diff --git a/.github/workflows/aws-lambda-java-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/aws-lambda-java-tests.yml
index 324c44514..e651c0239 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/aws-lambda-java-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/aws-lambda-java-tests.yml
@@ -11,14 +11,15 @@ on:
       - 'aws-lambda-java-tests/**'
       - 'aws-lambda-java-events/**'
       - 'aws-lambda-java-serialization/**'
+      - 'aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/**'
   pull_request:
     branches: [ '*' ]
     paths:
       - 'aws-lambda-java-tests/**'
       - 'aws-lambda-java-events/**'
       - 'aws-lambda-java-serialization/**'
+      - 'aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/**'
       - '.github/workflows/aws-lambda-java-tests.yml'
-
 permissions:
   contents: read
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/runtime-interface-client_pr.yml b/.github/workflows/runtime-interface-client_pr.yml
index a0d8c6cc8..183549ec6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/runtime-interface-client_pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/runtime-interface-client_pr.yml
@@ -21,13 +21,16 @@ jobs:
 
   smoke-test:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        java-version: [8, 11, 17, 21, 25]
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6
 
-    - name: Set up JDK 1.8
+    - name: Set up JDK ${{ matrix.java-version }}
       uses: actions/setup-java@be666c2fcd27ec809703dec50e508c2fdc7f6654 # v5
       with:
-        java-version: 8
+        java-version: ${{ matrix.java-version }}
         distribution: corretto
         cache: maven
 
@@ -43,7 +46,7 @@ jobs:
       working-directory: ./aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client
       run: make pr
       env:
-        IS_JAVA_8: true
+        IS_JAVA_8: ${{ matrix.java-version == 8 }}
 
   build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5a277e5d6..ded8a5fee 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ dependency-reduced-pom.xml
 .settings
 .classpath
 .project
+.factorypath
 
 # OSX
 .DS_Store
@@ -38,4 +39,16 @@ experimental/aws-lambda-java-profiler/integration_tests/helloworld/bin
 .vscode
 .kiro
 build
+
+# Logs
+*.log
+
+# Maven flatten plugin
+.flattened-pom.xml
+
+# Vim swap files
+*.swp
+*.swo
+
+# Tool version manager
 mise.toml
diff --git a/aws-lambda-java-events-sdk-transformer/pom.xml b/aws-lambda-java-events-sdk-transformer/pom.xml
index 6de599ef7..a02a80f14 100644
--- a/aws-lambda-java-events-sdk-transformer/pom.xml
+++ b/aws-lambda-java-events-sdk-transformer/pom.xml
@@ -38,8 +38,9 @@
     <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
     <sdk.v1.version>1.11.914</sdk.v1.version>
     <sdk.v2.version>2.15.40</sdk.v2.version>
-    <junit-jupiter.version>5.12.2</junit-jupiter.version>
+    <junit-jupiter.version>5.14.3</junit-jupiter.version>
     <maven-surefire-plugin.version>3.5.4</maven-surefire-plugin.version>
+  
   </properties>
 
   <distributionManagement>
diff --git a/aws-lambda-java-events/pom.xml b/aws-lambda-java-events/pom.xml
index c8c40e0c7..ba93601dc 100644
--- a/aws-lambda-java-events/pom.xml
+++ b/aws-lambda-java-events/pom.xml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
         <jackson.version>2.20.1</jackson.version>
         <json.unit>2.40.1</json.unit>
-        <junit-jupiter.version>5.12.2</junit-jupiter.version>
+        <junit-jupiter.version>5.14.3</junit-jupiter.version>
     </properties>
 
     <distributionManagement>
diff --git a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/Makefile b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/Makefile
index 6c3a268fb..78cfa11a6 100644
--- a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/Makefile
+++ b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/Makefile
@@ -15,57 +15,63 @@ endif
 # making it possible to publish resulting artifacts to a codeartifact maven repository
 -include ric-dev-environment/codeartifact-repo.mk
 
