diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-publish-containers.yml b/.github/workflows/build-publish-containers.yml
index 88b4266b..f54fb4cf 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-publish-containers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-publish-containers.yml
@@ -33,14 +33,12 @@ jobs:
       contents: read
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        tag: ['client:rocky8', 'build-node:debian11', 'build-node:debian12', 'build-node:debian13', 'client:ubuntu22.04-macOS-26']
+        tag: ['client:rocky8', 'build-node:debian12', 'build-node:debian13', 'client:ubuntu22.04-macOS-26']
         platform: [amd64, arm64, riscv64]
         exclude:
           # exclude images that don't support RISC-V
           - tag: client:rocky8
             platform: riscv64
-          - tag: build-node:debian11
-            platform: riscv64
           - tag: build-node:debian12
             platform: riscv64
           # limit the new macOS to arm64 only
@@ -105,7 +103,7 @@ jobs:
       contents: read
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        tag: ['client:rocky8', 'build-node:debian11', 'build-node:debian12', 'build-node:debian13', 'client:ubuntu22.04-macOS-26']
+        tag: ['client:rocky8', 'build-node:debian12', 'build-node:debian13', 'client:ubuntu22.04-macOS-26']
     steps:
       - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry
         if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
diff --git a/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-build-node-debian12 b/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-build-node-debian12
index 3f8c339d..a7e7265f 100644
--- a/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-build-node-debian12
+++ b/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-build-node-debian12
@@ -1,22 +1,25 @@
-ARG cvmfsversion=2.13.3
-ARG awscliversion=1.40.35
-ARG unionfsfuseversion=3.6
+ARG cvmfsversion=2.14.1
+ARG awscliversion=1.46.2
+ARG unionfsfuseversion=3.8
 
 
-FROM debian:12.11 AS prepare-deb
+FROM debian:12.15 AS prepare-deb
 ARG cvmfsversion
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 COPY ./containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh /build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh
 RUN sh /build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh ${cvmfsversion}
 
 
-FROM debian:12.11
+FROM debian:12.15
 ARG cvmfsversion
 ARG awscliversion
 ARG unionfsfuseversion
 
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
+
 COPY --from=prepare-deb /root/deb /root/deb
 
-RUN apt-get update
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y
 RUN apt-get install -y sudo vim openssh-client gawk autofs curl attr uuid fuse3 libfuse2 psmisc gdb uuid-dev lsof strace zstd
 # python3 and jq are required for eessi-upload-to-staging script (next to awscli)
 RUN apt-get install -y python3-pip jq
diff --git a/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-build-node-debian13 b/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-build-node-debian13
index 8b391821..5293fa90 100644
--- a/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-build-node-debian13
+++ b/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-build-node-debian13
@@ -1,22 +1,25 @@
-ARG cvmfsversion=2.13.3
-ARG awscliversion=1.45.52
-ARG unionfsfuseversion=3.7
+ARG cvmfsversion=2.14.1
+ARG awscliversion=1.46.2
+ARG unionfsfuseversion=3.8
 
 # see https://hub.docker.com/_/debian/tags?name=trixie-20&ordering=last_updated
-FROM debian:trixie-20260713-slim AS prepare-deb
+FROM debian:13.7-slim AS prepare-deb
 ARG cvmfsversion
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 COPY ./containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh /build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh
 RUN sh /build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh ${cvmfsversion}
 
 
-FROM debian:trixie-20260713-slim
+FROM debian:13.7-slim
 ARG cvmfsversion
 ARG awscliversion
 ARG unionfsfuseversion
 
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
+
 COPY --from=prepare-deb /root/deb /root/deb
 
-RUN apt-get update
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y
 RUN apt-get install -y sudo vim openssh-client gawk autofs curl attr uuid fuse3 libfuse2 psmisc gdb uuid-dev lsof strace zstd
 # python3 and jq are required for eessi-upload-to-staging script (next to awscli)
 RUN apt-get install -y python3-pip jq
diff --git a/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-client-rocky8 b/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-client-rocky8
index bd2b76e6..d64dc01f 100644
--- a/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-client-rocky8
+++ b/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-client-rocky8
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-ARG cvmfsversion=2.13.3
+ARG cvmfsversion=2.14.1
 # Stick to old version of fuse-overlayfs due to issues with newer versions
 # (cfr. https://github.com/containers/fuse-overlayfs/issues/232)
 ARG fuseoverlayfsversion=1.10
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ RUN sh /build-or-download-cvmfs-rpms.sh ${cvmfsversion}
 
