GKE release notes

This page documents production updates to Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). You can periodically check this page for announcements about new or updated features, bug fixes, known issues, and deprecated functionality.

This page includes release notes for all channels and releases.

Current versions

The following table lists the current versions for each release channel. To learn more about the designations in this table, see What versions are available in a channel. For general information on versioning and upgrades, see GKE versioning and support and About GKE cluster upgrades.

GKE Release Channel Rapid Regular Stable Extended No Channel (deprecated)
Available minor versions 1.34 to 1.37 1.34 to 1.36 1.34 to 1.35 1.31 to 1.36 1.34 to 1.36
Recommended auto-upgrade target 1.36.4-gke.1082000 1.35.7-gke.1222000 1.34.9-gke.1655001 1.32.13-gke.2268000 1.34.9-gke.1655001
Auto-upgrade targets
  • 1.34.11-gke.1044000
  • 1.35.8-gke.1225000
  • 1.36.4-gke.1082000
  • 1.37.0-gke.2941000
  • 1.34.10-gke.1236000
  • 1.35.7-gke.1222000
  • 1.36.3-gke.1640000
  • 1.34.9-gke.1655001
  • 1.35.6-gke.1250000
  • 1.31.14-gke.2579000
  • 1.32.13-gke.2268000
  • 1.33.13-gke.1329000
  • 1.34.10-gke.1236000
  • 1.35.7-gke.1222000
  • 1.36.3-gke.1640000
  • 1.34.9-gke.1655001
  • 1.35.7-gke.1222000
  • 1.36.3-gke.1640000
Default patch version for cluster creation 1.36.4-gke.1082000 1.35.7-gke.1222000 1.35.6-gke.1250000 1.35.7-gke.1222000 1.35.7-gke.1222000
COS version of default patch version cos-129-19506-299-161 cos-125-19216-532-62 cos-125-19216-395-109 cos-125-19216-532-62 cos-125-19216-532-62

For information on the current minor versions rollout and support schedule, see the GKE release schedule. To find all the patch versions available in a channel, check available and default versions.

This table also lists the Container-Optimized OS version that corresponds to the channel's default patch version. To upgrade a cluster to a specific image version, see Map Container-Optimized OS node image versions to GKE patch versions.

Other resources

For more detailed information about security-related known issues, see the security bulletin page.

To view release notes for versions prior to 2020, see the Release notes archive.

You can see the latest product updates for all of Google Cloud on the Google Cloud page, browse and filter all release notes in the Google Cloud console, or programmatically access release notes in BigQuery.

To get the latest product updates delivered to you, add the URL of this page to your feed reader, or add the feed URL directly.

September 08, 2026

Change

(2026-R38) Version updates

GKE cluster versions have been updated.

New versions available for upgrades and new clusters.

The following versions are now available for new GKE clusters, and for manual control plane upgrades and node upgrades for existing clusters. For more information about versioning and upgrades, see GKE versioning and support and About GKE cluster upgrades.

Rapid channel

Regular channel

  • Version 1.35.7-gke.1222000 is now the default version for cluster creation in the Regular channel.
  • The following versions are now available in the Regular channel:
  • The following versions are no longer available in the Regular channel:
    • 1.34.10-gke.1106000
    • 1.35.7-gke.1150000
    • 1.36.3-gke.1537000 is deprecated in the Regular channel. This version will be removed in 90 days, or at the end of support, if sooner.
  • Clusters in this channel running the listed minor version have new general auto-upgrade targets. GKE can upgrade control planes and nodes to the following new versions with this release:

Stable channel

  • Version 1.34.10-gke.1106000 is now available in the Stable channel.
  • Version 1.34.10-gke.1079000 is deprecated in the Stable channel. This version will be removed in 90 days, or at the end of support, if sooner.

Extended channel

  • Version 1.35.7-gke.1222000 is now the default version for cluster creation in the Extended channel.
  • The following versions are now available in the Extended channel:
  • The following versions are no longer available in the Extended channel:
    • 1.31.14-gke.2667000 is deprecated in the Extended channel. This version will be removed in 90 days, or at the end of support, if sooner.
    • 1.32.13-gke.2393000 is deprecated in the Extended channel. This version will be removed in 90 days, or at the end of support, if sooner.
    • 1.33.13-gke.1613000 is deprecated in the Extended channel. This version will be removed in 90 days, or at the end of support, if sooner.
    • 1.34.10-gke.1106000
    • 1.35.7-gke.1150000
    • 1.36.3-gke.1537000 is deprecated in the Extended channel. This version will be removed in 90 days, or at the end of support, if sooner.
  • Clusters in this channel running the listed minor version have new general auto-upgrade targets. GKE can upgrade control planes and nodes to the following new versions with this release:

No channel (deprecated)
Security

(2026-R38) Security updates

This release includes new GKE versions that use updated Container-Optimized OS images. These updated images are cumulative, incorporating security fixes from all Container-Optimized OS versions released since the previous GKE release.

To identify the specific vulnerabilities that were resolved in each updated Container-Optimized OS image, see the Security release notes for that image. The following table includes links to the release notes for each updated Container-Optimized OS image:

GKE version Container-Optimized OS version Details
1.31.14-gke.2689000 cos-117-18613-731-2 cos-117-18613-731-2 release notes
1.36.4-gke.1247000 cos-129-19506-448-8 cos-129-19506-448-8 release notes
1.37.0-gke.3165000 cos-129-19506-299-82 cos-129-19506-299-82 release notes

September 04, 2026

Announcement

Kubernetes 1.37 is available

Kubernetes 1.37 is now available in the Rapid channel. For more information about the content of Kubernetes 1.37, read the Kubernetes 1.37 Release Notes and Kubernetes 1.37 Release Blog.

Deprecated

Removed in 1.37

Feature

New features in 1.37

Change

Other changes in 1.37

  • Starting with GKE version 1.37.0-gke.2100000, newly created clusters default to using control plane node creation, which improves cluster security by having the control plane manage node registration instead of kubelet self-registration. Existing clusters are not affected. If your workloads require legacy kubelet self-registration, you can opt out during cluster creation by specifying --node-creation-mode=KUBELET. For more information, see Disable control plane node creation.
  • In version 1.37 and later, newly created node pools use an improved formula to calculate the default system reservation for CPU and memory resources on each node. This updated reservation algorithm reduces the system memory reservation by 10% to 15% when compared to the algorithm that's used in version 1.36 and earlier.
  • The updated default reservation algorithm applies only to new node pools that are created on version 1.37 and later. Existing node pools that you upgrade to 1.37 or later from version 1.36 or earlier don't use the updated algorithm.
  • Additionally, any new or existing node pool that runs GKE version 1.37 and later can modify the amount of CPU and memory that's reserved for system workloads in node pools by using the reservedResourcesConfig option in the node system configuration file.

September 03, 2026

Feature

GKE support for using the c3-standard-*-lssd machine types as Confidential GKE Nodes with Intel TDX is generally available. For more information, see the following: