diff --git a/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/k8s/SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetter.scala b/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/k8s/SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetter.scala
index 24f42919ce05a..824e949e28876 100644
--- a/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/k8s/SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetter.scala
+++ b/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/k8s/SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetter.scala
@@ -16,8 +16,9 @@
  */
 package org.apache.spark.deploy.k8s
 
-import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.{Pod, PodBuilder}
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.PodBuilder
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.KubernetesClient
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.dsl.base.{PatchContext, PatchType}
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringUtils
 
 import org.apache.spark.{SparkConf, SparkMasterRegex}
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ private[spark] class SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetter(clientProvider: Kubernetes
   extends SparkDiagnosticsSetter with Logging {
 
   private val KUBERNETES_EXIT_EXCEPTION_MESSAGE_LIMIT_BYTES = 64 * 1024 // 64 KiB
+  private val PATCH_CONTEXT = PatchContext.of(PatchType.STRATEGIC_MERGE)
 
   def this() = {
     this(new DefaultKubernetesClientProvider)
@@ -65,8 +67,8 @@ private[spark] class SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetter(clientProvider: Kubernetes
         client.pods()
           .inNamespace(conf.get(KUBERNETES_NAMESPACE))
           .withName(podName)
-          .edit((p: Pod) => new PodBuilder(p)
-            .editOrNewMetadata()
+          .patch(PATCH_CONTEXT, new PodBuilder()
+            .withNewMetadata()
             .addToAnnotations(EXIT_EXCEPTION_ANNOTATION, diagnostics)
             .endMetadata()
             .build());
diff --git a/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/k8s/SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetterSuite.scala b/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/k8s/SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetterSuite.scala
index 65c150b2a035b..aa44eb4d9ea89 100644
--- a/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/k8s/SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetterSuite.scala
+++ b/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/k8s/SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetterSuite.scala
@@ -16,11 +16,10 @@
  */
 package org.apache.spark.deploy.k8s
 
-import java.util.function.UnaryOperator
-
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.Pod
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.KubernetesClient
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.dsl.PodResource
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.dsl.base.PatchContext
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringUtils
 import org.mockito.{ArgumentCaptor, Mock, MockitoAnnotations}
 import org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any
@@ -75,15 +74,10 @@ class SparkKubernetesDiagnosticsSetterSuite extends SparkFunSuite
 
     setter.setDiagnostics(diagnostics, conf)
 
-    val captor: ArgumentCaptor[UnaryOperator[Pod]] =
-      ArgumentCaptor.forClass(classOf[UnaryOperator[Pod]])
-    verify(driverPodOperations).edit(captor.capture())
-
-    val fn = captor.getValue
-    val initialPod = SparkPod.initialPod().pod
-    val editedPod = fn.apply(initialPod)
+    val podCaptor: ArgumentCaptor[Pod] = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(classOf[Pod])
+    verify(driverPodOperations).patch(any(classOf[PatchContext]), podCaptor.capture())
 
-    assert(editedPod.getMetadata.getAnnotations.get(EXIT_EXCEPTION_ANNOTATION)
+    assert(podCaptor.getValue.getMetadata.getAnnotations.get(EXIT_EXCEPTION_ANNOTATION)
       == StringUtils.stringifyException(diagnostics))
   }
 }