 FROM rockylinux:8 AS build-fuse-overlayfs
 ARG fuseoverlayfsversion
+RUN yum update -y
 RUN yum install -y wget fuse3-devel autoconf automake gcc make tar
 RUN wget https://github.com/containers/fuse-overlayfs/archive/refs/tags/v${fuseoverlayfsversion}.tar.gz \
   && tar xzf v${fuseoverlayfsversion}.tar.gz \
@@ -24,8 +25,9 @@ ARG cvmfsversion
 COPY --from=prepare-rpm /root/rpmbuild/RPMS /root/rpmbuild/RPMS
 COPY --from=build-fuse-overlayfs /usr/local/bin/fuse-overlayfs /usr/local/bin/fuse-overlayfs
 
+RUN yum update -y
 RUN yum install -y sudo vim openssh-clients lsof strace squashfs-tools
-RUN elversion="$(rpm -q --queryformat '%{RELEASE}' rpm | cut -d '.' -f 2)" \
+RUN elversion="$(rpm -q --queryformat '%{RELEASE}' rpm | cut -d '.' -f 2 | cut -d '_' -f 1)" \
   && yum install -y /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/$(uname -m)/cvmfs-${cvmfsversion}-1.${elversion}.$(uname -m).rpm \
                     /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/$(uname -m)/cvmfs-fuse3-${cvmfsversion}-1.${elversion}.$(uname -m).rpm \
                     /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/$(uname -m)/cvmfs-libs-${cvmfsversion}-1.${elversion}.$(uname -m).rpm \
diff --git a/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-client-ubuntu22.04-macOS-26 b/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-client-ubuntu22.04-macOS-26
index 841b5005..58085224 100644
--- a/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-client-ubuntu22.04-macOS-26
+++ b/containers/Dockerfile.EESSI-client-ubuntu22.04-macOS-26
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ ARG GID=20
 
 RUN set -eux; \
     apt-get update -o Acquire::Retries=5 -o Acquire::http::Timeout=30; \
+    apt-get upgrade -y; \
     apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
         ca-certificates \
         wget \
diff --git a/containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh b/containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh
index 166b6bf3..ac52dc02 100644
--- a/containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh
+++ b/containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-debs.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 cvmfsversion=$1
 arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
 
-apt-get update
+apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y
 apt-get install -y wget lsb-release
 
 distro=$(lsb_release -si | tr [:upper:] [:lower:])
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ os="${distro}${release}"
 
 if [ "$arch" = "riscv64" ]
 then
-    apt-get install -y devscripts libfuse3-dev cmake cpio golang help2man libcap-dev libssl-dev libfuse-dev pkg-config libattr1-dev python3-dev python3-setuptools python3-dev python3-setuptools uuid-dev libz-dev lsb-release
+    apt-get install -y devscripts libfuse3-dev cmake cpio golang help2man libcap-dev libssl-dev libfuse-dev pkg-config libattr1-dev python3-dev python3-setuptools python3-dev python3-setuptools uuid-dev libz-dev lsb-release libarchive-dev nlohmann-json3-dev
     cd /tmp
     wget https://github.com/cvmfs/cvmfs/archive/refs/tags/cvmfs-${cvmfsversion}.tar.gz
     tar xzf cvmfs-${cvmfsversion}.tar.gz
diff --git a/containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-rpms.sh b/containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-rpms.sh
index d3a10ad6..45f15033 100644
--- a/containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-rpms.sh
+++ b/containers/build-or-download-cvmfs-rpms.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ cvmfsversion=$1
 arch=$(uname -m)
 
 yum install -y wget
-elversion="$(rpm -q --queryformat '%{RELEASE}' rpm | cut -d '.' -f 2)"
+yum update -y
+elversion="$(rpm -q --queryformat '%{RELEASE}' rpm | cut -d '.' -f 2 | cut -d '_' -f 1)"
 if [ "$arch" = "riscv64" ]
 then
     yum install -y epel-release