diff --git a/.github/dependabot.yml b/.github/dependabot.yml
index 9fbd514f..0827266a 100644
--- a/.github/dependabot.yml
+++ b/.github/dependabot.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,15 @@ updates:
         patterns:
           - "*"
     ignore:
-      - dependency-name: "go"
+      # Block newer versions of k8s until go 1.26 is available in RHEL
+      - dependency-name: "k8s.io/api"
+        versions: [">=0.35"]
+      - dependency-name: "k8s.io/apimachinery"
+        versions: [">=0.35"]
+      - dependency-name: "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime"
+        versions: [">=0.23"]
+      - dependency-name: "sigs.k8s.io/controller-tools"
+        versions: [">=0.20"]
   - package-ecosystem: "cargo"
     directory: "/"
     schedule:
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 08e6e41b..1f80173f 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ module io/trustedexecutioncluster
 go 1.25.0
 
 require (
-	github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4 v4.52.5
+	github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4 v4.53.2
 	github.com/openshift/api v0.0.0-20260213204242-d34f11c515b3
 	github.com/projectcalico/api v0.0.0-20251022175904-f2ab03771208
 	k8s.io/api v0.35.3