The Kubernetes team has released version 1.32. Brief overview of main changes for those planning upgrades from 1.31 or earlier.
API and Stability
Several APIs have been promoted to stable (GA): improved Job and CronJob handling, refined graceful shutdown. Deprecated APIs are marked for removal in future releases – worth checking manifests for deprecated fields.
Networking
Extended support for network policies and Service. Improved kube-proxy performance in iptables mode with many services. Refined integration with some CNI plugins.
Storage
Updated CSI driver handling, improved volume resize. Added options for reclaim policy and binding mode tuning. For stateful workloads – test on staging before production.
Security
Tighter defaults for new clusters. Recommended to update RBAC and verify ServiceAccounts have minimal required permissions. Full changelog at kubernetes.io.
Upgrade Recommendations
For teams planning migration from 1.29–1.31: first upgrade dev/staging, run typical scenarios (deploy, scale, rollback), check compatibility with monitoring and CI/CD tools. See also: Kubernetes 1.31 and deploy without Helm.