Status condition LastTransitionTime updates on every reconcile even when status is unchanged

[madhu-guptask]

Describe the bug
The Healthy status condition on VaultStaticSecret updates its LastTransitionTime on every reconciliation, even when the condition status has not changed (remains True).

• This violates the https://pkg.go.dev/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1#Condition, which states it should only update when the condition status transitions.
• It contradicts the CRD spec of vaultstaticsecret.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Deploy a K8S secret and other custom resources as per the application deployment.
2. Wait for the initial sync to complete.
3. Wait upto refreshAfter time.
4. Observe the Healthy condition's LastTransitionTime changes on every refreshAfter interval.

I have not observed any errors in the status field or the operator log. There is no need to have a deployment or argo.Rollout.

Application deployment:

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/component: secret-sync
    app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: hashicorp-vso
    app.kubernetes.io/name: vault-secrets-operator
  name: secret1
  namespace: vault-secrets-operator
type: Opaque
---
apiVersion: secrets.hashicorp.com/v1beta1
kind: VaultStaticSecret
metadata:
  namespace: vault-secrets-operator
  name: vaultstaticsecret-sample-tenant-1
spec:
  vaultAuthRef: mango-banana
  mount: kvv2
  type: kv-v2
  path: path
  refreshAfter: 10s
  destination:
    name: secret1
---
apiVersion: secrets.hashicorp.com/v1beta1
kind: VaultAuth
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/name: vaultauth
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: vaultauth-sample
    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: vault-secrets-operator
    app.kubernetes.io/created-by: vault-secrets-operator
  name: mango-banana
  namespace: vault-secrets-operator
spec:
  vaultConnectionRef: default
  method: kubernetes
  mount: mango-banana
  kubernetes:
    role: mango-banana-mango
    serviceAccount: default
---

apiVersion: secrets.hashicorp.com/v1beta1
kind: VaultConnection
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/name: vaultconnection
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: vaultconnection-sample
    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: vault-secrets-operator
    app.kubernetes.io/created-by: vault-secrets-operator
  name: default
  namespace: vault-secrets-operator
spec:
  address:  https://localhost:9876
  skipTLSVerify: true

Health condition of vaultstaticsecret

% echo && \
date && \
kubectl describe vaultstaticsecret vaultstaticsecret-sample-tenant-1 -n vault-secrets-operator | grep -A 12 Conditions && \
date && \
echo "sleep 11" && \
sleep 11 && \
date && \
kubectl describe vaultstaticsecret vaultstaticsecret-sample-tenant-1 -n vault-secrets-operator | grep -A 12 Conditions

Fri Mar  6 10:36:34 CET 2026
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time:  2026-03-06T09:21:51Z                                          # here
    Message:               Secret synced, horizon=8.111056765s
    Observed Generation:   3
    Reason:                Synced
    Status:                True
    Type:                  SecretSynced
    Last Transition Time:  2026-03-06T09:36:35Z                                          # here
    Message:               VaultStaticSecretHealthy
    Observed Generation:   3
    Reason:                Healthy
    Status:                True
    Type:                  Healthy
Fri Mar  6 10:36:35 CET 2026
sleep 11
Fri Mar  6 10:36:46 CET 2026
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time:  2026-03-06T09:21:51Z                                          # here
    Message:               Secret synced, horizon=8.111056765s
    Observed Generation:   3
    Reason:                Synced
    Status:                True
    Type:                  SecretSynced
    Last Transition Time:  2026-03-06T09:36:43Z                                          # here
    Message:               VaultStaticSecretHealthy
    Observed Generation:   3
    Reason:                Healthy
    Status:                True
    Type:                  Healthy

Expected behavior
LastTransitionTime should remain unchanged across reconciliations when the condition status has not transitioned.

Environment

• Kubernetes version:
  • Distribution or cloud vendor (OpenShift, EKS, GKE, AKS, etc.): EKS-1.33
  • Other configuration options or runtime services (istio, etc.): Not applicable
• vault-secrets-operator version: v1.2.0

[madhu-guptask]

We'd be happy to contribute a fix for this. Please let us know what approach you would like.