diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/validation/validation.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/validation/validation.go
index 4408d84274e..56d147cd88d 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/validation/validation.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/validation/validation.go
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ func ValidateCustomResourceDefinitionValidation(customResourceValidation *apiext
 	// if validation passed otherwise, make sure we can actually construct a schema validator from this custom resource validation.
 	if len(allErrs) == 0 {
 		if _, err := apiservervalidation.NewSchemaValidator(customResourceValidation); err != nil {
-			allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath.Child("customResourceValidation"), "", fmt.Sprintf("error building validator: %v", err)))
+			allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath, "", fmt.Sprintf("error building validator: %v", err)))
 		}
 	}
 	return allErrs
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ func (v *specStandardValidatorV3) validate(schema *apiextensions.JSONSchemaProps
 	}
 
 	if schema.Ref != nil {
-		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Forbidden(fldPath.Child("ref"), "ref is not supported"))
+		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Forbidden(fldPath.Child("$ref"), "$ref is not supported"))
 	}
 
 	if schema.Type == "null" {
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/controller/finalizer/crd_finalizer.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/controller/finalizer/crd_finalizer.go
index 702cd4f00ba..f881427efdf 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/controller/finalizer/crd_finalizer.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/controller/finalizer/crd_finalizer.go
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ func (c *CRDFinalizer) deleteInstances(crd *apiextensions.CustomResourceDefiniti
 	// directly to the storage instead. Since we control the storage, we know that delete collection works.
 	crClient, err := c.crClientGetter.GetCustomResourceListerCollectionDeleter(crd)
 	if err != nil {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("unable to find a custom resource client for %s.%s due to %v", crd.Status.AcceptedNames.Plural, crd.Spec.Group, err)
+		err = fmt.Errorf("unable to find a custom resource client for %s.%s: %v", crd.Status.AcceptedNames.Plural, crd.Spec.Group, err)
 		return apiextensions.CustomResourceDefinitionCondition{
 			Type:    apiextensions.Terminating,
 			Status:  apiextensions.ConditionTrue,
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/test/integration/validation_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/test/integration/validation_test.go
index 257efc2140e..e30c0ee1e43 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/test/integration/validation_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/test/integration/validation_test.go
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ func TestForbiddenFieldsInSchema(t *testing.T) {
 
 	_, err = testserver.CreateNewCustomResourceDefinition(noxuDefinition, apiExtensionClient, clientPool)
 	if err == nil {
-		t.Fatal("unexpected non-error: ref cannot be non-empty string")
+		t.Fatal("unexpected non-error: $ref cannot be non-empty string")
 	}
 
 	noxuDefinition.Spec.Validation.OpenAPIV3Schema.Ref = nil