-.PHONY: target
+
 target:
 	$(info ${HELP_MESSAGE})
 	@exit 0
 
-.PHONY: test
+
 test:
 	mvn test $(EXTRA_LOAD_ARG)
 
-.PHONY: setup-codebuild-agent
+
 setup-codebuild-agent:
 	docker build -t codebuild-agent \
 	 --build-arg ARCHITECTURE=$(ARCHITECTURE_ALIAS) \
 	  - < test/integration/codebuild-local/Dockerfile.agent
 
-.PHONY: test-smoke
+
 test-smoke: setup-codebuild-agent
 	CODEBUILD_IMAGE_TAG=codebuild-agent test/integration/codebuild-local/test_one.sh test/integration/codebuild/buildspec.os.alpine.yml alpine 3.15 corretto11 linux/amd64
 	CODEBUILD_IMAGE_TAG=codebuild-agent test/integration/codebuild-local/test_one.sh test/integration/codebuild/buildspec.os.alpine.yml alpine 3.15 corretto11 linux/arm64/v8
 	CODEBUILD_IMAGE_TAG=codebuild-agent test/integration/codebuild-local/test_one.sh test/integration/codebuild/buildspec.os.amazoncorretto.yml amazoncorretto amazoncorretto 11 linux/amd64
 	CODEBUILD_IMAGE_TAG=codebuild-agent test/integration/codebuild-local/test_one.sh test/integration/codebuild/buildspec.os.amazoncorretto.yml amazoncorretto amazoncorretto 11 linux/arm64/v8
 
-.PHONY: test-integ
+
 test-integ: setup-codebuild-agent
 	CODEBUILD_IMAGE_TAG=codebuild-agent test/integration/codebuild-local/test_all.sh test/integration/codebuild
 
 # Command to run everytime you make changes to verify everything works
-.PHONY: dev
+
 dev: test
 
 # Verifications to run before sending a pull request
-.PHONY: pr
+
 pr: test test-smoke
 
-.PHONY: build
+
+# The default `mvn clean install` builds all 4 native .so variants (x86_64/aarch64 × glibc/musl)
+# and bundles them into a single jar (see build-jni-lib.sh), runs the tests for the host
+# environment, and updates coverage data. This is sufficient for what we want to do here.
+#
+# Running profile-specific builds (e.g., `mvn install -P linux-aarch64`) does NOT test the
+# cross-compiled .so — JniHelper.load() tries each .so in order and always loads the first
+# one matching the host platform (linux-x86_64 on GitHub Actions runners), so the other
+# variants are never exercised. 
+#
+# Platform-specific tests are run through test-smoke via codebuild containers.
+
 build: 
-	mvn clean install $(EXTRA_LOAD_ARG)
-	mvn install -P linux-x86_64 $(EXTRA_LOAD_ARG)
-	mvn install -P linux_musl-x86_64 $(EXTRA_LOAD_ARG)
-	mvn install -P linux-aarch64 $(EXTRA_LOAD_ARG)
-	mvn install -P linux_musl-aarch64 $(EXTRA_LOAD_ARG)
+	mvn clean install $(EXTRA_LOAD_ARG) 
 
-.PHONY: publish
 publish:
 	./ric-dev-environment/publish_snapshot.sh
 
-.PHONY: publish
+
 test-publish:
 	./ric-dev-environment/test-platform-specific-jar-snapshot.sh
 
-.PHONY: test-rie
+
 test-rie:
 	./scripts/test-rie.sh "EchoHandler::handleRequest" 
 
