diff --git a/server/etcdserver/apply_v2v3.go b/server/etcdserver/apply_v2v3.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2113538ba96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/etcdserver/apply_v2v3.go
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The etcd Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package etcdserver
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"path"
+	"time"
+	"unicode/utf8"
+
+	"github.com/coreos/go-semver/semver"
+	pb "go.etcd.io/etcd/api/v3/etcdserverpb"
+	"go.etcd.io/etcd/server/v3/etcdserver/api"
+	"go.etcd.io/etcd/server/v3/etcdserver/api/membership"
+	"go.etcd.io/etcd/server/v3/etcdserver/errors"
+	"go.etcd.io/etcd/server/v3/etcdserver/txn"
+
+	"go.uber.org/zap"
+)
+
+const v2Version = "v2"
+
+type RequestV2 pb.Request
+
+func (r *RequestV2) String() string {
+	rpb := pb.Request(*r)
+	return rpb.String()
+}
+
+// ApplierV2ToV3Backend is the interface for processing V2 raft messages and apply it to v3 backend. This is meant to handle publish requests from 3.5. To be removed in 3.7
+type ApplierV2ToV3 interface {
+	Put(r *RequestV2) Response
+}
+
+func NewApplierV2ToV3(lg *zap.Logger, c *membership.RaftCluster) ApplierV2ToV3 {
+	if lg == nil {
+		lg = zap.NewNop()
+	}
+	return &applierV2ToV3{lg: lg, cluster: c}
+}
+
+type applierV2ToV3 struct {
+	lg      *zap.Logger
+	cluster *membership.RaftCluster
+}
+
+func (s *EtcdServer) applyV2RequestToV3(r *RequestV2) (resp Response) {
+	stringer := panicAlternativeStringer{
+		stringer:    r,
+		alternative: func() string { return fmt.Sprintf("id:%d,method:%s,path:%s", r.ID, r.Method, r.Path) },
+	}
+	defer func(start time.Time) {
+		if !utf8.ValidString(r.Method) {
+			s.lg.Info("method is not valid utf-8")
+			return
+		}
+		success := resp.Err == nil
+		txn.ApplySecObserve(v2Version, r.Method, success, time.Since(start))
+		txn.WarnOfExpensiveRequest(s.Logger(), s.Cfg.WarningApplyDuration, start, stringer, nil, nil)
+	}(time.Now())
+
+	switch r.Method {
+	case "PUT":
+		return s.applyV2ToV3.Put(r)
+	default:
+		// This should never be reached, but just in case:
+		return Response{Err: errors.ErrUnknownMethod}
+	}
+}
+
+func (a *applierV2ToV3) Put(r *RequestV2) Response {
+	if storeMemberAttributeRegexp.MatchString(r.Path) {
+		id := membership.MustParseMemberIDFromKey(a.lg, path.Dir(r.Path))
+		var attr membership.Attributes
+		if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(r.Val), &attr); err != nil {
+			a.lg.Panic("failed to unmarshal", zap.String("value", r.Val), zap.Error(err))
+		}
+		if a.cluster != nil {
+			a.cluster.UpdateAttributes(id, attr, true)
+		}
+		// return an empty response since there is no consumer.
+		return Response{}
+	}
+	// TODO remove v2 version set to avoid the conflict between v2 and v3 in etcd 3.6
+	if r.Path == membership.StoreClusterVersionKey() {
+		if a.cluster != nil {
+			// persist to backend given v2store can be very stale
+			a.cluster.SetVersion(semver.Must(semver.NewVersion(r.Val)), api.UpdateCapability, true)
+		}
+		return Response{}
+	}
+	a.lg.Panic("unexpected v2 Put request")
+	return Response{}
+}
diff --git a/server/etcdserver/server.go b/server/etcdserver/server.go
index 9bed8e57c30..61bb02d0bf9 100644
--- a/server/etcdserver/server.go
+++ b/server/etcdserver/server.go
@@ -241,6 +241,8 @@ type EtcdServer struct {
 
 	snapshotter *snap.Snapshotter
 
+	applyV2ToV3 ApplierV2ToV3
+
 	uberApply apply.UberApplier
 
 	applyWait wait.WaitTime
@@ -329,6 +331,7 @@ func NewServer(cfg config.ServerConfig) (srv *EtcdServer, err error) {
 	}
 	serverID.With(prometheus.Labels{"server_id": b.cluster.nodeID.String()}).Set(1)
 	srv.cluster.SetVersionChangedNotifier(srv.clusterVersionChanged)
+	srv.applyV2ToV3 = NewApplierV2ToV3(cfg.Logger, srv.cluster)
 
 	srv.be = b.storage.backend.be
 	srv.beHooks = b.storage.backend.beHooks
@@ -1872,14 +1875,16 @@ func (s *EtcdServer) applyEntryNormal(e *raftpb.Entry) {
 		var r pb.Request
 		rp := &r
 		pbutil.MustUnmarshal(rp, e.Data)
-		s.lg.Debug("applyEntryNormal", zap.Stringer("V2request", rp))
-		s.lg.Warn("V2request applyEntryNormal will be dropped", zap.Stringer("raftReq", &raftReq))
+		s.lg.Debug("applyEntryNormal", zap.Stringer("V2request handled", rp))
+		//TODO remove this for 3.7. This handles the publish request from 3.5 members.
+		s.w.Trigger(r.ID, s.applyV2RequestToV3((*RequestV2)(rp)))
 		return
 	}
 	s.lg.Debug("applyEntryNormal", zap.Stringer("raftReq", &raftReq))
 
 	if raftReq.V2 != nil {
-		s.lg.Warn("V2 applyEntryNormal will be dropped", zap.Stringer("raftReq", &raftReq))
+		req := (*RequestV2)(raftReq.V2)
+		s.lg.Debug("applyEntryNormal", zap.Stringer("V2request dropped", req))
 		return
 	}