diff --git a/build/dev-env.sh b/build/dev-env.sh
index 09609367a..3d21b7e15 100755
--- a/build/dev-env.sh
+++ b/build/dev-env.sh
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ echo "[dev-env] building image"
 make build image
 docker tag "${REGISTRY}/controller:${TAG}" "${DEV_IMAGE}"
 
-export K8S_VERSION=${K8S_VERSION:-v1.25.2@sha256:9be91e9e9cdf116809841fc77ebdb8845443c4c72fe5218f3ae9eb57fdb4bace}
+export K8S_VERSION=${K8S_VERSION:-v1.26.3@sha256:61b92f38dff6ccc29969e7aa154d34e38b89443af1a2c14e6cfbd2df6419c66f}
 
 KIND_CLUSTER_NAME="ingress-nginx-dev"
 
diff --git a/test/e2e/run-chart-test.sh b/test/e2e/run-chart-test.sh
index eeef807fa..6efa63eb2 100755
--- a/test/e2e/run-chart-test.sh
+++ b/test/e2e/run-chart-test.sh
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ export KUBECONFIG="${KUBECONFIG:-$HOME/.kube/kind-config-$KIND_CLUSTER_NAME}"
 if [ "${SKIP_CLUSTER_CREATION:-false}" = "false" ]; then
   echo "[dev-env] creating Kubernetes cluster with kind"
 
-  export K8S_VERSION=${K8S_VERSION:-v1.25.2@sha256:9be91e9e9cdf116809841fc77ebdb8845443c4c72fe5218f3ae9eb57fdb4bace}
+  export K8S_VERSION=${K8S_VERSION:-v1.26.3@sha256:61b92f38dff6ccc29969e7aa154d34e38b89443af1a2c14e6cfbd2df6419c66f}
 
   kind create cluster \
     --verbosity=${KIND_LOG_LEVEL} \
diff --git a/test/e2e/run-kind-e2e.sh b/test/e2e/run-kind-e2e.sh
index d3ea18b6d..fe7550360 100755
--- a/test/e2e/run-kind-e2e.sh
+++ b/test/e2e/run-kind-e2e.sh
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ echo "Running e2e with nginx base image ${NGINX_BASE_IMAGE}"
 if [ "${SKIP_CLUSTER_CREATION}" = "false" ]; then
   echo "[dev-env] creating Kubernetes cluster with kind"
 
-  export K8S_VERSION=${K8S_VERSION:-v1.25.2@sha256:9be91e9e9cdf116809841fc77ebdb8845443c4c72fe5218f3ae9eb57fdb4bace}
+  export K8S_VERSION=${K8S_VERSION:-v1.26.3@sha256:61b92f38dff6ccc29969e7aa154d34e38b89443af1a2c14e6cfbd2df6419c66f}
 
   # delete the cluster if it exists
   if kind get clusters | grep "${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME}"; then