diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency.go
index 99b831c0472..fa5fc00cbff 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency.go
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ func PatchNodeOnce(client clientset.Interface, nodeName string, patchFn func(*v1
 
 		if _, err := client.CoreV1().Nodes().Patch(context.TODO(), n.Name, types.StrategicMergePatchType, patchBytes, metav1.PatchOptions{}); err != nil {
 			*lastError = errors.Wrapf(err, "error patching node %q through apiserver", n.Name)
-			if apierrors.IsTimeout(err) || apierrors.IsConflict(err) {
+			if apierrors.IsTimeout(err) || apierrors.IsConflict(err) || apierrors.IsServerTimeout(err) || apierrors.IsServiceUnavailable(err) {
 				return false, nil
 			}
 			return false, *lastError
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency_test.go
index 8dc14a83938..6c10cae0c04 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency_test.go
@@ -91,6 +91,30 @@ func TestPatchNode(t *testing.T) {
 			success:   false,
 			fakeError: apierrors.NewConflict(schema.GroupResource{}, "fake conflict", nil),
 		},
+		{
+			name:       "patch node when there is a server timeout",
+			lookupName: "testnode",
+			node: v1.Node{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Name:   "testnode",
+					Labels: map[string]string{v1.LabelHostname: ""},
+				},
+			},
+			success:   false,
+			fakeError: apierrors.NewServerTimeout(schema.GroupResource{}, "fake server timeout", 1),
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "patch node when the service is unavailable",
+			lookupName: "testnode",
+			node: v1.Node{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Name:   "testnode",
+					Labels: map[string]string{v1.LabelHostname: ""},
+				},
+			},
+			success:   false,
+			fakeError: apierrors.NewServiceUnavailable("fake service unavailable"),
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range testcases {