Plan to release v3.6.8

[ivanvc]

What would you like to be added?

The etcd patch release criteria has been met for our release-3.6 stable branch, so we should release v3.6.8.

Work in progress CHANGELOG is: https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/blob/main/CHANGELOG/CHANGELOG-3.6.md#v368-tbc

The list of commits included since the previous release is: v3.6.7...release-3.6:

• [release-3.6] dependency: Bump golang.org/x/crypto from 0.42.0 to 0.45.0 #21037
• [release-3.6] Remove flag --max-snapshots in 3.8 rather than 3.7 #21161
• [release-3.6] Keep the --snapshot-count flag #21163
• [release-3.6] Bump go version to 1.24.12 #21216
• [release-3.6] Remove the use of grpc-go's Metadata field #21241
• [release-3.6] Bump Go to 1.24.13 #21257

Outstanding tasks before releasing this version:

• Nothing

Release team

GitHub handle	Role
@ivanvc	Release Lead
@joshjms	Release Shadow

Why is this needed?

Regular patch releases are vital to ensure our users have bug-free and secure software.

Go 1.24.12 includes fixes for several CVEs, including CVE-2025-61726, CVE-2025-61731 and CVE-2025-61732. These two have an assessed vulnerability score >= 7.5. Therefore, according to our release guide, we should do a release.

[ahrtr]

Go 1.25.7 and Go 1.24.13 are released, they include a couple of CVE fixes,

refer to https://groups.google.com/g/golang-nuts/c/05wEerWuZVU

[jberkus]

I think we need to write up some additional detail for our users for these changes. I'm willing to take a stab at that; what's the best way to contribute my text?

[ivanvc]

@jberkus, we add them as an entry to the release notes. Refer to #21219. But we could also add a note to the release announcement email.

[ivanvc]

@joshjms, would you be available to shadow the release this Thursday at the time of the triage meeting (11 AM PT)?

[joshjms]

Yup @ivanvc , I will be available to shadow the release :D

[ivanvc]

@joshjms, thanks. I'll send a calendar invite shortly.

[ivanvc]

Due to scheduling issues and because I forgot to elevate permissions before the release, we pushed it to February 13th at 11 am PT.

[ivanvc]

@joshjms will be doing the Kubernetes version bump (his) tomorrow morning (it was already late for him). I'll update the documentation and close #20945.