diff --git a/.github/workflows/report-coverage.yml b/.github/workflows/report-coverage.yml
index b806a20b174..9df4e7f95b1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/report-coverage.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/report-coverage.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ jobs:
   coverage-report:
     name: Coverage report
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     env:
       DEBIAN_FRONTEND: "noninteractive"
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-openocd.yml b/.github/workflows/test-openocd.yml
index 9cfdb385293..d3bf7aeda1d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-openocd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-openocd.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ jobs:
   tests:
     name: Run OpenOCD tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-regression-exceptions.yml b/.github/workflows/test-regression-exceptions.yml
index 4ddbdc2a41f..5aa0229c3b6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-regression-exceptions.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-regression-exceptions.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ jobs:
   regression-tests:
     name: Regression exceptions tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     strategy:
       matrix:
         bus: ["axi"]
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-regression.yml b/.github/workflows/test-regression.yml
index 6870fb9d57b..18b589c663c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-regression.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-regression.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ jobs:
   regression-tests:
     name: Regression tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     strategy:
       matrix:
         bus: ["axi", "ahb"]
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-renode.yml b/.github/workflows/test-renode.yml
index 184c5e31be6..45dbb3ae644 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-renode.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-renode.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ on:
 jobs:
   tests:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
     env:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-riscof.yml b/.github/workflows/test-riscof.yml
index cbb352e7881..44ee2a1765b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-riscof.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-riscof.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ jobs:
   tests:
     name: Run RISCOF tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-riscv-dv.yml b/.github/workflows/test-riscv-dv.yml
index e4a5b7f6936..f9737209754 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-riscv-dv.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-riscv-dv.yml
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ jobs:
   run-tests:
     name: Run RISC-V DV tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     needs: [ generate-config, generate-code ]
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-uarch.yml b/.github/workflows/test-uarch.yml
index 4b2ed5cf4e8..73846e69c25 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-uarch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-uarch.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ jobs:
   lint:
     name: Lint microarchitectural tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     steps:
       - name: Setup repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
   tests:
     name: Microarchitectural tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     strategy:
       matrix:
         test:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-uvm.yml b/.github/workflows/test-uvm.yml
index 2bacc6882c6..59fc449b579 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-uvm.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-uvm.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ jobs:
   tests:
     name: UVM tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     env:
       CCACHE_DIR: "/opt/uvm/.cache/"
       DEBIAN_FRONTEND: "noninteractive"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-verification.yml b/.github/workflows/test-verification.yml
index 7af39da8cdf..d47df44c4bb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-verification.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-verification.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ jobs:
   tests:
     name: Verification tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:latest
+    container: ghcr.io/antmicro/cores-veer-el2:20241223
     strategy:
       matrix:
         test: ["test_pyuvm"]
diff --git a/configs/veer.config b/configs/veer.config
index d9d1f16a25c..e14e57f304b 100755
--- a/configs/veer.config
+++ b/configs/veer.config
@@ -2607,7 +2607,7 @@ sub dump_parms {#{{{
     my $pcnt=0;
     my $delim=",";
     my $msb;
-    printf(FILE2 "parameter el2_param_t pt = '{\n");
+    printf(FILE2 "// parameter el2_param_t pt = '{\n");
     foreach my $key (sort keys %$hash) {
         $upper=$key;
         $upper=~ tr/a-z/A-Z/;
@@ -2618,11 +2618,11 @@ sub dump_parms {#{{{
             $msb=substr($hash->{$key},0,4);  # require upper 4b to be 0
             if ($msb ne "0000") { die("parameter $upper upper 4b must be 0"); }
         }
-        printf(FILE2 "\t%-22s : %d\'h%-10s $delim\n",$upper,length($hash->{$key}),b2h($hash->{$key}));
+        printf(FILE2 "// \t%-22s : %d\'h%-10s $delim\n",$upper,length($hash->{$key}),b2h($hash->{$key}));
     }
-    printf(FILE2 "}\n");
+    printf(FILE2 "// }\n");
 
-    printf(FILE2 "// parameter el2_param_t pt = %d'h%s\n",length($bcat),b2h($bcat));
+    printf(FILE2 "parameter el2_param_t pt = %d'h%s\n",length($bcat),b2h($bcat));
 
 }#}}}
 
diff --git a/tools/Makefile b/tools/Makefile
index 49dde04b756..f22997e9aed 100755
--- a/tools/Makefile
+++ b/tools/Makefile
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ ifeq ("$(.SHELLSTATUS)", "0")
 endif
 
 VERILATOR_SKIP_WARNINGS = $(VERILATOR_NOIMPLICIT) -Wno-TIMESCALEMOD -Wno-ASCRANGE \
-	-Wno-CASEINCOMPLETE -Wno-INITIALDLY -Wno-WIDTH -Wno-UNOPTFLAT
+	-Wno-CASEINCOMPLETE -Wno-INITIALDLY -Wno-WIDTH -Wno-UNOPTFLAT -Wno-SIDEEFFECT
 
 # Define test name
 TEST = hello_world
diff --git a/tools/SiteSpawner/src/sitespawner/gen_coverage_report.py b/tools/SiteSpawner/src/sitespawner/gen_coverage_report.py
index 5fb088a8924..88129aba33c 100644
--- a/tools/SiteSpawner/src/sitespawner/gen_coverage_report.py
+++ b/tools/SiteSpawner/src/sitespawner/gen_coverage_report.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def obtain_stdout(filename) -> TextIOWrapper | int:
 def lcov_merge(input_files: List[str], output_file: str):
     """Invokes lcov tool to add `input_file` into the tracefile.
     `output_file` becomes then an aggregate of *.info files."""
-    lcov_command = ["lcov", "-o", output_file]
+    lcov_command = ["lcov", "--branch-coverage", "-o", output_file]
 
     for input_file in input_files:
         lcov_command += ["-a", input_file]
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ def lcov_genhtml(
     log_output_path="lcov_genhtml.log",
 ):
     """Invokes lcov's genhtml tool to generate source file views for the coverage report."""
-    command = ["genhtml", "--output-dir", lcov_report_dir, *info_files]
+    command = ["genhtml", "--branch-coverage", "--output-dir", lcov_report_dir, *info_files]
 
     if not path_prefix:
         subprocess.run(
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def generate_coverage_reports(
 
     for info_file in info_files:
         logger.debug(f"Preprocessing {info_file}")
-        lcov_extract_command = ["lcov", "--extract", info_file, src_pattern, "-o", info_file]
+        lcov_extract_command = ["lcov", "--branch-coverage", "--extract", info_file, src_pattern, "-o", info_file]
 
         data = parse_infos([str(info_file)])
         if len(data.keys()) == 0:
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ def generate_coverage_reports(
         if resolved_src_path != resolved_path_prefix:
             logger.debug(f"Substituting prefix: {path_prefix} -> {resolved_src_path}")
             lcov_extract_command += [
+                "--branch-coverage",
                 "--substitute",
                 f"s|{path_prefix}|{resolved_src_path}|",
             ]
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@ def generate_coverage_reports(
         )
         if src_remove_pattern is not None:
             subprocess.run(
-                ["lcov", "--remove", info_file, *src_remove_pattern, "-o", info_file],
+                ["lcov", "--branch-coverage", "--remove", info_file, *src_remove_pattern, "-o", info_file],
                 stdout=obtain_stdout(f"{info_file}_remove.log"),
             )