diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 298d38c4e6..a31350753d 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ RUN rm -vf /charts/*.sh /charts/*.md /charts/chart_versions.yaml
 # This image includes any host level programs that we might need. All binaries
 # must be placed in bin/ of the file image and subdirectories of bin/ will be flattened during installation.
 # This means bin/foo/bar will become bin/bar when rke2 installs this to the host
-FROM rancher/hardened-kubernetes:v1.27.16-rke2r1-build20240717 AS kubernetes
+FROM rancher/hardened-kubernetes:v1.27.16-rke2r2-build20240819 AS kubernetes
 FROM rancher/hardened-containerd:v1.7.20-k3s1-build20240812 AS containerd
 FROM rancher/hardened-crictl:v1.27.1-build20240812 AS crictl
 FROM rancher/hardened-runc:v1.1.12-build20240812 AS runc
diff --git a/scripts/version.sh b/scripts/version.sh
index 63f164436c..2ad4748478 100755
--- a/scripts/version.sh
+++ b/scripts/version.sh
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ PLATFORM=${GOOS}-${GOARCH}
 RELEASE=${PROG}.${PLATFORM}
 # hardcode versions unless set specifically
 KUBERNETES_VERSION=${KUBERNETES_VERSION:-v1.27.16}
-KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG=${KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG:-v1.27.16-rke2r1-build20240717}
+KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG=${KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG:-v1.27.16-rke2r2-build20240819}
 ETCD_VERSION=${ETCD_VERSION:-v3.5.13-k3s1}
 PAUSE_VERSION=${PAUSE_VERSION:-3.6}
 CCM_VERSION=${CCM_VERSION:-v1.29.3-build20240515}