diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index 28cbb37cf6..2a0faf2890 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ steps:
           - refs/tags/*
 
   - name: publish-image-runtime
-    image: rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.20.11b1
+    image: rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.20.12b2
     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:v1.20.11b1
+    image: rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.20.12b2
     commands:
       - docker login -u $DOCKER_USERNAME -p $DOCKER_PASSWORD
       - DRONE_TAG=${DRONE_TAG} make publish-image-runtime
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8f42ff5689..893bc811b9 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ARG KUBERNETES_VERSION=dev
 
 # Build environment
-FROM rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.20.11b1 AS build
+FROM rancher/hardened-build-base:v1.20.12b2 AS build
 ARG DAPPER_HOST_ARCH
 ENV ARCH $DAPPER_HOST_ARCH
 RUN set -x && \
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ RUN rm -vf /charts/*.sh /charts/*.md /charts/chart_versions.yaml
 # This image includes any host level programs that we might need. All binaries
 # must be placed in bin/ of the file image and subdirectories of bin/ will be flattened during installation.
 # This means bin/foo/bar will become bin/bar when rke2 installs this to the host
-FROM rancher/hardened-kubernetes:v1.27.8-rke2r1-build20231115 AS kubernetes
+FROM rancher/hardened-kubernetes:v1.27.9-rke2r1-build20231220 AS kubernetes
 FROM rancher/hardened-containerd:v1.7.11-k3s2-build20231211 AS containerd
 FROM rancher/hardened-crictl:v1.26.1-build20230606 AS crictl
 FROM rancher/hardened-runc:v1.1.10-build20231208 AS runc
diff --git a/scripts/version.sh b/scripts/version.sh
index fd00a7e291..730d6172f6 100755
--- a/scripts/version.sh
+++ b/scripts/version.sh
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ REVISION=$(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:-v1.27.8}
-KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG=${KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG:-v1.27.8-rke2r1-build20231115}
+KUBERNETES_VERSION=${KUBERNETES_VERSION:-v1.27.9}
+KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG=${KUBERNETES_IMAGE_TAG:-v1.27.9-rke2r1-build20231220}
 ETCD_VERSION=${ETCD_VERSION:-v3.5.9-k3s1}
 PAUSE_VERSION=${PAUSE_VERSION:-3.6}
 CCM_VERSION=${CCM_VERSION:-v1.28.2-build20231016}