diff --git a/.github/actions/compute-version/action.yml b/.github/actions/compute-version/action.yml
index 7db187ee..98b7a521 100644
--- a/.github/actions/compute-version/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/compute-version/action.yml
@@ -65,9 +65,9 @@ runs:
         HEAD_SHA="$(git rev-parse HEAD)"
 
         # Highest release tag that is a proper ancestor of HEAD. Two filters:
-        #   * skip tags ON HEAD — keeps the computation stable even if
-        #     release.yml already tagged this same push (avoids an empty commit
-        #     range -> a false "none" bump).
+        #   * skip tags ON HEAD — if release.yml already tagged this same push,
+        #     we must still base off the PREVIOUS release, not HEAD's own tag,
+        #     so re-running recomputes the same version instead of bumping again.
         #   * skip tags NOT reachable from HEAD — so re-running an OLDER commit
         #     after a newer release exists doesn't pick that newer, unrelated
         #     tag as its base (it would compute a wrong/backwards version).
@@ -84,10 +84,8 @@ runs:
 
         if [ -n "$LATEST" ]; then
           BASE="${LATEST#v}"
-          RANGE="${LATEST}..HEAD"
         else
           BASE="$FALLBACK"
-          RANGE=""
         fi
 
         # Detect the Conventional Commits bump level for a block of text.
@@ -109,13 +107,11 @@ runs:
           # Squash merge: the PR title is the future main commit subject.
           BUMP="$(detect_bump "$PR_TITLE")"
         else
-          # Push/release: read the actual commits landed since the base.
-          if [ -n "$RANGE" ]; then
-            LOG="$(git log "$RANGE" --pretty=format:'%s%n%b%n--END--')"
-          else
-            LOG="$(git log --pretty=format:'%s%n%b%n--END--')"
-          fi
-          BUMP="$(detect_bump "$LOG")"
+          # Push/release: we squash-merge, so HEAD is the single commit that
+          # just landed on main and its SUBJECT is the PR title. Detect the
+          # bump from that subject ONLY.
+          SUBJECT="$(git log -1 --pretty=format:'%s')"
+          BUMP="$(detect_bump "$SUBJECT")"
         fi
 
         IFS='.' read -r MAJOR MINOR PATCH <<<"$BASE"
diff --git a/.github/actions/docker-setup/action.yml b/.github/actions/docker-setup/action.yml
index e036de15..5a307a7b 100644
--- a/.github/actions/docker-setup/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/docker-setup/action.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ inputs:
     description: 'Maximum parallelism for Docker Build'
     required: false
     default: 8
+  cache-key:
+    description: 'Sticky-disk cache lineage key. Use a distinct value per image family (e.g. base, pytorch, rocm) so families do not thrash each other''s BuildKit cache. Required by setup-docker-builder v2.'
+    required: true
 
 runs:
   using: 'composite'
@@ -63,9 +66,10 @@ runs:
         password: ${{ inputs.dockerhub-token }}
 
     - name: Set up Docker Build
-      uses: useblacksmith/setup-docker-builder@ab5c1da94f53f5cd75c1038092aa276dddfccbba
+      uses: useblacksmith/setup-docker-builder@1e75355f81cbb3f93cba1eb5dd5e5b05110ca8f9 # v2.0.1
       with:
         max-parallelism: ${{ inputs.max-parallelism }}
+        cache-key: ${{ inputs.cache-key }}
 
     - name: Inspect buildx builder
       shell: bash
diff --git a/.github/actions/grype/action.yml b/.github/actions/grype/action.yml
index c7020a3a..42f915b5 100644
--- a/.github/actions/grype/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/grype/action.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: Grype
-description: "Scan Docker images with Grype. For now it's report-only and doesn't fail the build, until we fix the vulnerabilities."
+description: "Scan Docker images with Grype. Report-only by default; set fail-on-findings to fail the build on CRITICAL/HIGH (fixed) vulnerabilities."
 
 inputs:
   image-refs:
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ inputs:
     description: "Maximum number of Grype scans to run concurrently"
     required: false
     default: "2"
+  fail-on-findings:
+    description: "When 'true', fail the build if any CRITICAL/HIGH (fixed) vulnerabilities are found. When 'false' (default), only report them."
+    required: false
+    default: "false"
 
 runs:
   using: composite
@@ -42,6 +46,7 @@ runs:
       env:
         IMAGE_REFS: ${{ inputs.image-refs }}
         MAX_PARALLEL_SCANS: ${{ inputs.max-parallel-scans }}
+        FAIL_ON_FINDINGS: ${{ inputs.fail-on-findings }}
       run: |
         set -uo pipefail
         mapfile -t refs < <(echo "${IMAGE_REFS}" | jq -r '.[]')
@@ -102,7 +107,10 @@ runs:
         if [ ${#failed[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
           echo "::error::Grype found CRITICAL/HIGH vulnerabilities in:"
           printf '  - %s\n' "${failed[@]}"
-          # exit 1 # TODO: Uncomment this when we fix the vulnerabilities
+          if [ "${FAIL_ON_FINDINGS}" = "true" ]; then
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "fail-on-findings is not enabled; reporting only."
         else
           echo "All images clean of CRITICAL/HIGH (fixed) vulnerabilities."
         fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/base.yml b/.github/workflows/base.yml
index f62c4684..3119a2e1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/base.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/base.yml
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           dockerhub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           dockerhub-token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
+          cache-key: ${{ github.repository }}/base
 
