Node version upgrades on GKE clusters which are not linked to any Release Channel

I understand from documents that Kubernetes on master will be auto upgraded by GKE team, regardless of cluster belonging to any Channel or not.

Question is about upgrade of Kubernetes versions on Node whose cluster is not subscribed to any of the Release Channel

  • What happens to node, when it was 2 minor versions behind control plane’s K8s version ? Will it get auto upgraded or what will be the behavior ?
  • Will “No Channel” clusters get security patches (I hope so) ?

Thanks in anticipation.