diff --git a/pkg/constant/constant_posix.go b/pkg/constant/constant_posix.go
index a89cff326d1e..56a5f14b0022 100644
--- a/pkg/constant/constant_posix.go
+++ b/pkg/constant/constant_posix.go
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ const (
 	KubeletVolumePluginDir         = "/usr/libexec/k0s/kubelet-plugins/volume/exec"
 	KineSocket                     = "kine/kine.sock:2379"
 	KubePauseContainerImage        = "registry.k8s.io/pause"
-	KubePauseContainerImageVersion = "3.8"
+	KubePauseContainerImageVersion = "3.9"
 	K0sConfigPathDefault           = "/etc/k0s/k0s.yaml"
 	RuntimeConfigPathDefault       = "/run/k0s/k0s.yaml"
 )