Base Image Exception List

May 28, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

Theoretically, we expect to have all kubernetes images based on distroless (Please see this KEP for details). Due to the complexity and difficulty of rebasing all those images, we keep the exception list below to track the reasons and blockers about why certain images are not rebased.

Please feel free to edit this file when you find any updates. Links to detailed Reason are welcomed.

Release images

Release: debian-base

Image NameReasons for exception
distroless-iptablesNeeded to supported images that require iptables

Release: distroless-iptables

Image NameReasons for exception
kube-proxyRequires iptables

Release: go-runner

Image NameReasons for exception
kube-apiservergo-runner (distroless++)[1][2]
kube-schedulergo-runner (distroless++)[1][2]
kubectlgo-runner (distroless++)[1][2]

Non-release images

Image NameBase ImageOWNERSupported? (Yes/No/Unknown)Reasons for exception
etcddebian-basehttps://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/cluster/images/etcd/OWNERSYRequires shell to do data migration
etcd-empty-dir-cleanupdebian-basehttps://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/cluster/images/etcd-empty-dir-cleanup/OWNERSURequires shell to do some cleanup
fluentd-elasticsearchruby:2.7-slim-busterhttps://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/cluster/addons/fluentd-elasticsearch/OWNERSURequires shell to install fluentd via ruby
ip-masq-agentdistroless-iptableshttps://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/ip-masq-agent/blob/master/OWNERSURequires iptables
k8s-dns-dnsmasq-nannydebian-basehttps://github.com/kubernetes/dns/blob/master/OWNERSURequires container debugging tooling
k8s-dns-kube-dnsdebian-basehttps://github.com/kubernetes/dns/blob/master/OWNERSURequires container debugging tooling
k8s-dns-node-cachedebian-basehttps://github.com/kubernetes/dns/blob/master/OWNERSURequires container debugging tooling
k8s-dns-sidecardebian-basehttps://github.com/kubernetes/dns/blob/master/OWNERSURequires container debugging tooling
kube-addon-managerdebian-basehttps://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/cluster/addons/addon-manager/OWNERSURequires shell
node-problem-detectordebian-basehttps://github.com/kubernetes/node-problem-detector/blob/master/OWNERSURequires libsystemd0

Non-org images

Image NameBase ImageOWNERSupported? (Yes/No/Unknown)Reasons for exception
fluentd-gcp-scalerdebian-baseURequires shell and kubectl
stackdriver-logging-agentdebian:busterURequires fluentd