# Karmada v1.16.9

> Orchestration & Management · 2026-08-31

A maintenance release that expands multi-component scheduling, eviction and replica management, interpreter support, APIs, and observability while improving controller performance and correctness. It also updates Go, Alpine, and other dependencies, including fixes for disclosed security issues.

## Action needed
- **[security · medium]** `github.com/vektra/mockery` update for `GO-2025-3900`
  - The dependency `github.com/vektra/mockery` was updated to v3.5.5 to address security concerns associated with `GO-2025-3900`.
- **[security]** The `alpine` base image update
  - The base image `alpine` was updated from `alpine:3.23.4` to `alpine:3.24.1` to address security concerns.
- **[security]** The `alpine` base image update
  - The base image `alpine` was updated from `alpine:3.23.3` to `alpine:3.23.4` to address security concerns.

## Check if affected
- **[breaking]** Removal of external etcd fields from `karmada-operator`
  - Applies if you configure any of the external etcd fields `CAData`, `CertData`, or `KeyData`.
  - `karmada-operator` no longer includes the deprecated external etcd fields `CAData`, `CertData`, and `KeyData`.

## Plan ahead
- **[deprecated]** The `--etcd-init-image` flag, deprecated
  - Applies if you use the `--etcd-init-image` flag of the `init` command.
  - removal date not announced
  - In `karmadactl`, the `--etcd-init-image` flag for the `init` command is deprecated because it is no longer used and is scheduled for removal.
- **[breaking]** The `member_cluster` Prometheus metric label
  - Applies if you use either the `cluster` or `cluster_name` Prometheus metric label.
  - removal planned in 1.18
  - The Prometheus metric labels `cluster` and `cluster_name` are deprecated for identifying a Karmada member cluster. The `member_cluster` label is used instead.

## Other recorded changes
- 105 (defect_corrected 43, added 32, value_changed 18, constraint_changed 12)

[Full analysis](https://ratatosk.io/en/releases/karmada/v1.16.9)

[Original release notes](https://github.com/karmada-io/karmada/releases/tag/v1.16.9)