diff --git a/gitlab-ci/config/dependencies.yml b/gitlab-ci/config/dependencies.yml
index 079b3574e627..181b4a56abf1 100644
--- a/gitlab-ci/config/dependencies.yml
+++ b/gitlab-ci/config/dependencies.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ dependencies-check:
   script:
     - |
       set -euo pipefail
-      pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
+      PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
       cd "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}"/gitlab-ci/src/dependencies/
       $SHELL_WRAPPER python3 job/bazel_rust_ic_scanner_merge_job.py
   allow_failure: false
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ dependency-scan-nightly:
   script:
     - |
       set -euo pipefail
-      pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
+      PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
       $SHELL_WRAPPER cargo install wasm-pack --version "${CARGO_WASMPACK_VERSION}"
       # shellcheck disable=SC1090
       source "${NVM_DIR}/nvm.sh"
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ dependency-scan-release-cut:
   script:
     - |
       set -euo pipefail
-      pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
+      PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
       cd "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}"/gitlab-ci/src/dependencies
       $SHELL_WRAPPER python3 job/bazel_rust_ic_scanner_release_job.py
   allow_failure: false
diff --git a/gitlab-ci/config/main.yml b/gitlab-ci/config/main.yml
index 3ac9aa863f5f..812c88a25698 100644
--- a/gitlab-ci/config/main.yml
+++ b/gitlab-ci/config/main.yml
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ python-ci-tests:
   script:
     - |
       set -xeuo pipefail
-      pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
+      PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
       cd gitlab-ci/src
       pytest --ignore=gitlab_config/ -v -o junit_family=xunit1 --junitxml=../../test_report.xml --cov=. --cov-report=term --cov-report=term-missing --cov-report=html --cov-branch
 
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ notify-gitlab-success:
   dependencies: [] # don't copy artifacts from other jobs
   script:
     - |
-      pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
+      PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
 
       # TODO(IDX-2856): remove this top level "if" when we will not need to run the job for schedule pipelines.
       if [[ "$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE" == "push" ]] && [[ "$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME" =~ ^rc--.* ]]; then
@@ -525,7 +525,7 @@ notify-gitlab-failure:
   dependencies: [] # don't copy artifacts from other jobs
   script:
     - |
-      pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
+      PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
 
       echo "notify gitlab failure"
       if [[ "${CI_COMMIT_MESSAGE,,}" =~ hotfix ]]; then
diff --git a/gitlab-ci/config/rosetta.yml b/gitlab-ci/config/rosetta.yml
index 5b9356c90e56..55aa171cc642 100644
--- a/gitlab-ci/config/rosetta.yml
+++ b/gitlab-ci/config/rosetta.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ rosetta-api-docker-image:
     - |
       set -exuo pipefail
 
-      pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
+      PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
 
       "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}"/gitlab-ci/src/artifacts/rclone_download.py --git-rev "$CI_COMMIT_SHA" \
         --remote-path=release --out="artifacts/release"
diff --git a/gitlab-ci/config/zz-generated-gitlab-ci.yaml b/gitlab-ci/config/zz-generated-gitlab-ci.yaml
index 9b0f37beee1f..ba4d0c96c0d9 100644
--- a/gitlab-ci/config/zz-generated-gitlab-ci.yaml
+++ b/gitlab-ci/config/zz-generated-gitlab-ci.yaml
@@ -2009,7 +2009,7 @@ dependencies-check:
   script:
     - |
       set -euo pipefail
-      pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
+      PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
       cd "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}"/gitlab-ci/src/dependencies/
       $SHELL_WRAPPER python3 job/bazel_rust_ic_scanner_merge_job.py
   variables:
@@ -2023,7 +2023,7 @@ dependency-scan-nightly:
   script:
     - |
       set -euo pipefail
-      pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
+      PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install --ignore-installed -r requirements.txt
       $SHELL_WRAPPER cargo install wasm-pack --version "${CARGO_WASMPACK_VERSION}"
       # shellcheck disable=SC1090
       source "${NVM_DIR}/nvm.sh"
diff --git a/gitlab-ci/src/ci-scripts/pre-commit.sh b/gitlab-ci/src/ci-scripts/pre-commit.sh
index 7793debd0f87..109013a67cda 100755
--- a/gitlab-ci/src/ci-scripts/pre-commit.sh
+++ b/gitlab-ci/src/ci-scripts/pre-commit.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ set -eEuo pipefail
 rustup default stable
 
 export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
-pip3 install pre-commit
+PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install pre-commit
 
 # Make sure CI can pull from the private repo.
 if ! SKIP=bazel_rust_format_check,bazel_smoke pre-commit run -a --hook-stage=manual; then
diff --git a/ic-os/defs.bzl b/ic-os/defs.bzl
index befb09577d98..7ff5f175ccce 100644
--- a/ic-os/defs.bzl
+++ b/ic-os/defs.bzl
@@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ CID=\\$$((\\$$RANDOM + 3))
 cp $$IMAGE \\$$TEMP
 cd \\$$TEMP
 tar xf disk-img.tar
-qemu-system-x86_64 -machine type=q35,accel=kvm -enable-kvm -nographic -m 4G -bios /usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd -device vhost-vsock-pci,guest-cid=\\$$CID -drive file=disk.img,format=raw,if=virtio -netdev user,id=user.0,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 -device virtio-net,netdev=user.0
+qemu-system-x86_64 -machine type=q35,accel=kvm -enable-kvm -nographic -m 4G -bios /usr/share/ovmf/OVMF.fd -device vhost-vsock-pci,guest-cid=\\$$CID -drive file=disk.img,format=raw,if=virtio -netdev user,id=user.0,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 -device virtio-net,netdev=user.0
 EOF
         """,
         executable = True,
@@ -613,7 +613,7 @@ CID=\\$$((\\$$RANDOM + 3))
 cp $$IMAGE \\$$TEMP
 cd \\$$TEMP
 tar xf disk-img.tar
-qemu-system-x86_64 -machine type=q35 -nographic -m 4G -bios /usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd -drive file=disk.img,format=raw,if=virtio -netdev user,id=user.0,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 -device virtio-net,netdev=user.0
+qemu-system-x86_64 -machine type=q35 -nographic -m 4G -bios /usr/share/ovmf/OVMF.fd -drive file=disk.img,format=raw,if=virtio -netdev user,id=user.0,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 -device virtio-net,netdev=user.0
 EOF
         """,
         executable = True,
diff --git a/scalability/templates/cd_job.yml.hb b/scalability/templates/cd_job.yml.hb
index 108b4c1afe18..829bb6d3325e 100644
--- a/scalability/templates/cd_job.yml.hb
+++ b/scalability/templates/cd_job.yml.hb
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
       $SHELL_WRAPPER timeout 1h ./testnet/tools/icos_deploy.sh $TESTNET --git-revision "$GIT_REVISION" --no-boundary-nodes
       cd ./scalability
 
-      $SHELL_WRAPPER pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+      $SHELL_WRAPPER PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=1 pip3 install -r requirements.txt
 
       $SHELL_WRAPPER python3 experiments/{{benchmark_path}} --testnet $TESTNET --wg_subnet 2 --wg_testnet $TESTNET