diff --git a/.github/workflows/on.pr.yml b/.github/workflows/on.pr.yml
index 446f477..05f8a85 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/on.pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/on.pr.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ on:
       - main
     paths:
       - 'api/**'
+      - 'Dockerfile'
+      - '.github/workflows/*'
 jobs:
   quality_profile:
 
@@ -20,11 +22,12 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0  # Shallow clones should be disabled for a better relevancy of analysis
-      - name: Set up JDK 18
+      - name: Set up JDK 21
         uses: actions/setup-java@v4
         with:
           distribution: 'corretto'
-          java-version: 18
+          java-version: '21'
+          check-latest: true
       - uses: actions/cache@v4
         with:
           path: ~/.m2/repository
@@ -33,11 +36,6 @@ jobs:
             ${{ runner.os }}-maven-5Jun-
       - name: Run unit tests
         run: mvn -f pom.xml clean package
-      - name: Set up JDK 21 for Sonar
-        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
-        with:
-          distribution: 'corretto'
-          java-version: 21
       - name: Cache SonarCloud packages
         uses: actions/cache@v4
         with:
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 2c40f3c..142ba82 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-FROM artifacts.developer.gov.bc.ca/docker-remote/maven:3.8.7-openjdk-18 as build
+FROM artifacts.developer.gov.bc.ca/docker-remote/maven:3.9.9-amazoncorretto-21-alpine AS maven
+
+# Use the timezone-patched JDK for both compilation and the final runtime.
+FROM artifacts.developer.gov.bc.ca/docker-remote/amazoncorretto:21.0.12-alpine3.23 AS build
+COPY --from=maven /usr/share/maven /usr/share/maven
+ENV PATH="/usr/share/maven/bin:${PATH}"
 WORKDIR /workspace/app
 
 COPY api/pom.xml .
@@ -6,17 +11,17 @@ COPY api/src src
 RUN mvn package -DskipTests
 RUN mkdir -p target/dependency && (cd target/dependency; jar -xf ../*.jar)
 
-FROM artifacts.developer.gov.bc.ca/docker-remote/openjdk:18.0.2.1-jdk-oracle
-RUN useradd -ms /bin/bash spring && mkdir -p /logs && chown -R spring:spring /logs && chmod 755 /logs
+FROM artifacts.developer.gov.bc.ca/docker-remote/amazoncorretto:21.0.12-alpine3.23
+RUN adduser -D -h /home/spring -s /bin/sh spring && mkdir -p /logs && chown -R spring:spring /logs && chmod 755 /logs
 USER spring
 VOLUME /tmp
 ARG DEPENDENCY=/workspace/app/target/dependency
 COPY --from=build ${DEPENDENCY}/BOOT-INF/lib /app/lib
 COPY --from=build ${DEPENDENCY}/META-INF /app/META-INF
 COPY --from=build ${DEPENDENCY}/BOOT-INF/classes /app
-ENTRYPOINT ["java","-Duser.name=EDUC_GRAD_RULE_ENGINE_API","-Xms512m","-Xmx512m","-noverify","-XX:TieredStopAtLevel=1",\
+ENTRYPOINT ["java","-Duser.name=EDUC_GRAD_RULE_ENGINE_API","-Xms512m","-Xmx512m","-XX:TieredStopAtLevel=1",\
             "-XX:+UseParallelGC","-XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=20","-XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=40","-XX:GCTimeRatio=4",\
-            "-XX:AdaptiveSizePolicyWeight=90","-XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=100m","-XX:ParallelGCThreads=1",\
+            "-XX:AdaptiveSizePolicyWeight=90","-XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=300m","-XX:ParallelGCThreads=1",\
             "-Djava.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.common.parallelism=1","-XX:CICompilerCount=2",\
             "-XX:+ExitOnOutOfMemoryError","-Djava.security.egd=file:/dev/./urandom",\
             "-Dspring.backgroundpreinitializer.ignore=true","-cp","app:app/lib/*",\
diff --git a/api/pom.xml b/api/pom.xml
index 9654673..fd46f10 100644
--- a/api/pom.xml
+++ b/api/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
-        <version>3.0.2</version>
+        <version>3.0.13</version>
         <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
     </parent>
     <groupId>ca.bc.gov.educ</groupId>
@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@
 			src/main/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/api/ruleengine/util/**,
 			src/main/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/api/ruleengine/controller/APIMetadataController.java
 		</sonar.exclusions>
-		<java.version>18</java.version>
+		<java.version>21</java.version>
+		<lombok.version>1.18.32</lombok.version>
+		<jacoco.version>0.8.12</jacoco.version>
+		<byte-buddy.version>1.14.19</byte-buddy.version>
 		<maven.compiler.version>3.10.1</maven.compiler.version>
 		<maven.compiler.source>${java.version}</maven.compiler.source>
 		<maven.compiler.target>${java.version}</maven.compiler.target>
@@ -204,12 +207,12 @@
                 <plugin>
                     <groupId>org.sonarsource.scanner.maven</groupId>
                     <artifactId>sonar-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                    <version>3.9.1.2184</version>
+                    <version>5.8.0.7211</version>
                 </plugin>
                 <plugin>
                     <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
                     <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                    <version>0.8.8</version>
+                    <version>${jacoco.version}</version>
                 </plugin>
                 <plugin>
                     <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
@@ -262,7 +265,14 @@
                     <plugin>
                         <groupId>org.hibernate.orm.tooling</groupId>
                         <artifactId>hibernate-enhance-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <version>6.1.1.Final</version>
+                        <version>${hibernate.version}</version>
+                        <dependencies>
+                            <dependency>
+                                <groupId>net.bytebuddy</groupId>
+                                <artifactId>byte-buddy</artifactId>
+                                <version>${byte-buddy.version}</version>
+                            </dependency>
+                        </dependencies>
                         <executions>
                             <execution>
                                 <configuration>