       - name: Build base images
         id: build
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: ./.github/actions/grype
         with:
           image-refs: ${{ steps.refs.outputs.refs }}
+          fail-on-findings: "true"
 
       - name: Push images
         uses: ./.github/actions/docker-push
@@ -176,6 +178,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           dockerhub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           dockerhub-token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
+          cache-key: ${{ github.repository }}/autoresearch
 
       - name: Build autoresearch images
         id: build
@@ -334,6 +337,7 @@ jobs:
           dockerhub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           dockerhub-token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
           max-parallelism: 6
+          cache-key: ${{ github.repository }}/pytorch-${{ matrix.cuda }}
 
       - name: Build pytorch images (${{ matrix.cuda }})
         id: build
@@ -364,6 +368,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: ./.github/actions/grype
         with:
           image-refs: ${{ steps.refs.outputs.refs }}
+          fail-on-findings: "true"
 
       - name: Push images
         if: github.event_name != 'pull_request' || steps.changes.outputs.pytorch_any_changed == 'true'
@@ -497,6 +502,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           dockerhub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           dockerhub-token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
+          cache-key: ${{ github.repository }}/cluster-${{ matrix.cuda }}
 
       - name: Build cluster images (${{ matrix.cuda }})
         id: build
diff --git a/.github/workflows/manual-release.yml b/.github/workflows/manual-release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2641cfba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/manual-release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+name: Manual Release (break-glass)
+
+# BREAK-GLASS ONLY. Use this when a version's images were ALREADY built and
+# pushed by a prior "Build and Release" run, but that run's `release` job got
+# stuck in `skipped` — e.g. a flaky build failed and turned the strict
+# release gate false, and GitHub's "Re-run failed jobs" never resurrects a
+# job that ended up `skipped` (only `failure`/`cancelled` ones). See
+# release.yml. This workflow does NOT build, scan, sign or push anything; it
+# only creates the git tag + GitHub Release the stuck run failed to publish.
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      tag:
+        description: "Exact tag to publish, e.g. v1.1.0. Images for this version MUST already be built and pushed."
+        required: true
+        type: string
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+# Share the push-release lane from release.yml (group is a cross-workflow
+# string) so a manual release can't run while a real push release is in
+# flight for main.
+concurrency:
+  group: "Build and Release-main-release"
+  cancel-in-progress: false
+
+jobs:
+  release:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+    steps:
+      - name: Guard — main only
+        if: github.ref != 'refs/heads/main'
+        run: |
+          echo "::error::Manual release must be run from main (got ${{ github.ref }})"
+          exit 1
+
+      - name: Validate tag input
+        env:
+          TAG: ${{ inputs.tag }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          if ! [[ "$TAG" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+            echo "::error::tag must look like vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (got '$TAG')"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-tags: true
+
+      - name: Ensure tag does not already exist
+        env:
+          TAG: ${{ inputs.tag }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          git fetch --tags --force --quiet
+          if git rev-parse -q --verify "refs/tags/${TAG}" >/dev/null; then
+            echo "::error::tag ${TAG} already exists — nothing to do (release already published?)"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+      - name: Create tag and GitHub Release
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@3d0d9888cb7fd7b750713d6e236d1fcb99157228
+        with:
+          tag_name: ${{ inputs.tag }}
+          name: ${{ inputs.tag }}
+          target_commitish: ${{ github.sha }}
+          generate_release_notes: true
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      - name: Summary
+        run: echo "Manually released ${{ inputs.tag }} at ${GITHUB_SHA} (images assumed already pushed)."
diff --git a/.github/workflows/nvidia.yml b/.github/workflows/nvidia.yml
index a154de71..8a5e8590 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nvidia.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nvidia.yml
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           dockerhub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           dockerhub-token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
+          cache-key: ${{ github.repository }}/nvidia
 
       - name: Build nvidia images (${{ matrix.nvidia }})
         id: build
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: ./.github/actions/grype
         with:
           image-refs: ${{ steps.refs.outputs.refs }}
+          fail-on-findings: "true"
 
