>Issue #24963</a>)</li><li><strong>Improved</strong> Istiod to run as non-root by default. (<a href=https://github.com/istio/istio/issues/24961>Issue #24961</a>)</li><li><strong>Improved</strong> Kubernetes strategic merge is used to overlay IstioOperator user files, which improves how list items are handled.
(<a href=https://github.com/istio/istio/issues/24432>Issue #24432</a>)</li><li><strong>Upgraded</strong> the CRD and Webhook versions to <code>v1</code>.
(<a href=https://github.com/istio/istio/issues/