diff --git a/api/kubernetes/cli/server_version.go b/api/kubernetes/cli/server_version.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b529c22f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/kubernetes/cli/server_version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+package cli
+
+import "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/version"
+
+func (kcl *KubeClient) ServerVersion() (*version.Info, error) {
+	return kcl.cli.Discovery().ServerVersion()
+}
diff --git a/api/pendingactions/pendingactions.go b/api/pendingactions/pendingactions.go
index be5a466f0..0bc4c0def 100644
--- a/api/pendingactions/pendingactions.go
+++ b/api/pendingactions/pendingactions.go
@@ -73,8 +73,16 @@ func (service *PendingActionsService) Execute(id portainer.EndpointID) {
 			return
 		}
 	} else {
-		// For Kubernetes endpoints, we need to check if the client can be created
-		if _, err := service.kubeFactory.GetKubeClient(endpoint); err != nil {
+		// For Kubernetes endpoints, we need to check if the endpoint is up by
+		// creating a kube client and performing a simple operation
+		client, err := service.kubeFactory.GetKubeClient(endpoint)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Debug().Msgf("failed to create Kubernetes client for environment %d: %v", id, err)
+			return
+		}
+
+		if _, err = client.ServerVersion(); err != nil {
+			log.Debug().Err(err).Msgf("Environment %q (id: %d) is not up", endpoint.Name, id)
 			return
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/api/portainer.go b/api/portainer.go
index 9ffcb9a3b..3c6da319f 100644
--- a/api/portainer.go
+++ b/api/portainer.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/portainer/portainer/pkg/featureflags"
 	"golang.org/x/oauth2"
 	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/version"
 )
 
 type (
@@ -1487,6 +1488,8 @@ type (
 
 	// KubeClient represents a service used to query a Kubernetes environment(endpoint)
 	KubeClient interface {
+		ServerVersion() (*version.Info, error)
+
 		SetupUserServiceAccount(userID int, teamIDs []int, restrictDefaultNamespace bool) error
 		IsRBACEnabled() (bool, error)
 		GetServiceAccount(tokendata *TokenData) (*v1.ServiceAccount, error)