       - name: Push images
         uses: ./.github/actions/docker-push
diff --git a/.github/workflows/rocm.yml b/.github/workflows/rocm.yml
index 5d5f0209..9d84caed 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rocm.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rocm.yml
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           dockerhub-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           dockerhub-token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
+          cache-key: ${{ github.repository }}/rocm
 
       - name: Build rocm images (${{ matrix.rocm }})
         id: build
diff --git a/official-templates/autoresearch/Dockerfile b/official-templates/autoresearch/Dockerfile
index 9d32277b..292a0d87 100644
--- a/official-templates/autoresearch/Dockerfile
+++ b/official-templates/autoresearch/Dockerfile
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ FROM ${BASE_IMAGE}
 SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 
 # Install runpodctl for pod management (scaling up GPUs)
-ARG RUNPODCTL_VERSION=v2.3.0
-ARG RUNPODCTL_SHA256=908f2210571e8a26a1cba6fb45f09556b34dcad3e1b20dd502df2adf7a57c169
+ARG RUNPODCTL_VERSION=v2.7.2
+ARG RUNPODCTL_SHA256=8216810f9210c3e18c648d828f4d378cdaac0930389b460b1574ff2a3dfd1624
 RUN wget -q --https-only --secure-protocol=TLSv1_2 --max-redirect=3 \
     -O /tmp/runpodctl.tar.gz \
     "https://github.com/runpod/runpodctl/releases/download/${RUNPODCTL_VERSION}/runpodctl-linux-amd64.tar.gz" && \
diff --git a/official-templates/base/Dockerfile b/official-templates/base/Dockerfile
index 2905c6cc..3dd2bf31 100644
--- a/official-templates/base/Dockerfile
+++ b/official-templates/base/Dockerfile
@@ -109,18 +109,6 @@ RUN python -m pip install --upgrade --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt && \
     python /tmp/scrub-stale-metadata.py /requirements.txt && \
     rm /tmp/scrub-stale-metadata.py
 
-# Install filebrowser (pinned + SHA-256 verified, avoids `curl | bash`).
-# Bump FILEBROWSER_VERSION + FILEBROWSER_SHA256 together when updating.
-# Checksums: https://github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/releases
-ARG FILEBROWSER_VERSION=2.63.5
-ARG FILEBROWSER_SHA256=b36ad6296db0a749a5adbc792ab5321d11b307106123d44e171b7c158fcca2d9
-RUN curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -o /tmp/filebrowser.tar.gz \
-        "https://github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/releases/download/v${FILEBROWSER_VERSION}/linux-amd64-filebrowser.tar.gz" && \
-    echo "${FILEBROWSER_SHA256}  /tmp/filebrowser.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c - && \
-    tar -xzf /tmp/filebrowser.tar.gz -C /usr/local/bin filebrowser && \
-    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/filebrowser && \
-    rm /tmp/filebrowser.tar.gz
-
 # NGINX Proxy
 COPY --from=proxy nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
 COPY --from=proxy snippets /etc/nginx/snippets
diff --git a/official-templates/base/requirements.txt b/official-templates/base/requirements.txt
index 571b00f1..32e0f60b 100644
--- a/official-templates/base/requirements.txt
+++ b/official-templates/base/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 hf_transfer==0.1.9
-jupyterlab==4.5.9
+jupyterlab==4.5.10
 ipywidgets==8.1.8
 jupyter-archive==3.4.0
 notebook==7.5.6
diff --git a/official-templates/nvidia-pytorch/requirements.txt b/official-templates/nvidia-pytorch/requirements.txt
index 85f9de21..dc24a71d 100644
--- a/official-templates/nvidia-pytorch/requirements.txt
+++ b/official-templates/nvidia-pytorch/requirements.txt
@@ -2,13 +2,15 @@ aiohttp==3.14.1
 black==26.3.1
 jaraco.context==6.1.0
 jupyter_server==2.20.0
-jupyterlab==4.5.9
-mistune==3.2.1
+jupyterlab==4.5.10
+mistune==3.3.0
+msgpack==1.2.1
 nbconvert==7.17.1
 notebook==7.5.6
 onnx==1.21.0
-pillow==12.2.0
+pillow==12.3.0
 protobuf==6.33.5
+soupsieve==2.8.4
 tornado==6.5.7
 urllib3==2.7.0
 wheel==0.46.2
diff --git a/official-templates/pytorch-cluster/Dockerfile b/official-templates/pytorch-cluster/Dockerfile
index 3f723334..8f92e888 100644
--- a/official-templates/pytorch-cluster/Dockerfile
+++ b/official-templates/pytorch-cluster/Dockerfile
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ RUN apt-get update --yes && \
     rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # node_exporter — system metrics (pinned + SHA-256 verified).
-ARG NODE_EXPORTER_VERSION=1.11.1
-ARG NODE_EXPORTER_SHA256=9f5ea48e5bc7b656f8a91a32e7d7deb89f70f73dabd0d974418aca15f37d6810
+ARG NODE_EXPORTER_VERSION=1.12.1
+ARG NODE_EXPORTER_SHA256=b51d8a76aa2a9156a55d501aca6276fae09e262259a5e4e831d2c2222f084e63
 RUN curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -o /tmp/node_exporter.tar.gz \
         "https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v${NODE_EXPORTER_VERSION}/node_exporter-${NODE_EXPORTER_VERSION}.linux-amd64.tar.gz" && \
     echo "${NODE_EXPORTER_SHA256}  /tmp/node_exporter.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c - && \
@@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ RUN curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -o /tmp/prometheus.tar.gz \
     rm -rf /tmp/prometheus*
 
