For GKE Standard CPU node pools, GKE can now upgrade nodes by updating the existing Compute Engine VM in place, instead of deleting the VM and creating a new…

(2026-R44) Version updates

Note: Your clusters might not have these versions available. Rollouts are already in progress when we publish the release notes, and can take multiple days to complete across all Google Cloud zones.

(2026-R44) Version updates

Note: Your clusters might not have these versions available. Rollouts are already in progress when we publish the release notes, and can take multiple days to complete across all Google Cloud zones.

(2026-R44) Version updates

Note: Your clusters might not have these versions available. Rollouts are already in progress when we publish the release notes, and can take multiple days to complete across all Google Cloud zones.

(2026-R44) 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.

Fixed an issue in GKE Sandbox where Pods using the Cloud Storage FUSE CSI driver could become indefinitely stuck in a Terminating state.

To resolve this issue, upgrade your node pools to GKE version 1.37.1-gke.1552000 or later and add the dev.gvisor.fuse.abort-on-teardown: "true" annotation to your Pod or Deployment metadata.