diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go
index 54da3c2751..16c2db8e89 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ const (
 	// DefaultClusterDNSIP defines default DNS IP
 	DefaultClusterDNSIP = "10.96.0.10"
 	// DefaultKubernetesVersion defines default kubernetes version
-	DefaultKubernetesVersion = "stable-1.8"
+	DefaultKubernetesVersion = "stable-1.9"
 	// DefaultAPIBindPort defines default API port
 	DefaultAPIBindPort = 6443
 	// DefaultAuthorizationModes defines default authorization modes