Release notes

• Feb. 2026

  • deprecated

    Kubernetes version 1.32 is getting deprecated in SKE

    20. Feb. 2026

    The Kubernetes version 1.32 reaches its EOL on the 28th of February 2026.

    This version will be removed from SKE on the 15th of April 2026 8AM (UTC). All clusters that are still using 1.32 will be upgraded to 1.33 in the specified maintenance time window of your cluster, starting with the removal date.

    Therefore, this update will roll the nodes of your cluster in the next maintenance window of this day, if your cluster is still on version 1.32.

    In order to keep your cluster up-to-date, we will synchronize the version lifecycle with the upstream Kubernetes lifecycle. Therefore, we will expire future Kubernetes versions on the patchday prior the End-of-Life (EOL) dates with Kubernetes. Please refer to the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine Documentation or the official Release Announcements of Kubernetes.

    For detailed information, refer to:

    • Official release announcements
    • STACKIT Kubernetes Engine Documentation

    Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

• Dez. 2025

  • announcement

    SKE patchday Q1 2026 – containerd v2 upgrade

    19. Dez. 2025

    We are introducing Flatcar OS versions with the new containerd 2.0 runtime in STACKIT Kubernetes Engine. containerd 2.0 is a major milestone that improves performance and reduces technical debt. It removes support for some deprecated features, you can find detailed information here

    To ensure a smooth transition, we have extended the support for OS versions with containerd 1.7.

    There are currently two preview OS versions of flatcar available:

    • 4459.2.1 (containerd 2.0)
    • 4230.2.4 (containerd 1.7)

    Key Dates:

    • From today onwards: Flatcar 4459.2.3 is available for all SKE users.
    • Jan 14, 2026: Flatcar 4230.2.4 becomes the supported OS version.
    • Feb 11, 2026: Flatcar 4459.2.x (containerd 2.0) becomes the supported OS version and Flatcar 4230.2.4 (containerd 1.7) will be deprecated. If you have auto updates enabled, your Kubernetes worker nodes will automatically update to this version
    • March 11, 2026: Flatcar 4459.2.x becomes the supported version and all flatcar versions with containerd 1.7 will be removed. The regular SKE patchday cycle continues. You can find all information regarding version updates in SKE here.

    OS versions with containerd 1.7 will remain available until March 2026 for sufficient evaluation time.

    What you need to do

    Please test your SKE workload beforehand using Flatcar version 4459.2.x. Testing is highly recommended to ensure your container images and configurations are compatible with the new runtime. If you encounter problems during the migration, please contact us directly via support.stackit.cloud.

  • announcement

    New Kubernetes version (1.34) available for your SKE cluster

    16. Dez. 2025

    We now support Kubernetes in the version 1.34.

    For more feature and change details refer to the Kubernetes release page or official release notes.

    The documentation how to manually apply minor or patch version updates can be found in the official STACKIT Kubernetes documentation. You can find additional information to our release process here.

    Please be aware that SKE will align with the official End of Life for Kubernetes versions. Therefore, version 1.34 will be fully supported until the 27th of October 2026.

    On the flip side, Kubernetes version 1.31 has reached the end of its official maintenance support. Therefore, this version will be removed from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We will automatically update all clusters running with Kubernetes version 1.31 to 1.32 on 28th of January 2026.

    Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

• Nov. 2025

  • announcement

    Personalized email address included in SKE Kubeconfigs

    3. Nov. 2025

    We would like to inform you that the API of the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) will now include the email address of the user when requesting a Kubeconfig. As before, the Kubeconfig continues to grant admin rights within the corresponding cluster.

    Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

  • announcement

    Separation of Compute and Licensing (SKU Split) for Windows Server, RHEL, and Confidential Kubernetes

    3. Nov. 2025

    Starting from 01 December 2025, STACKIT will introduce an updated billing structure for Windows Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and Confidential Kubernetes.

