diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/cost.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/cost.go
index 14b74dc6b02..500fd8b0986 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/cost.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/cost.go
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func (l *CostEstimator) CallCost(function, overloadId string, args []ref.Val, re
 			cost += traversalCost(args[0]) // these O(n) operations all cost roughly the cost of a single traversal
 		}
 		return &cost
-	case "url", "lowerAscii", "upperAscii", "substring", "trim":
+	case "url", "lowerAscii", "upperAscii", "substring", "trim", "jsonpatch.escapeKey":
 		if len(args) >= 1 {
 			cost := uint64(math.Ceil(float64(actualSize(args[0])) * common.StringTraversalCostFactor))
 			return &cost
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ func (l *CostEstimator) EstimateCallCost(function, overloadId string, target *ch
 				return &checker.CallEstimate{CostEstimate: l.sizeEstimate(*target).MultiplyByCostFactor(common.StringTraversalCostFactor)}
 			}
 		}
-	case "url":
+	case "url", "jsonpatch.escapeKey":
 		if len(args) == 1 {
 			sz := l.sizeEstimate(args[0])
 			return &checker.CallEstimate{CostEstimate: sz.MultiplyByCostFactor(common.StringTraversalCostFactor), ResultSize: &sz}
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/cost_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/cost_test.go
index 4da1934f66d..a818c795570 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/cost_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/cost_test.go
@@ -629,6 +629,12 @@ func TestStringLibrary(t *testing.T) {
 			expectEsimatedCost: checker.CostEstimate{Min: 2, Max: 2},
 			expectRuntimeCost:  2,
 		},
+		{
+			name:               "jsonpatch.escapeKey",
+			expr:               "jsonpatch.escapeKey('abc/def~ abc/def~')",
+			expectEsimatedCost: checker.CostEstimate{Min: 2, Max: 2},
+			expectRuntimeCost:  2,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range cases {
@@ -1122,6 +1128,7 @@ func testCost(t *testing.T, expr string, expectEsimatedCost checker.CostEstimate
 		IP(),
 		CIDR(),
 		Format(),
+		JSONPatch(),
 		cel.OptionalTypes(),
 		// cel-go v0.17.7 introduced CostEstimatorOptions.
 		// Previous the presence has a cost of 0 but cel fixed it to 1. We still set to 0 here to avoid breaking changes.
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/jsonpatch.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/jsonpatch.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bdcb6d852b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/jsonpatch.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2024 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package library
+
+import (
+	"github.com/google/cel-go/cel"
+	"github.com/google/cel-go/common/types"
+	"github.com/google/cel-go/common/types/ref"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// JSONPatch provides a CEL function library extension of JSONPatch functions.
+//
+// jsonpatch.escapeKey
+//
+// Escapes a string for use as a JSONPatch path key.
+//
+//	jsonpatch.escapeKey(<string>) <string>
+//
+// Examples:
+//
+//	"/metadata/labels/" + jsonpatch.escapeKey('k8s.io/my~label') // returns "/metadata/labels/k8s.io~1my~0label"
+func JSONPatch() cel.EnvOption {
+	return cel.Lib(jsonPatchLib)
+}
+
+var jsonPatchLib = &jsonPatch{}
+
+type jsonPatch struct{}
+
+func (*jsonPatch) LibraryName() string {
+	return "kubernetes.jsonpatch"
+}
+
+func (*jsonPatch) declarations() map[string][]cel.FunctionOpt {
+	return jsonPatchLibraryDecls
+}
+
+func (*jsonPatch) Types() []*cel.Type {
+	return []*cel.Type{}
+}
+
+var jsonPatchLibraryDecls = map[string][]cel.FunctionOpt{
+	"jsonpatch.escapeKey": {
+		cel.Overload("string_jsonpatch_escapeKey_string", []*cel.Type{cel.StringType}, cel.StringType,
+			cel.UnaryBinding(escape)),
+	},
+}
+
+func (*jsonPatch) CompileOptions() []cel.EnvOption {
+	var options []cel.EnvOption
+	for name, overloads := range jsonPatchLibraryDecls {
+		options = append(options, cel.Function(name, overloads...))
+	}
+	return options
+}
+
+func (*jsonPatch) ProgramOptions() []cel.ProgramOption {
+	return []cel.ProgramOption{}
+}
+
+var jsonPatchReplacer = strings.NewReplacer("/", "~1", "~", "~0")
+
+func escapeKey(k string) string {
+	return jsonPatchReplacer.Replace(k)
+}
+
+func escape(arg ref.Val) ref.Val {
+	s, ok := arg.Value().(string)
+	if !ok {
+		return types.MaybeNoSuchOverloadErr(arg)
+	}
+	escaped := escapeKey(s)
+	return types.String(escaped)
+}
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/libraries.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/libraries.go
index e3689e3e0eb..dc436973e5a 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/libraries.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/libraries.go
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ func KnownLibraries() []Library {
 		cidrsLib,
 		formatLib,
 		semverLib,
+		jsonPatchLib,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/library_compatibility_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/library_compatibility_test.go
index 50b5d22882e..fc56651061f 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/library_compatibility_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/cel/library/library_compatibility_test.go
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ func TestLibraryCompatibility(t *testing.T) {
 		"ip", "family", "isUnspecified", "isLoopback", "isLinkLocalMulticast", "isLinkLocalUnicast", "isGlobalUnicast", "ip.isCanonical", "isIP", "cidr", "containsIP", "containsCIDR", "masked", "prefixLength", "isCIDR", "string",
 		// Kubernetes <1.31>:
 		"fieldSelector", "labelSelector", "validate", "format.named", "isSemver", "major", "minor", "patch", "semver",
+		// Kubernetes <1.32>:
+		"jsonpatch.escapeKey",
 		// Kubernetes <1.??>:
 	)