RHCOS 10: Red Hat's New Worker Node OS for OpenShift
Red Hat, Friday, October 2nd, 2026
RHCOS 10, based on RHEL 10, becomes OpenShift's default node OS for new installs in Q4 2026, and certified partners must support it.
Red Hat says OpenShift will ship RHCOS 10, its immutable node operating system based on RHEL 10, by default for new installations starting in Q4 2026, and it is already available as a Technology Preview in OpenShift 4.21 and 4.22, with RHCOS 9 remaining available into at least mid-2027.
All certified ISV containers and operators must support RHCOS 10, with privileged workloads such as CSI and CNI drivers urged to test early.
Upgraded nodes drop support for UBI7-based containers and for x86_64 v2 or older CPUs, and UBI9 remains the recommended base image where FIPS 140 compliance is needed.