diff --git a/cmd/aws-application-networking-k8s/main.go b/cmd/aws-application-networking-k8s/main.go
index 6fe09d7e..0216e92c 100644
--- a/cmd/aws-application-networking-k8s/main.go
+++ b/cmd/aws-application-networking-k8s/main.go
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ func main() {
 		TaggingServiceAPIDisabled: config.DisableTaggingServiceAPI,
 	}, metrics.Registry)
 	if err != nil {
-		setupLog.Fatal("cloud client setup failed: %s", err)
+		setupLog.Fatalf("cloud client setup failed: %s", err)
 	}
 
 	// do not create the webhook server when running locally
diff --git a/config/rbac/cluster-role-controller.yaml b/config/rbac/cluster-role-controller.yaml
index 04eb21b1..b617bdc8 100644
--- a/config/rbac/cluster-role-controller.yaml
+++ b/config/rbac/cluster-role-controller.yaml
@@ -81,19 +81,9 @@ rules:
   resources:
   - pods
   verbs:
-  - create
-  - delete
   - get
   - list
-  - patch
-  - update
   - watch
-- apiGroups:
-  - ""
-  resources:
-  - pods/finalizers
-  verbs:
-  - update
 - apiGroups:
   - ""
   resources:
diff --git a/docs/guides/pod-readiness-gates.md b/docs/guides/pod-readiness-gates.md
index d7b13d2e..7c06ed34 100644
--- a/docs/guides/pod-readiness-gates.md
+++ b/docs/guides/pod-readiness-gates.md
@@ -18,6 +18,19 @@ This prevents the rolling update of a deployment from terminating old pods until
 ## Setup
 Pod readiness gates rely on [»admission webhooks«](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/extensible-admission-controllers/), where the Kubernetes API server makes calls to the AWS Gateway API controller as part of pod creation. This call is made using TLS, so the controller must present a TLS certificate. This certificate is stored as a standard Kubernetes secret. If you are using Helm, the certificate will automatically be configured as part of the Helm install.
 
+For Helm installs, certificate validity is controlled by `webhookTLS.validityDays`.
+The default is `36500` days to preserve existing behavior. You can opt in to
+`365` days for annual certificate rotation:
+
+```bash
+helm upgrade --install gateway-api-controller \
+  oci://public.ecr.aws/aws-application-networking-k8s/aws-gateway-controller-chart \
+  --namespace aws-application-networking-system \
+  --set webhookTLS.validityDays=365
+```
+
+When using `365`, plan and automate annual certificate rotation.
+
 If you are manually deploying the controller using the ```deploy.yaml``` file, you will need to either patch the ```deploy.yaml``` file (see ```scripts/patch-deploy-yaml.sh```) or generate the secret following installation (see ```scripts/gen-webhook-secret.sh```) and manually enable the webhook via the ```WEBHOOK_ENABLED``` environment variable.
 
