[Bug] Termination protection enabled by default in eksctl v0.218.0+ with no config flag to disable

[akusingh-tibco]

Starting with eksctl v0.218.0, CloudFormation termination protection is enabled by default for EKS clusters. There is currently no flag or configuration option in the eksctl cluster config to disable this behavior.
This change impacts cluster lifecycle operations and blocks automated cleanup and recreation workflows.

Impact
Clusters created with eksctl v0.218.0+ cannot be deleted without manually disabling termination protection.
Breaks CI CD and automation pipelines that assume clean cluster deletion.

Expected Behavior
eksctl should provide a configurable option to control CloudFormation termination protection at cluster creation time.

Example expectation in eksctl cluster config:

• Ability to explicitly disable termination protection
• Behavior configurable per cluster
• No manual CloudFormation intervention required

Actual Behavior

• Termination protection is enabled by default
• No eksctl config flag or schema option exists to disable it
• Not documented in the public eksctl schema https://schema.eksctl.io/

Request
Please introduce a flag or config option in eksctl to control CloudFormation termination protection during cluster creation, for example:

• A boolean flag in eksctl cluster config
• Default behavior should be configurable
• Applied at stack creation time only
  This is critical for automated environments and upcoming Kubernetes version upgrades.

[github-actions]

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[kprahulraj]

@akusingh-tibco thanks for raising this issue. I'll take a look and reproduce and provide an update