diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 51b36aeb3ec4..25f87b67c8c2 100755
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ BUILDROOT_BRANCH ?= 2018.05
 REGISTRY?=gcr.io/k8s-minikube
 
 HYPERKIT_BUILD_IMAGE 	?= karalabe/xgo-1.10.x
-BUILD_IMAGE 	?= k8s.gcr.io/kube-cross:v1.10.1-1
+# NOTE: "latest" as of 2018-12-04. kube-cross images aren't updated as often as Kubernetes
+BUILD_IMAGE 	?= k8s.gcr.io/kube-cross:v1.11.1-1
 ISO_BUILD_IMAGE ?= $(REGISTRY)/buildroot-image
 
 ISO_VERSION ?= v0.31.0
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go b/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
index 6f917cfdbba4..4cd8cd686dcc 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ kubectl: {{.Kubeconfig}}`
 var DefaultIsoUrl = fmt.Sprintf("https://storage.googleapis.com/%s/minikube-%s.iso", minikubeVersion.GetIsoPath(), minikubeVersion.GetIsoVersion())
 var DefaultIsoShaUrl = DefaultIsoUrl + ShaSuffix
 
-var DefaultKubernetesVersion = "v1.10.0"
+var DefaultKubernetesVersion = "v1.12.4"
 
 var ConfigFilePath = MakeMiniPath("config")
 var ConfigFile = MakeMiniPath("config", "config.json")