 Note that, without the secret in place, the controller cannot start successfully, and you will see an error message like the following:
diff --git a/helm/templates/_helpers.tpl b/helm/templates/_helpers.tpl
index 986b4fa8..8b92c104 100644
--- a/helm/templates/_helpers.tpl
+++ b/helm/templates/_helpers.tpl
@@ -38,11 +38,12 @@ caCert: {{ .Values.webhookTLS.caCert }}
 cert: {{ .Values.webhookTLS.cert }}
 key: {{ .Values.webhookTLS.key }}
 {{- else -}}
-{{- $ca := genCA "aws-gateway-controller-ca" 36500 -}}
+{{- $certValidityDays := int (default 36500 .Values.webhookTLS.validityDays) -}}
+{{- $ca := genCA "aws-gateway-controller-ca" $certValidityDays -}}
 {{- $serviceDefaultName:= printf "webhook-service.%s.svc" .Release.Namespace -}}
 {{- $secretName := "webhook-cert" -}}
 {{- $altNames := list ($serviceDefaultName) (printf "%s.cluster.local" $serviceDefaultName) -}}
-{{- $cert := genSignedCert $serviceDefaultName nil $altNames 36500 $ca -}}
+{{- $cert := genSignedCert $serviceDefaultName nil $altNames $certValidityDays $ca -}}
 caCert: {{ $ca.Cert | b64enc }}
 cert: {{ $cert.Cert | b64enc }}
 key: {{ $cert.Key | b64enc }}
diff --git a/helm/templates/cluster-role-controller.yaml b/helm/templates/cluster-role-controller.yaml
index f0314c2f..644eb437 100644
--- a/helm/templates/cluster-role-controller.yaml
+++ b/helm/templates/cluster-role-controller.yaml
@@ -96,19 +96,9 @@ rules:
   resources:
   - pods
   verbs:
-  - create
-  - delete
   - get
   - list
-  - patch
-  - update
   - watch
-- apiGroups:
-  - ""
-  resources:
-  - pods/finalizers
-  verbs:
-  - update
 - apiGroups:
   - ""
   resources:
diff --git a/helm/templates/deployment.yaml b/helm/templates/deployment.yaml
index e6761db6..6eb2c1b8 100644
--- a/helm/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/helm/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -52,8 +52,10 @@ spec:
         ports:
           - name: http
             containerPort: {{ .Values.deployment.containerPort }}
+          {{- if .Values.webhookEnabled }}
           - name: webhook-server
             containerPort: 9443
+          {{- end }}
         resources:
           {{- toYaml .Values.resources | nindent 10 }}
         livenessProbe:
@@ -75,9 +77,11 @@ spec:
               - ALL
           readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
         volumeMounts:
+          {{- if .Values.webhookEnabled }}
           - mountPath: /etc/webhook-cert
             name: webhook-cert
             readOnly: true
+          {{- end }}
         env:
           - name: REGION
             value: {{ .Values.awsRegion | quote }}
@@ -104,10 +108,12 @@ spec:
 
       terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 10
       volumes:
+        {{- if .Values.webhookEnabled }}
         - name: webhook-cert
           secret:
             defaultMode: 420
             secretName: webhook-cert
+        {{- end }}
       nodeSelector: {{ toYaml .Values.deployment.nodeSelector | nindent 8 }}
       {{ if .Values.deployment.tolerations -}}
       tolerations: {{ toYaml .Values.deployment.tolerations | nindent 8 }}
diff --git a/helm/templates/webhook.yaml b/helm/templates/webhook.yaml
index e8047fe3..5b565751 100644
--- a/helm/templates/webhook.yaml
+++ b/helm/templates/webhook.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+{{- if .Values.webhookEnabled }}
 {{ $tls := fromYaml ( include "aws-gateway-controller.webhookTLS" . ) }}
 ---
 apiVersion: admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1
@@ -59,4 +60,5 @@ type: kubernetes.io/tls
 data:
   ca.crt: {{ $tls.caCert }}
   tls.crt: {{ $tls.cert }}
-  tls.key: {{ $tls.key }}
\ No newline at end of file
+  tls.key: {{ $tls.key }}
+{{- end }}
diff --git a/helm/values.yaml b/helm/values.yaml
index 475d0b8d..ed73198b 100644
--- a/helm/values.yaml
+++ b/helm/values.yaml
@@ -87,8 +87,13 @@ webhookEnabled: true
 disableTaggingServiceApi: false
 routeMaxConcurrentReconciles:
 
-# TLS cert/key for the webhook. If specified, values must be base64 encoded
+# TLS cert/key for the webhook. If specified, values must be base64 encoded.
+# When not provided, Helm generates self-signed certs using webhookTLS.validityDays.
 webhookTLS:
   caCert:
   cert:
-  key:
\ No newline at end of file
+  key:
+  # Validity in days for generated webhook certificates.
+  # Default preserves existing behavior for installed clusters.
+  # Set to 365 to opt in to annual certificate rotation.
+  validityDays: 36500
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkg/config/controller_config.go b/pkg/config/controller_config.go
index e16d50ef..b2913de2 100644
--- a/pkg/config/controller_config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/controller_config.go
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@ var ServiceNetworkOverrideMode = false
 var RouteMaxConcurrentReconciles = 1
 