    Previously, these services were billed as a combined product (Compute + License). Going forward, compute resources and operating system or service licenses will be billed separately, providing greater transparency and traceability across all workloads.

    This change applies to both new and existing instances of the mentioned products. The respective pricing and SKU details are reflected in the updated service certificates.

    Further information can be found in the updated Service Certificates for

    • STACKIT Windows Server Service Certificate
    • STACKIT Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    • STACKIT Confidential Kubernetes

    Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

• Aug. 2025

  • announcement

    Support of Kubernetes Version 1.33 and Deprecation of Kubernetes Version 1.30

    13. Aug. 2025

    We now support Kubernetes version 1.33.

    You can find documentation on how to manually apply minor or patch version updates in the official STACKIT Kubernetes Engine Documentation. For more information about our release management process, you can find them here.

    Important: With Kubernetes 1.33 there will be a new deny-all NetworkPolicy introduced, which blocks Network Traffic in the namespace kube-system. If there is custom workload in the namespace, please apply additional NetworkPolicies for Ingress and Egress.

    Additionally, please note that Kubernetes version 1.30 has reached the end of its official support and will be removed from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). On September 17, 2025, all SKE clusters running Kubernetes version 1.30 will be automatically migrated to Kubernetes version 1.31.

    Our Help Center is always at your disposal if you have any questions.

• Juli 2025

  • announcement

    New Kubernetes Version (1.33) available as Preview for your SKE Cluster

    29. Juli 2025

    From 29.07.2025 we can offer you a new Kubernetes version (1.33) as a preview for your STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) Cluster.

    This new version offers you the possibility to benefit from the latest Kubernetes features and improvements.

• Mai 2025

  • announcement

    New Kubernetes version (1.31) available for your SKE cluster

    21. Mai 2025

    We now support Kubernetes in the version 1.31.

    This release consists of 45 enhancements: 11 enhancements have graduated to stable, 22 enhancements are moving to beta, and 12 enhancements are entering alpha. For more details refer to the official release announcement or official release notes.

    The documentation how to manually apply minor or patch version updates can be found in the official STACKIT Kubernetes documentation. You can find additional information to our release process here.

    Please be aware that SKE will align with the official End of Life for Kubernetes versions. Therefore, version 1.31 will be fully supported until the 28th of October 2025.

    On the flip side, Kubernetes version 1.28 has reached the end of its official maintenance support. Therefore, this version will be removed from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We will automatically update all clusters running with Kubernetes version 1.28 to 1.29 on 26th of February 2025.

  • announcement

    STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): New Resource Reservations

    21. Mai 2025

    To ensure the stability of your Kubernetes clusters, SKE reserves resources on all nodes of the cluster to provide memory and CPU for system components. The amount of reserved resources varies depending on the size of the respective nodes.

    New Kubernetes clusters created from 21.07.2025 will have changes in their available resources. We will adjust the amount of reserved resources by SKE and utilize the calculation as described below.

    Memory reservations

    For memory resources, SKE reserves the following:

    • 25% of the first 4 GiB of memory
    • 20% of the next 4 GiB of memory
    • 10% of the next 8 GiB of memory
    • 6% of the next 112 GiB of memory
    • 2% of any memory above 128 GiB
    • SKE also reserves an additional 100 MiB of memory on every node to handle Pod eviction.

    CPU reservations

    For CPU resources, SKE reserves the following:

    • 3.5% of the first 2 cores
    • 0.5% of the next 2 cores
    • 0.25% of any cores above 4 cores

    Existing Kubernetes clusters will (currently) remain unchanged in their available resources and will be adjusted on 22.07.2025. Thus, a node roll will be triggered on the next given maintenance window of the cluster.

    More information can be found in the SKE documentation: Quotas and limits.

    If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Help Center.

