diff --git a/cluster/images/conformance/Dockerfile b/cluster/images/conformance/Dockerfile
index f1f79d26519..e7785254274 100644
--- a/cluster/images/conformance/Dockerfile
+++ b/cluster/images/conformance/Dockerfile
@@ -13,16 +13,24 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 ARG BASEIMAGE
+ARG RUNNERIMAGE
 
-FROM ${BASEIMAGE}
+FROM ${BASEIMAGE} as debbase
 
+FROM ${RUNNERIMAGE}
+
+# This is a dependency for `kubectl diff` tests
+COPY --from=debbase /usr/bin/diff /usr/local/bin/
+
+COPY cluster /kubernetes/cluster
 COPY ginkgo /usr/local/bin/
 COPY e2e.test /usr/local/bin/
 COPY kubectl /usr/local/bin/
-COPY run_e2e.sh /run_e2e.sh
+COPY gorunner /usr/local/bin/kubeconformance
+
+# Legacy executables -- deprecated
+COPY gorunner /run_e2e.sh
 COPY gorunner /gorunner
-COPY cluster /kubernetes/cluster
-WORKDIR /usr/local/bin
 
 ENV E2E_FOCUS="\[Conformance\]"
 ENV E2E_SKIP=""
@@ -32,4 +40,4 @@ ENV E2E_VERBOSITY="4"
 ENV RESULTS_DIR="/tmp/results"
 ENV KUBECONFIG=""
 
-CMD [ "/bin/bash", "-c", "/run_e2e.sh" ]
+ENTRYPOINT [ "kubeconformance" ]
diff --git a/cluster/images/conformance/Makefile b/cluster/images/conformance/Makefile
index fa7e523db88..4931049a98d 100644
--- a/cluster/images/conformance/Makefile
+++ b/cluster/images/conformance/Makefile
@@ -31,8 +31,18 @@ E2E_GO_RUNNER_BIN?=$(shell test -f $(LOCAL_OUTPUT_PATH)/go-runner && echo $(LOCA
 
 CLUSTER_DIR?=$(shell pwd)/../../../cluster/
 
-BASEIMAGE=debian:stable-slim
-TEMP_DIR:=$(shell mktemp -d -t conformanceXXXXXX)
+# This is defined in root Makefile, but some build contexts do not refer to them
+KUBE_BASE_IMAGE_REGISTRY?=k8s.gcr.io
+
+ifeq ($(ARCH),amd64)
+    BASEIMAGE?=${KUBE_BASE_IMAGE_REGISTRY}/build-image/debian-base:v2.1.3
+else
+    BASEIMAGE?=${KUBE_BASE_IMAGE_REGISTRY}/build-image/debian-base-${ARCH}:v2.1.3
+endif
+
+RUNNERIMAGE?=gcr.io/distroless/base:latest
+
+TEMP_DIR:=$(shell mktemp -d -t conformance-XXXXXX)
 
 all: build
 
@@ -60,6 +70,7 @@ endif
 		--pull \
 		-t ${REGISTRY}/conformance-${ARCH}:${VERSION} \
 		--build-arg BASEIMAGE=$(BASEIMAGE) \
+		--build-arg RUNNERIMAGE=$(RUNNERIMAGE) \
 		${TEMP_DIR}
 	rm -rf "${TEMP_DIR}"
 
diff --git a/cluster/images/conformance/go-runner/e2erunner.go b/cluster/images/conformance/go-runner/main.go
similarity index 93%
rename from cluster/images/conformance/go-runner/e2erunner.go
rename to cluster/images/conformance/go-runner/main.go
index 073b3159c0f..f96bd7aa540 100644
--- a/cluster/images/conformance/go-runner/e2erunner.go
+++ b/cluster/images/conformance/go-runner/main.go
@@ -23,11 +23,15 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/signal"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
 func main() {
+	if strings.Contains(os.Args[0], "run_e2e.sh") || strings.Contains(os.Args[0], "gorunner") {
+		log.Print("warn: calling test with e2e.test is deprecated and will be removed in 1.25, please rely on container manifest to invoke executable")
+	}
 	env := envWithDefaults(map[string]string{
 		resultsDirEnvKey: defaultResultsDir,
 		skipEnvKey:       defaultSkip,