diff --git a/.github/resources/settings.xml b/.github/resources/settings.xml
index 53e482738..14a8a39f0 100644
--- a/.github/resources/settings.xml
+++ b/.github/resources/settings.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
       <properties>
         <gpg.executable>gpg</gpg.executable>
         <gpg.keyname>${env.GPG_KEY_ID}</gpg.keyname>
-        <gpg.passphrase>${env.GPG_PASSPHRASE}</gpg.passphrase>
       </properties>
     </profile>
   </profiles>
diff --git a/.github/scripts/publish_artifacts.sh b/.github/scripts/publish_artifacts.sh
index 5da0f32a4..2c764e203 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/publish_artifacts.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/publish_artifacts.sh
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ gpg --import --no-tty --batch --yes firebase.asc
 #  4. Publishes artifacts via Central Publisher Portal (deploy phase)
 mvn -B clean deploy \
   -Dcheckstyle.skip \
-  -DskipTests \
+  -Dmaven.test.skip=true \
   -Prelease \
   --settings .github/resources/settings.xml
 
diff --git a/.github/scripts/publish_preflight_check.sh b/.github/scripts/publish_preflight_check.sh
index 7c23eba57..5069b5679 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/publish_preflight_check.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/publish_preflight_check.sh
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ echo_info "--------------------------------------------"
 echo_info ""
 
 echo_info "Loading version from: pom.xml"
-readonly RELEASE_VERSION=`mvn help:evaluate -Dexpression=project.version -q -DforceStdout` || true
+readonly RELEASE_VERSION=$(python3 -c "import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET; ns = {'m': 'http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0'}; print(ET.parse('pom.xml').getroot().find('m:version', ns).text)") || true
 if [[ -z "${RELEASE_VERSION}" ]]; then
   echo_warn "Failed to extract release version from: pom.xml"
   terminate
@@ -97,10 +97,6 @@ echo_info "Checking release tag"
 echo_info "--------------------------------------------"
 echo_info ""
 
-echo_info "---< git fetch --depth=1 origin +refs/tags/*:refs/tags/* >---"
-git fetch --depth=1 origin +refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*
-echo ""
-
 readonly EXISTING_TAG=`git rev-parse -q --verify "refs/tags/v${RELEASE_VERSION}"` || true
 if [[ -n "${EXISTING_TAG}" ]]; then
   echo_warn "Tag v${RELEASE_VERSION} already exists. Exiting."
@@ -122,10 +118,6 @@ echo_info "Generating changelog"
 echo_info "--------------------------------------------"
 echo_info ""
 
-echo_info "---< git fetch origin main --prune --unshallow >---"
-git fetch origin main --prune --unshallow
-echo ""
-
 echo_info "Generating changelog from history..."
 readonly CURRENT_DIR=$(dirname "$0")
 readonly CHANGELOG=`${CURRENT_DIR}/generate_changelog.sh`
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 4c3d6ac73..78066c1c3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -24,13 +24,14 @@ jobs:
         java-version: [8, 11, 17]
 
     steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4.3.1
+    - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
 
     - name: Set up JDK
-      uses: actions/setup-java@c1e323688fd81a25caa38c78aa6df2d33d3e20d9 # v4.8.0
+      uses: actions/setup-java@be666c2fcd27ec809703dec50e508c2fdc7f6654 # v5.2.0
       with:
         distribution: 'zulu'
         java-version: ${{ matrix.java-version }}
+        cache: 'maven'
 
     # Does the following:
     #  1. Runs the Checkstyle plugin (validate phase)
diff --git a/.github/workflows/nightly.yml b/.github/workflows/nightly.yml
index 5026f2580..d1799478b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nightly.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nightly.yml
@@ -29,15 +29,16 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
     - name: Checkout source for staging
-      uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4.3.1
+      uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
       with:
         ref: ${{ github.event.client_payload.ref || github.ref }}
 
     - name: Set up JDK 8
-      uses: actions/setup-java@c1e323688fd81a25caa38c78aa6df2d33d3e20d9 # v4.8.0
+      uses: actions/setup-java@be666c2fcd27ec809703dec50e508c2fdc7f6654 # v5.2.0
       with:
         distribution: 'zulu'
         java-version: 8
+        cache: 'maven'
 
     - name: Compile, test and package
       run: ./.github/scripts/package_artifacts.sh
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 0be2d122c..83be625e1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -46,13 +46,14 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
     - name: Checkout source for staging
-      uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4.3.1
+      uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
 
     - name: Set up JDK 8
-      uses: actions/setup-java@c1e323688fd81a25caa38c78aa6df2d33d3e20d9 # v4.8.0
+      uses: actions/setup-java@be666c2fcd27ec809703dec50e508c2fdc7f6654 # v5.2.0
       with:
         distribution: 'zulu'
         java-version: 8
+        cache: 'maven'
 
     - name: Compile, test and package
       run: ./.github/scripts/package_artifacts.sh
@@ -86,13 +87,17 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
     - name: Checkout source for publish
-      uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4.3.1
+      uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
+      with:
+        fetch-depth: 0
+        fetch-tags: true
 
     - name: Set up JDK 8
-      uses: actions/setup-java@c1e323688fd81a25caa38c78aa6df2d33d3e20d9 # v4.8.0
+      uses: actions/setup-java@be666c2fcd27ec809703dec50e508c2fdc7f6654 # v5.2.0
       with:
         distribution: 'zulu'
         java-version: 8
+        cache: 'maven'
 
     - name: Publish preflight check
       id: preflight
@@ -112,7 +117,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Publish to Maven Central
       run: ./.github/scripts/publish_artifacts.sh
       env:
-        GPG_PASSPHRASE: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
+        MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
         GPG_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
         GPG_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.GPG_KEY_ID }}
         CENTRAL_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.CENTRAL_USERNAME }}