diff --git a/contrib/ansible/cri-containerd.yaml b/contrib/ansible/cri-containerd.yaml
index 3eb70c6f6..512458b55 100644
--- a/contrib/ansible/cri-containerd.yaml
+++ b/contrib/ansible/cri-containerd.yaml
@@ -56,6 +56,6 @@
     # TODO This needs to be removed once we have consistent concurrent pull results
     - name: "Pre-pull pause container image"
       shell: |
-        /usr/local/bin/ctr pull gcr.io/google_containers/pause:3.0
+        /usr/local/bin/ctr pull gcr.io/google_containers/pause:3.1
         /usr/local/bin/crictl --runtime-endpoint /run/containerd/containerd.sock \
-        pull gcr.io/google_containers/pause:3.0
+        pull gcr.io/google_containers/pause:3.1
diff --git a/integration/test_utils.go b/integration/test_utils.go
index 66912ea17..4a98b0c60 100644
--- a/integration/test_utils.go
+++ b/integration/test_utils.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ import (
 
 const (
 	timeout            = 1 * time.Minute
-	pauseImage         = "gcr.io/google_containers/pause:3.0" // This is the same with default sandbox image.
+	pauseImage         = "gcr.io/google_containers/pause:3.1" // This is the same with default sandbox image.
 	k8sNamespace       = constants.K8sContainerdNamespace
 	containerdEndpoint = "/run/containerd/containerd.sock"
 )
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 8a0ad327f..53dfa2da9 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ func DefaultConfig() PluginConfig {
 		StreamServerAddress: "",
 		StreamServerPort:    "10010",
 		EnableSelinux:       false,
-		SandboxImage:        "gcr.io/google_containers/pause:3.0",
+		SandboxImage:        "gcr.io/google_containers/pause:3.1",
 		StatsCollectPeriod:  10,
 		SystemdCgroup:       false,
 		Registry: Registry{