Developer Platform Briefing — August 5, 2025

Executive briefing: Kubernetes maintains a 14-month support window covering the three most recent minor releases. Version 1.31, released in August 2024, exits patch support in late August 2025. Clusters pinned to 1.31 will no longer receive security fixes for components such as the kube-apiserver and container runtime, nor will they benefit from CVE triage by the Product Security Committee. Enterprises should plan rolling upgrades to 1.32 or 1.33, test CSI and CNI compatibility, and update managed Kubernetes service channels before the window closes.

Key engineering checkpoints

Cluster inventory. Catalogue self-managed and managed clusters running 1.31, including development environments, edge deployments, and air-gapped fleets.
Add-on validation. Confirm networking (Cilium, Calico), storage (CSI drivers), and policy controllers remain supported on the target versions.
Admission control review. Evaluate deprecated APIs and admission controllers removed in 1.32+ to avoid workload failures.

Operational priorities

Upgrade rehearsal. Use surge node pools or blue/green clusters to stage upgrades, validating etcd snapshots and backup restore procedures.
Managed service alignment. Coordinate with EKS, GKE, and AKS maintenance schedules; cloud providers typically force-upgrade within weeks of upstream EOL.
Security monitoring. Track Kubernetes CVE disclosures and ensure remaining 1.31 clusters have compensating controls until decommissioned.

Enablement moves

Update platform roadmaps to adopt features introduced in 1.32/1.33, such as improved node swap support and Gateway API enhancements.
Brief SRE and application teams on pod disruption budgets and rollout sequencing required during sequential upgrades.

Sources

Zeph Tech drives Kubernetes upgrade cadences, aligning cluster lifecycle management with security baselines and service reliability targets.