• Juli 2024

  • feature

    STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): Disable System Components in Node Pools

    8. Juli 2024

    Today, we introduced a new option to give you more control over the resource usage of your SKE clusters: you can now disable system components on selected node pools. To use this new feature, you need to set the new field allowSystemComponents to false in the node pool configuration of your cluster. However, at least one node pool per cluster needs to have system components enabled.

    Here is an example:

    Disable System Components

    kubernetes:
      version: "1.29"
    nodepools:
    - name: "pool 1"
      allowSystemComponents: true
      # ...more configuration options
    - name: "pool 2"
      allowSystemComponents: false
      # ...more configuration options
    - name: "pool 3"
      allowSystemComponents: false
      # ...more configuration options

    In the future, this option will be available in the STACKIT Cloud Portal.

  • deprecated

    Kubernetes version 1.26 is getting deprecated in SKE

    1. Juli 2024

    Kubernetes version 1.26 has reached the end of its official maintenance support. Therefore, we will remove this version from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We will automatically update all clusters running with Kubernetes version 1.26 to 1.27 on 31st of July 2024.

    We already support three newer Kubernetes versions (1.27, 1.28 & 1.29). Please update your clusters soon.

    In case you have questions you can find more information regarding the v1.27 Kubernetes version here & our SKE updating process here.

    Change for accessing your SKE cluster:

    Please note that Kubernetes version 1.27 no longer supports static token kubeconfigs. Instead, you can create short-live admin kubeconfigs. This change increases the security of your SKE cluster as you can limit the validity of a specific kubeconfig to a specific time period.

    You can already use the new short-lived admin kubeconfigs with Kubernetes version 1.26. However, once you start using the new short-lived admin kubeconfigs, the old method of getting static token kubeconfigs will no longer work. Further information can be found in our STACKIT documentation.

    In addition, we offer the option of accessing your SKE cluster via STACKIT CLI. Instructions can be found in our Release notes here.

• Juni 2024

  • announcement

    STACKIT Load Balancer available in SKE

    3. Juni 2024

    We are happy to announce that newly created SKE clusters will use the STACKIT Load Balancer.

    Previously, users could create and manage load balancers within SKE using a solution known as yawol. However, to better align with industry standards and best practices, we launch our dedicated STACKIT offer known as STACKIT Load Balancer. This brings numerous benefits that include improved scalability, stability and performance.

    As of June 3, 2024, the transition to this dedicated service will begin. New SKE clusters created after this date will automatically provision STACKIT Load Balancers for every Kubernetes service of type LoadBalancer.

    For more information, see our documentation on Load Balancer in SKE.

• Mai 2024

  • announcement

    STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): Access your clusters using the STACKIT CLI

    28. Mai 2024

    We are happy to announce a new and more convenient way to access your SKE clusters: SKE Login

    To use this new feature, you need to follow these steps:

    • Install the STACKIT CLI (beta): Installation instructions
    • Authenticate the CLI:

    stackit auth login

    • Set the STACKIT project ID:

    stackit config set --project-id ID

    • Download the login kubeconfig:

    stackit ske kubeconfig create CLUSTER_NAME --login

    • Use this kubeconfig with your favorite Kubernetes client

    The new kubeconfig type contains no user credentials, and instead retrieves valid short-lived credentials via the STACKIT CLI. You can therefore share this kubeconfig with your colleagues, and they will only be able to access the cluster if they have the permissions to do so.

• Apr. 2024

  • announcement

    New patchdays in STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE)

    8. Apr. 2024

    We are happy to announce that the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE) is introducing Patchdays for the operating system (OS) of the worker nodes.

    The Patchday takes place every second Wednesday of the month. The following actions are carried out on a patchday:

    • new OS versions are introduced in the status preview.
    • existing preview OS images are supported.
    • old OS versions are deprecated or even expired.

    On patchdays, the operating system of the worker nodes of your cluster is updated to a newer version if you have “automatic updates” activated. The update starts within the maintenance window set in the cluster. If this function is deactivated, we plan an update on the following patch day.

