diff --git a/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/kubeadm-upgrade-1-8.md b/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/kubeadm-upgrade-1-8.md
index 6c9f5822e6..f3cff59d71 100644
--- a/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/kubeadm-upgrade-1-8.md
+++ b/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/kubeadm-upgrade-1-8.md
@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@ $ export ARCH=amd64 # or: arm, arm64, ppc64le, s390x
 $ curl -sSL https://dl.k8s.io/release/${VERSION}/bin/linux/${ARCH}/kubeadm > /usr/bin/kubeadm
 $ chmod a+rx /usr/bin/kubeadm
 ```
+**Caution:** Upgrading the `kubeadm` package on your system prior to
+upgrading the control plane causes a failed upgrade. Even though 
+`kubeadm` is shipped in the Kubernetes repositories, it's important 
+to install `kubeadm` manually. The kubeadm team is working on fixing
+this limitation. 
+{: .caution}
 
 Verify that this download of kubeadm works, and has the expected version: