diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go
index d87a2b7b639..2dc165e1f20 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import (
 const (
 	DefaultServiceDNSDomain   = "cluster.local"
 	DefaultServicesSubnet     = "10.96.0.0/12"
-	DefaultKubernetesVersion  = "stable-1.7"
+	DefaultKubernetesVersion  = "stable-1.8"
 	DefaultAPIBindPort        = 6443
 	DefaultAuthorizationModes = "Node,RBAC"
 	DefaultCACertPath         = "/etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.crt"