    For more information, see our documentation on Updates for Kubernetes versions and Operating System versions in SKE and Updating and Maintaining an SKE Cluster.

  • announcement

    New Kubernetes version (1.28) available for your SKE cluster

    5. Apr. 2024

    We are happy to announce new Kubernetes versions for STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We now support Kubernetes in the version 1.28.8.

    This release consists of 45 enhancements: 12 enhancements have graduated to stable, 14 enhancements are moving to beta, and 19 enhancements are entering alpha. For more details refer to the official release announcement or official release notes.

    The documentation how to manually apply minor or patch version updates can be found in the official STACKIT Kubernetes documentation. You can find additional information to our release process here.

    This version is running in state “preview” for one week from now on and will be set to “supported” on 12.04.2024.

    Please be aware that SKE will align with the official End of Life for Kubernetes versions. Therefore, version 1.28 will be fully supported until the 28th of October 2024.

• März 2024

  • announcement

    New Kubernetes version (1.28) available for your SKE cluster

    5. März 2024

    We are happy to announce new Kubernetes versions for STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE).

    We now support Kubernetes in the version 1.27.11. Additionally, the Kubernetes patch versions 1.26.14 and 1.25.16 were introduced.

    Please be aware that your static-token kubeconfig will be invalid as soon as you update to Kubernetes version 1.27. You need to create a new short-lived kubeconfig via STACKIT Cloud Portal or SKE-API. For additional information you can read our SKE documentation.

    This release consists of 60 enhancements: 13 enhancements have graduated to stable, 29 enhancements are moving to beta, and 18 enhancements are entering alpha. Also, 14 features have been deprecated or removed. For more details refer to the official release announcement or official release notes.

    The documentation how to manually apply minor or patch version updates can be found in the official STACKIT Kubernetes documentation. You can find additional information to our release process here.

    This version is running in state “preview” for one week from now on and will be set to “supported” on 12.03.2024.

    Please be aware that SKE will align with the official End of Life for Kubernetes versions. Therefore, version 1.27 will be fully supported until the 28th of June 2024.

  • deprecated

    Kubernetes version 1.25 is getting deprecated in SKE

    5. März 2024

    Kubernetes version 1.25 has reached the end of its official maintenance support. Therefore, we will remove this version from the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE). We will automatically update all clusters running with Kubernetes version 1.25 to 1.26 on 29th of April 2024.

    We already support two newer Kubernetes versions (1.26 and 1.27). Please update your clusters as soon as possible.

    In case you have questions you can find more information regarding the v1.25 Kubernetes version here & our SKE updating process here.

• Feb. 2024

  • announcement

    STACKIT Kubernetes Engine (SKE): New Operating System version for mitigation of runc vulnerability available

    7. Feb. 2024

    A runc vulnerability (called “Leaky Vessels”) was recently identified by Snyk Security Labs. For Kubernetes this means an attacker could use this vulnerability to escape the container and gain unauthorized access to the underlying host operating system. For additional information, you can see the following resources:

    • Leaky Vessels: Docker and runc container breakout vulnerabilities
    • CVE-2024-21626 Details
    • golem.de article (German)

    This means for you:

    • If you have “Automatic OS Updates” enabled: You don’t need to do anything. We have released a new OS (Version 3760.2.0) which mitigates this vulnerability. A rolling update of the worker nodes of your cluster will be performed in your configured maintenance window. Detailed instructions how to configure “Automatic OS updates” can be found in the STACKIT Kubernetes Engine documentation.

    • If you have “Automatic OS Updates” disabled: You need to manually update the OS version of your worker nodes as soon as possible. We have also informed the project owners of affected clusters via email. Otherwise, remaining SKE clusters will be automatically updated on Wednesday, 28.02.2024, in their configured maintenance window. Additionally, we highly advise to use our “Automatic OS updates” feature in the future.

    If there are any questions, support is available via the Help Center.