diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index 858985966d..d2e33f6bdb 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ steps:
           - refs/tags/*
 
   - name: publish-image-runtime
-    image: rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.21.7b1
+    image: rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.21.8b1
     commands:
       - docker login -u $DOCKER_USERNAME -p $DOCKER_PASSWORD
       - DRONE_TAG=${DRONE_TAG} make publish-image-runtime
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ steps:
           - refs/tags/*
 
   - name: publish-image-runtime
-    image: rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.21.7b1
+    image: rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.21.8b1
     commands:
       - docker login -u $DOCKER_USERNAME -p $DOCKER_PASSWORD
       - DRONE_TAG=${DRONE_TAG} make publish-image-runtime
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8ff61737b6..f056b42244 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ARG KUBERNETES_VERSION=dev
 
 # Build environment
-FROM rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.21.7b1 AS build
+FROM rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.21.8b1 AS build
 ARG DAPPER_HOST_ARCH
 ENV ARCH $DAPPER_HOST_ARCH
 RUN set -x && \
diff --git a/scripts/version.sh b/scripts/version.sh
index 40da47728c..a3b93f998d 100755
--- a/scripts/version.sh
+++ b/scripts/version.sh
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ REVISION=$(git rev-parse HEAD)$(if ! git diff --no-ext-diff --quiet --exit-code;
 PLATFORM=${GOOS}-${GOARCH}
 RELEASE=${PROG}.${PLATFORM}
 # hardcode versions unless set specifically
-KUBERNETES_VERSION=${KUBERNETES_VERSION:-v1.29.2}
-KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG=${KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG:-v1.29.2-rke2r1-build20240214}
+KUBERNETES_VERSION=${KUBERNETES_VERSION:-v1.29.3}
+KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG=${KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG:-v1.29.3-rke2r1-build20240315}
 ETCD_VERSION=${ETCD_VERSION:-v3.5.9-k3s1}
 PAUSE_VERSION=${PAUSE_VERSION:-3.6}
 CCM_VERSION=${CCM_VERSION:-v1.28.2-build20231016}