Management API endpoints (8081) non-responsive in MVD 0.17.0 KinD deployment

We are deploying Eclipse EDC Minimum Viable Dataspace (MVD) version 0.17.0 on Kubernetes (KinD) for research purposes. After multiple deployment attempts, we consistently encounter non-responsive management API endpoints.

Setup:

• Eclipse EDC MVD version: 0.17.0 (stable tag)
• Deployment: KinD cluster (Kubernetes v1.35.0)
• Images: Pre-built from ghcr.io/eclipse-edc/
• All pods healthy (1/1 Running, seed jobs Completed)
• Port-forwards active

Issue:
Management API endpoints return no response or 404 errors:

GET https://localhost:8081/api/mgmt/assets → 404 Not Found
GET https://localhost:8081/api/mgmt/ → 404 Not Found
GET https://localhost:8081/api/v3/assets → 404 Not Found

Controlplane logs show management API extensions started successfully:

Started Management API: Asset
Started Management API: Catalog
Started Management API: Contract Agreement
... (all management API extensions loaded)

However, HTTP requests to these endpoints fail. Testing from inside the pod yields the same 404 responses, ruling out port-forward issues.

Environment:

• Ubuntu 24.04
• KinD v0.x
• kubectl version: 1.x
• Docker: latest

Steps to reproduce:

1. Fresh KinD cluster: kind create cluster --name mvd
2. Install Gateway API CRDs: kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/gateway-api/releases/download/v1.0.0/standard-install.yaml
3. Clone and deploy: git clone <repo>; cd MinimumViableDataspace; git checkout 0.17.0; kubectl apply -k k8s/
4. Wait for pods to be Ready
5. Port-forward: kubectl port-forward -n provider svc/controlplane 8080:8081
6. Test: curl -k https://localhost:8080/api/mgmt/assets

Expected: Asset list or empty array []
Actual: 404 Not Found or connection reset

Question:

Is this a known issue in 0.17.0? Are there workarounds or a recommended version that resolves this?

Reproduce the failure from the k8s/ deployment using the listed KinD setup and curl requests, then inspect the controlplane service and its startup logs for the management API paths. Compare the configured endpoints with the requested paths and verify requests from inside the pod. Done means the documented management endpoint returns an asset list or an empty array instead of 404.