diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 926aed1..0a5057a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ jobs:
   build-arm64:
     name: Build PHP Image arm64
 
-    runs-on: ARM64
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-arm
 
     continue-on-error: false
 
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ jobs:
           run: docker run --pull=never --rm -t temporary-build-image-linux-amd64 php -v
 
       -   name: "PHP_VERSION Env"
-          run: echo "PHP_VERSION=`docker run --pull=never --rm -t temporary-build-image-linux-amd64 php -r 'echo $_SERVER[\"PHP_VERSION\"];'`-ubuntu" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          run: echo "PHP_VERSION=$(docker run --pull=never --rm temporary-build-image-linux-amd64 printenv PHP_VERSION)-ubuntu" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       -   name: Tag also with php:${{ env.PHP_VERSION }}
           run: docker tag temporary-build-image-linux-amd64 php-${{ env.PHP_VERSION }}
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 147ce60..d940638 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 FROM ubuntu:noble-20240605
 
-ARG PHP_VERSION="8.4.4"
-ARG PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME="php8.4"
-ARG PHP_PACKAGE_BASE_VERSION="8.4"
-ARG PHP_FPM_BINARY_PATH="/usr/sbin/php-fpm8.4"
-ARG UNIT_VERSION="1.31.0"
+ARG PHP_VERSION="8.5.2"
+ARG PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME="php8.5"
+ARG PHP_PACKAGE_BASE_VERSION="8.5"
+ARG PHP_FPM_BINARY_PATH="/usr/sbin/php-fpm8.5"
+ARG UNIT_VERSION="1.34.2"
 ARG APACHE2_VERSION="2.4.58"
 ENV PHP_VERSION=$PHP_VERSION
 ENV PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME=$PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ RUN apt-get install -y  ${PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME}-intl
 RUN apt-get install -y  ${PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME}-ldap
 RUN apt-get install -y  ${PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME}-mbstring
 RUN apt-get install -y  ${PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME}-mysqli
-RUN apt-get install -y  ${PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME}-opcache
+# NOTE: opcache is now built into php8.5 core, no separate package needed
 RUN apt-get install -y  ${PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME}-mysql
 RUN apt-get install -y  ${PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME}-pgsql
 RUN apt-get install -y  ${PHP_PACKAGE_BASENAME}-sqlite3
@@ -123,8 +123,8 @@ RUN rm /etc/php/${PHP_PACKAGE_BASE_VERSION}/fpm/php.ini \
 
 # install nginx unit and the php module for nginx unit
 RUN wget --quiet --no-verbose -O /usr/share/keyrings/nginx-keyring.gpg  https://unit.nginx.org/keys/nginx-keyring.gpg
-RUN echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-keyring.gpg] https://packages.nginx.org/unit/ubuntu/ jammy unit" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unit.list
-RUN echo "deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-keyring.gpg] https://packages.nginx.org/unit/ubuntu/ jammy unit" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unit.list
+RUN echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-keyring.gpg] https://packages.nginx.org/unit/ubuntu/ noble unit" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unit.list
+RUN echo "deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-keyring.gpg] https://packages.nginx.org/unit/ubuntu/ noble unit" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unit.list
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y  unit=$UNIT_VERSION-* unit-php=$UNIT_VERSION-* --no-install-recommends
 # add default nginx unit json file (listening on port 8080)
 COPY files/unit/unit-default.json /var/lib/unit/conf.json
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5262baf..79274ae 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# endava/docker-php:8.3.x-ubuntu
+# endava/docker-php:8.5.x-ubuntu
 
 ## Usage
 
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ $ echo '<?php phpinfo();' > public/index.php
 2. Run the NGINX Unit Version with:
 
 ```shell
-$ docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 -v `pwd`/public:/usr/src/app/public -it  endava/php:8.3.2-ubuntu-unit
+$ docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 -v `pwd`/public:/usr/src/app/public -it  endava/php:8.5.1-ubuntu-unit
 ```
 
 and open http://localhost:8080 to see phpinfo unit.
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Time per request:       12.144 [ms] (mean)
 3. Run the Apache2 Version with:
 
 ```shell
-$ docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 -v `pwd`/public:/usr/src/app/public -it  endava/php:8.3.2-ubuntu-apache2
+$ docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 -v `pwd`/public:/usr/src/app/public -it  endava/php:8.5.1-ubuntu-apache2
 ```
 
 and open http://localhost:8080 to see phpinfo on apache2.
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ version: "2.1"
 
 services:
   php-cli:
-    image: endava/php:8.3.2-ubuntu
+    image: endava/php:8.5.1-ubuntu
     volumes:
       - ./:/usr/src/app
     user: "${UID-www-data}:${GID-www-data}"
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - nginx
   php-fpm:
-    image: endava/php:8.3.2-ubuntu-fpm
+    image: endava/php:8.5.1-ubuntu-fpm
     user: "${UID-www-data}:${GID-www-data}"
     volumes:
       - ./:/usr/src/app
@@ -99,11 +99,11 @@ $docker-compose run php-cli
 ⠿ Container docker-php-php-fpm-1
 ⠿ Container docker-php-nginx-1
 bash-5.1$ php -v
-PHP 8.3.2-1+ubuntu22.04.1+deb.sury.org+1 (cli) (built: Jan 20 2024 14:16:40) (NTS)
+PHP 8.5.1-1+ubuntu22.04.1+deb.sury.org+1 (cli) (built: Jan 9 2026 14:16:40) (NTS)
 Copyright (c) The PHP Group
-Zend Engine v4.3.2, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
-    with Zend OPcache v8.3.2-1+ubuntu22.04.1+deb.sury.org+1, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
-    with Xdebug v3.3.1, Copyright (c) 2002-2023, by Derick Rethans
+Zend Engine v4.5.1, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
+    with Zend OPcache v8.5.1-1+ubuntu22.04.1+deb.sury.org+1, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
+    with Xdebug v3.5.0, Copyright (c) 2002-2026, by Derick Rethans
 ```
 
 and open http://localhost:8080/ to see phpinfo with FPM/FastCGI as server api.
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ You can define the crontab's content with an environment variable like this:
 ```yaml
 services:
   import-data-cron:
-    image: endava/php:8.3.2-ubuntu
+    image: endava/php:8.5.1-ubuntu
     command: start-cron
     environment:
       - 'CRONTAB_USER=www-data'
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ Usage in your `docker-compose.yml`:
 ```yaml
 services:
   crontab:
-    image: endava/php:8.3.2-ubuntu
+    image: endava/php:8.5.1-ubuntu
     command: start-cron
     volumes:
       - ./:/usr/src/app
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ cron location with the `CRON_PATH` environment variable:
 ```yaml
 services:
   crontab:
-    image: endava/php:8.3.2-ubuntu
+    image: endava/php:8.5.1-ubuntu
     command: start-cron
     environment:
       - CRON_PATH=/usr/src/app/crontabs