@@ -80,3 +86,5 @@ TARGETS
 	test        Run the Unit tests.
 	test-rie    Build and test RIC locally with Lambda Runtime Interface Emulator. (Requires building the project first)
 endef
+
+.PHONY: target test setup-codebuild-agent test-smoke test-integ dev pr build publish publish test-rie
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/pom.xml b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/pom.xml
index a09fd3df7..c7e1225ae 100644
--- a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/pom.xml
+++ b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/pom.xml
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
         <jacoco.maven.plugin.version>0.8.12</jacoco.maven.plugin.version>
         <maven-install-plugin.version>2.4</maven-install-plugin.version>
         <maven-deploy-plugin.version>3.1.1</maven-deploy-plugin.version>
-        <junit-jupiter.version>5.12.2</junit-jupiter.version>
+        <junit-jupiter.version>5.14.3</junit-jupiter.version>
         <maven-checkstyle-plugin.version>3.4.0</maven-checkstyle-plugin.version>
         <maven-surefire-plugin.version>3.5.4</maven-surefire-plugin.version>
         <!--
diff --git a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/main/jni/build-jni-lib.sh b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/main/jni/build-jni-lib.sh
index b7dbb5a80..d46e3f408 100755
--- a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/main/jni/build-jni-lib.sh
+++ b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/main/jni/build-jni-lib.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,16 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# Check if Docker is available and running. This works regardless of how Docker
+# is configured (Unix socket, TCP, Docker Desktop, Colima, Rancher, etc.)
+if ! docker info >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "WARNING: Docker is not available. Skipping JNI native library build."
+  echo "The native .so libraries will not be included in the build artifacts."
+  echo "This is fine for local development and running unit tests."
+  echo "To build the native libraries, ensure Docker is installed and running."
+  exit 0
+fi
+
 SRC_DIR=$(dirname "$0")
 DST_DIR=${1}
 MULTI_ARCH=${2}
diff --git a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/api/client/ClasspathLoaderTest.java b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/api/client/ClasspathLoaderTest.java
index 38147d219..581a6ddae 100644
--- a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/api/client/ClasspathLoaderTest.java
+++ b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/api/client/ClasspathLoaderTest.java
@@ -6,16 +6,16 @@
 package com.amazonaws.services.lambda.runtime.api.client;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.DisabledForJreRange;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.EnabledForJreRange;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.JRE;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
-import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.Enumeration;
 import java.util.jar.JarEntry;
-import java.util.jar.JarFile;
 import java.util.jar.JarOutputStream;
 
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ void testLoadAllClassesWithNoClasspath() throws IOException {
         String originalClasspath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
         try {
             System.clearProperty("java.class.path");
-            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[]{});
+            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[] {});
         } finally {
             if (originalClasspath != null) {
                 System.setProperty("java.class.path", originalClasspath);
@@ -35,13 +35,30 @@ void testLoadAllClassesWithNoClasspath() throws IOException {
         }
     }
 
