Kubernetes 1.35 (scheduled December 17, 2025) introduces 15 new alpha features. Key highlights include: Node Declared Features for handling version skew between components; allowing HostNetwork Pods to use user namespaces for better isolation; Pod-level resource updates without restarts; a RestartAllContainers action for coordinated Pod recovery; extended toleration operators (Lt/Gt) for threshold-based scheduling; native Gang Scheduling for AI/ML workloads enforcing all-or-nothing placement; hardened kubelet TLS certificate validation to prevent MITM attacks; constrained impersonation for least-privilege access control; a secure secrets field for CSI Service Account tokens; mutable PersistentVolume node affinity; Deployment podReplacementPolicy for controlling terminating Pod behavior; mutable container resources for suspended Jobs; an Unknown Version Interoperability Proxy to handle API server version skew gracefully; CSI volume attach limit integration with Cluster Autoscaler; and watch-based route controller reconciliation. The release also promotes In-Place Pod Resource Updates and Structured Authentication Config to GA.