 func ConfigInit() error {
-	sess, _ := session.NewSession()
+	sess, err := session.NewSession()
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create aws session: %w", err)
+	}
 	metadata := NewEC2Metadata(sess)
 	return configInit(sess, metadata)
 }
@@ -128,10 +131,16 @@ func getClusterName(sess *session.Session) (string, error) {
 		return "", err
 	}
 	ec2Client := ec2.New(sess, &aws.Config{Region: aws.String(region)})
-	tagReq := &ec2.DescribeTagsInput{Filters: []*ec2.Filter{{
-		Name:   aws.String("resource-id"),
-		Values: []*string{aws.String(instanceId)},
-	}}}
+	tagReq := &ec2.DescribeTagsInput{Filters: []*ec2.Filter{
+		{
+			Name:   aws.String("resource-id"),
+			Values: []*string{aws.String(instanceId)},
+		},
+		{
+			Name:   aws.String("key"),
+			Values: []*string{aws.String("aws:eks:cluster-name")},
+		},
+	}}
 	tagRes, err := ec2Client.DescribeTags(tagReq)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
diff --git a/pkg/controllers/pod_controller.go b/pkg/controllers/pod_controller.go
index f7cd1894..7072c04d 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/pod_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/pod_controller.go
@@ -44,9 +44,8 @@ func RegisterPodController(log gwlog.Logger, mgr ctrl.Manager) error {
 	return err
 }
 
-//+kubebuilder:rbac:groups=core,resources=pods,verbs=get;list;watch;create;update;patch;delete
+//+kubebuilder:rbac:groups=core,resources=pods,verbs=get;list;watch
 //+kubebuilder:rbac:groups=core,resources=pods/status,verbs=get;update;patch
-//+kubebuilder:rbac:groups=core,resources=pods/finalizers,verbs=update
 
 func (r *podReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request) (ctrl.Result, error) {
 	pod := &corev1.Pod{}
diff --git a/scripts/gen-webhook-secret.sh b/scripts/gen-webhook-secret.sh
index 12c4d675..658fb3ab 100755
--- a/scripts/gen-webhook-secret.sh
+++ b/scripts/gen-webhook-secret.sh
@@ -6,29 +6,30 @@
 # Generates a certificate for use by the controller webhook
 # You can also manually re-create the webhook secret using your own PKI
 
-TEMP_KEY=`mktemp`
-TEMP_CERT=`mktemp`
+TEMP_KEY="$(mktemp)"
+TEMP_CERT="$(mktemp)"
 
 WEBHOOK_SVC_NAME=webhook-service
 WEBHOOK_NAME=aws-appnet-gwc-mutating-webhook
 WEBHOOK_NAMESPACE=aws-application-networking-system
 WEBHOOK_SECRET_NAME=webhook-cert
+WEBHOOK_CERT_VALIDITY_DAYS="${WEBHOOK_CERT_VALIDITY_DAYS:-36500}"
 
 echo "Generating certificate for webhook"
 HOST=${WEBHOOK_SVC_NAME}.${WEBHOOK_NAMESPACE}.svc
-openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 36500 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout ${TEMP_KEY} -out ${TEMP_CERT} -subj "/CN=${HOST}/O=${HOST}" \
+openssl req -x509 -nodes -days "${WEBHOOK_CERT_VALIDITY_DAYS}" -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout "${TEMP_KEY}" -out "${TEMP_CERT}" -subj "/CN=${HOST}/O=${HOST}" \
    -addext "subjectAltName = DNS:${HOST}, DNS:${HOST}.cluster.local"
 
-CERT_B64=`cat $TEMP_CERT | base64`
+CERT_B64="$(base64 < "${TEMP_CERT}")"
 
 echo "Recreating webhook secret"
 kubectl delete secret $WEBHOOK_SECRET_NAME --namespace $WEBHOOK_NAMESPACE
-kubectl create secret tls $WEBHOOK_SECRET_NAME --namespace $WEBHOOK_NAMESPACE --cert=${TEMP_CERT} --key=${TEMP_KEY}
+kubectl create secret tls $WEBHOOK_SECRET_NAME --namespace $WEBHOOK_NAMESPACE --cert="${TEMP_CERT}" --key="${TEMP_KEY}"
 
 echo "Patching webhook with new cert"
 kubectl patch mutatingwebhookconfigurations.admissionregistration.k8s.io $WEBHOOK_NAME \
     --namespace $WEBHOOK_NAMESPACE --type='json' \
     -p="[{'op': 'replace', 'path': '/webhooks/0/clientConfig/caBundle', 'value': '${CERT_B64}'}]"
 
-rm $TEMP_KEY $TEMP_CERT
+rm -f "${TEMP_KEY}" "${TEMP_CERT}"
 echo "Done"
\ No newline at end of file