+    // On JDK 8-24, new File("").exists() returns false → FileNotFoundException.
     @Test
+    @DisabledForJreRange(min = JRE.JAVA_25)
     void testLoadAllClassesWithEmptyClasspath() {
         String originalClasspath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
         try {
             System.setProperty("java.class.path", "");
-            assertThrows(FileNotFoundException.class, () -> 
-                ClasspathLoader.main(new String[]{}));
+            assertThrows(FileNotFoundException.class, () -> ClasspathLoader.main(new String[] {}));
+        } finally {
+            if (originalClasspath != null) {
+                System.setProperty("java.class.path", originalClasspath);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // On JDK 25+, new File("") resolves to cwd (exists=true, isDirectory=true) →
+    // skipped with warning, no exception.
+    @Test
+    @EnabledForJreRange(min = JRE.JAVA_25)
+    void testLoadAllClassesWithEmptyClasspathJdk25Plus() throws IOException {
+        String originalClasspath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
+        try {
+            System.setProperty("java.class.path", "");
+            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[] {});
         } finally {
             if (originalClasspath != null) {
                 System.setProperty("java.class.path", originalClasspath);
@@ -54,8 +71,7 @@ void testLoadAllClassesWithInvalidPath() {
         String originalClasspath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
         try {
             System.setProperty("java.class.path", "nonexistent/path");
-            assertThrows(FileNotFoundException.class, () -> 
-                ClasspathLoader.main(new String[]{}));
+            assertThrows(FileNotFoundException.class, () -> ClasspathLoader.main(new String[] {}));
         } finally {
             if (originalClasspath != null) {
                 System.setProperty("java.class.path", originalClasspath);
@@ -69,7 +85,7 @@ void testLoadAllClassesWithValidJar(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException {
         String originalClasspath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
         try {
             System.setProperty("java.class.path", jarFile.getAbsolutePath());
-            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[]{});
+            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[] {});
         } finally {
             if (originalClasspath != null) {
                 System.setProperty("java.class.path", originalClasspath);
@@ -82,7 +98,7 @@ void testLoadAllClassesWithDirectory(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException {
         String originalClasspath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
         try {
             System.setProperty("java.class.path", tempDir.toString());
-            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[]{});
+            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[] {});
         } finally {
             if (originalClasspath != null) {
                 System.setProperty("java.class.path", originalClasspath);
@@ -94,14 +110,14 @@ void testLoadAllClassesWithDirectory(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException {
     void testLoadAllClassesWithMultipleEntries(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException {
         File jarFile1 = createSimpleJar(tempDir, "test1.jar", "TestClass1");
         File jarFile2 = createSimpleJar(tempDir, "test2.jar", "TestClass2");
-        
+
         String originalClasspath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
         try {
-            String newClasspath = jarFile1.getAbsolutePath() + 
-                                File.pathSeparator + 
-                                jarFile2.getAbsolutePath();
+            String newClasspath = jarFile1.getAbsolutePath() +
+                    File.pathSeparator +
+                    jarFile2.getAbsolutePath();
             System.setProperty("java.class.path", newClasspath);
-            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[]{});
+            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[] {});
         } finally {
             if (originalClasspath != null) {
                 System.setProperty("java.class.path", originalClasspath);
@@ -112,7 +128,7 @@ void testLoadAllClassesWithMultipleEntries(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOExcep
     @Test
     void testLoadAllClassesWithBlocklistedClass(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException {
         File jarFile = tempDir.resolve("blocklist-test.jar").toFile();
-        
+
         try (JarOutputStream jos = new JarOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(jarFile))) {
             JarEntry blockedEntry = new JarEntry("META-INF/versions/9/module-info.class");
             jos.putNextEntry(blockedEntry);
@@ -128,8 +144,9 @@ void testLoadAllClassesWithBlocklistedClass(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOExce
         String originalClasspath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
         try {
             System.setProperty("java.class.path", jarFile.getAbsolutePath());
-            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[]{});
-            // The test passes if no exception is thrown and the blocklisted class is skipped
+            ClasspathLoader.main(new String[] {});
+            // The test passes if no exception is thrown and the blocklisted class is
+            // skipped
         } finally {
             if (originalClasspath != null) {
                 System.setProperty("java.class.path", originalClasspath);
@@ -139,7 +156,7 @@ void testLoadAllClassesWithBlocklistedClass(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOExce
 
     private File createSimpleJar(Path tempDir, String jarName, String className) throws IOException {
         File jarFile = tempDir.resolve(jarName).toFile();
-        
+
         try (JarOutputStream jos = new JarOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(jarFile))) {
             // Add a simple non-class file to make it a valid jar
             JarEntry entry = new JarEntry("com/test/" + className + ".txt");
@@ -147,7 +164,7 @@ private File createSimpleJar(Path tempDir, String jarName, String className) thr
             jos.write("test content".getBytes());
             jos.closeEntry();
         }
-        
+
         return jarFile;
     }
 }
diff --git a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/api/client/util/UnsafeUtilTest.java b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/api/client/util/UnsafeUtilTest.java
index b1f0592f0..c4862719e 100644
--- a/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/api/client/util/UnsafeUtilTest.java
+++ b/aws-lambda-java-runtime-interface-client/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/api/client/util/UnsafeUtilTest.java
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 package com.amazonaws.services.lambda.runtime.api.client.util;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.EnabledForJreRange;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.JRE;
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 
@@ -19,7 +21,7 @@ void testTheUnsafeIsInitialized() {
     @Test
     void testThrowException() {
         Exception testException = new Exception("Test exception");
-        
+
         try {
             UnsafeUtil.throwException(testException);
             fail("Should have thrown an exception");
@@ -29,22 +31,29 @@ void testThrowException() {
         }
     }
 
