Entered maintenance mode on December 28, 2025, with an End of Life date of February 28, 2026

Notably, v1.32.12 is among the final patch releases for the 1.32 branch, which reaches end-of-life at the end of February 2026. Operators still running Kubernetes 1.32 should treat this month as a hard deadline for upgrading to a supported version.

How to Upgrade

Kubernetes patch releases are available via the standard channels: the official GitHub releases page under kubernetes/kubernetes, managed Kubernetes distributions (EKS, AKS, GKE), and tools such as kubeadm, k3s, and RKE2. For self-managed clusters, upgrading control plane nodes before worker nodes remains the recommended sequence. Full changelogs are published on the Kubernetes releases page at kubernetes.io/releases.