 # Grafana OSS — dashboards (pinned + SHA-256 verified).
-ARG GRAFANA_VERSION=13.1.0
-ARG GRAFANA_BUILD=28013217238
-ARG GRAFANA_SHA256=4f562bb224b8bb758b47789381babb284cb41687da8d714f2ff0e118e945e775
+ARG GRAFANA_VERSION=13.1.1
+ARG GRAFANA_BUILD=29761037902
+ARG GRAFANA_SHA256=e47443214da0de041ffb29633d0977ce31ba7c8c569f09974ef5294a8ce32f08
 RUN curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -o /tmp/grafana.tar.gz \
         "https://dl.grafana.com/grafana/release/${GRAFANA_VERSION}/grafana_${GRAFANA_VERSION}_${GRAFANA_BUILD}_linux_amd64.tar.gz" && \
     echo "${GRAFANA_SHA256}  /tmp/grafana.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c - && \
diff --git a/official-templates/pytorch/Dockerfile b/official-templates/pytorch/Dockerfile
index f0c725b6..f753fe18 100644
--- a/official-templates/pytorch/Dockerfile
+++ b/official-templates/pytorch/Dockerfile
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 
 ARG WHEEL_SRC
 ARG TORCH
+ARG PILLOW_VERSION
 
 # TORCH is a space-separated list of pip specs (e.g. "torch==2.8.0 torchvision==0.23.0
 # torchaudio==2.8.0"). `read -ra` splits it into a real bash array so pip receives one
@@ -18,3 +19,11 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/pip,sharing=locked \
         --upgrade \
         "${TORCH_PKGS[@]}" \
         --index-url "https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu${WHEEL_SRC}"
+
+# torchvision pulls Pillow from the PyTorch wheel index, which lags PyPI and
+# ships releases with known HIGH CVEs. Re-install a patched Pillow from PyPI,
+# but only when it's already present (torch builds without torchvision have none).
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/pip,sharing=locked \
+    if python -m pip show pillow > /dev/null 2>&1; then \
+        python -m pip install --upgrade "pillow==${PILLOW_VERSION}"; \
+    fi
diff --git a/official-templates/pytorch/docker-bake.hcl b/official-templates/pytorch/docker-bake.hcl
index f52be3cf..5284f0fc 100644
--- a/official-templates/pytorch/docker-bake.hcl
+++ b/official-templates/pytorch/docker-bake.hcl
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # https://pytorch.org/get-started/locally/
 
+# Patched Pillow pulled from PyPI to override the outdated (CVE-affected) copy
+# that torchvision drags in from the PyTorch wheel index. Keep in sync with the
+# pin used by the nvidia-pytorch / rocm requirements.txt files.
+variable "PILLOW_VERSION" {
+  default = "12.3.0"
+}
+
 variable "TORCH_META" {
   default = {
     "2.9.1" = {}
@@ -118,6 +125,7 @@ target "pytorch-matrix" {
     BASE_IMAGE = "runpod/base:${RELEASE_VERSION}${RELEASE_SUFFIX}-cuda${build.cuda_code}-${build.ubuntu_name}"
     WHEEL_SRC = build.wheel_src
     TORCH = "torch==${build.torch}${build.torch_vision != "" ? " torchvision==${build.torch_vision}" : ""} torchaudio==${build.torch}"
+    PILLOW_VERSION = PILLOW_VERSION
   }
   
   tags = [
diff --git a/official-templates/rocm/requirements.txt b/official-templates/rocm/requirements.txt
index 9223c639..9dedc340 100644
--- a/official-templates/rocm/requirements.txt
+++ b/official-templates/rocm/requirements.txt
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@ PyJWT==2.13.0
 aiohttp==3.14.1
 cryptography==48.0.1
 jaraco.context==6.1.0
-jupyterlab==4.5.9
+jupyterlab==4.5.10
 lxml==6.1.0
+msgpack==1.2.1
 notebook==7.5.6
 onnx==1.21.0
-pillow==12.2.0
+pillow==12.3.0
 protobuf==6.33.5
 tornado==6.5.7
 urllib3==2.7.0