+    // IllegalAccessLogger only exists on JDK 9-16; skipped on JDK 8 (no module
+    // system) and JDK 17+ (class removed).
+    @Test
+    @EnabledForJreRange(min = JRE.JAVA_9, max = JRE.JAVA_16)
+    void testDisableIllegalAccessWarning() throws Exception {
+        // We disable the warning log for "jdk.internal.module.IllegalAccessLogger"
+        UnsafeUtil.disableIllegalAccessWarning();
+
+        Class<?> illegalAccessLoggerClass = Class.forName("jdk.internal.module.IllegalAccessLogger");
+        Field loggerField = illegalAccessLoggerClass.getDeclaredField("logger");
+
+        // Now we are getting it back with getObjectVolatile and verify that the logger
+        // is null. We are not using default reflection because that will throw because
+        // that field is private, defeating the point of the test.
+        Object loggerValue = UnsafeUtil.TheUnsafe.getObjectVolatile(
+                illegalAccessLoggerClass,
+                UnsafeUtil.TheUnsafe.staticFieldOffset(loggerField));
+        assertNull(loggerValue);
+    }
+
     @Test
-    void testDisableIllegalAccessWarning() {
+    void testDisableIllegalAccessWarningDoesNotThrow() {
         assertDoesNotThrow(() -> UnsafeUtil.disableIllegalAccessWarning());
-        try {
-            Class<?> illegalAccessLoggerClass = Class.forName("jdk.internal.module.IllegalAccessLogger");
-            Field loggerField = illegalAccessLoggerClass.getDeclaredField("logger");
-            loggerField.setAccessible(true);
-            Object loggerValue = loggerField.get(null);
-            assertNull(loggerValue);
-        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
-            assertTrue(true);
-        } catch (NoSuchFieldException e) {
-            assertTrue(true);
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            fail("Unexpected exception: " + e.getMessage());
-        }
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/aws-lambda-java-tests/pom.xml b/aws-lambda-java-tests/pom.xml
index e63e529a2..f9e5d0ef9 100644
--- a/aws-lambda-java-tests/pom.xml
+++ b/aws-lambda-java-tests/pom.xml
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
             Upgrading it requires a version bump of aws-lambda-java-tests to avoid
             breaking customers who don't pin their own JUnit version.
         -->
-        <junit.version>5.9.2</junit.version>
+        <junit.version>5.14.3</junit.version>
         <jacoco.maven.plugin.version>0.8.7</jacoco.maven.plugin.version>
         <aws-lambda-java-serialization.version>1.4.0</aws-lambda-java-serialization.version>
         <aws-lambda-java-events.version>3.16.1</aws-lambda-java-events.version>
diff --git a/experimental/aws-lambda-java-profiler/examples/cdk/pom.xml b/experimental/aws-lambda-java-profiler/examples/cdk/pom.xml
index 4b46f4e2b..d84b2bd1e 100644
--- a/experimental/aws-lambda-java-profiler/examples/cdk/pom.xml
+++ b/experimental/aws-lambda-java-profiler/examples/cdk/pom.xml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <cdk.version>2.155.0</cdk.version>
         <constructs.version>[10.0.0,11.0.0)</constructs.version>
-        <junit.version>5.12.2</junit.version>
+        <junit.version>5.14.3</junit.version>
     </properties>
 
     <build>
diff --git a/samples/kinesis-firehose-event-handler/pom.xml b/samples/kinesis-firehose-event-handler/pom.xml
index 0db8ed83a..4b51c34c9 100644
--- a/samples/kinesis-firehose-event-handler/pom.xml
+++ b/samples/kinesis-firehose-event-handler/pom.xml
@@ -35,9 +35,7 @@
         <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
         <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-        <junit-jupiter.version>5.12.2</junit-jupiter.version>
-        <maven-surefire-plugin.version>3.5.4</maven-surefire-plugin.version>
-
+        <junit-jupiter.version>5.14.3</junit-jupiter.version>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>