diff --git a/.github/workflows/ais-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ais-ci.yml
index 1782763b..b323b741 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ais-ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ais-ci.yml
@@ -22,11 +22,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Fetching code repository...
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd #v6.0.2
       - name: Git fetch base ref
-        run: git fetch origin ${{ github.base_ref }}
+        run: git fetch origin "${GITHUB_BASE_REF}"
       - name: Set CI Flags
         id: ci-flags
         run: |
-          echo "changed_dockerfile=$(./util/files-changed.sh origin/${{ github.base_ref }} HEAD 'util/docker/DOCKERFILE.*')" >> ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
+          echo "changed_dockerfile=$(./util/files-changed.sh "origin/${GITHUB_BASE_REF}" HEAD 'util/docker/DOCKERFILE.*')" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
   build_AIS_CI_image:
     needs: AIS_CI_Pre-check
     permissions:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-ais-ci-image.yml b/.github/workflows/build-ais-ci-image.yml
index 56e2fcb0..af52f7f2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-ais-ci-image.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-ais-ci-image.yml
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Set CI environment variables
         run: |
-          echo "AIS_CI_IMAGE_TAG=$(echo ${{ github.ref }} | sed 's|[^a-zA-Z0-9]|-|g')-rocm${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
-          echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo ${{ github.ref }} | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+          echo "AIS_CI_IMAGE_TAG=$(echo "${GITHUB_REF}" | sed 's|[^a-zA-Z0-9]|-|g')-rocm${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+          echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo "${GITHUB_REF}" | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
       - name: Set target AIS CI Image
         id: ci-image
         run: |
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ jobs:
             -f "${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/util/docker/DOCKERFILE.${AIS_CI_IMAGE_NAME}" \
             --label "org.opencontainers.image.description= \
               ${AIS_CI_IMAGE_NAME} Development Image for AIS CI using branch \
-              ${{ github.head_ref }} for PR #${AIS_PR_NUMBER}. \
+              ${GITHUB_HEAD_REF} for PR #${AIS_PR_NUMBER}. \
               PR URL: ${AIS_PR_BASE_URL}/${AIS_PR_NUMBER}" \
             --build-arg BUILDKIT_INLINE_CACHE=1 \
             --build-arg ROCM_VERSION=${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION} \
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-ais-nvidia.yml b/.github/workflows/build-ais-nvidia.yml
index 10d8d183..9ff9ba90 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-ais-nvidia.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-ais-nvidia.yml
@@ -35,11 +35,11 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Set early AIS CI environment variables
         run: |
-          echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo ${{ github.ref }} | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+          echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo "${GITHUB_REF}" | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
           echo "AIS_SAFE_COMPILER_NAME=$(echo ${AIS_INPUT_CXX_COMPILER} | sed 's|[\+]|plus|g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
       - name: Set AIS CI container name
         run: |
-          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER}_${{ github.job }}_${AIS_INPUT_PLATFORM}_${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}_${AIS_SAFE_COMPILER_NAME}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER}_${GITHUB_JOB}_${AIS_INPUT_PLATFORM}_${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}_${AIS_SAFE_COMPILER_NAME}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
       - name: Fetching code repository...
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd #v6.0.2
         with:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-ais.yml b/.github/workflows/build-ais.yml
index 5a9ead9e..c86a2e9a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-ais.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-ais.yml
@@ -83,14 +83,14 @@ jobs:
         # - ROCM_VERSION (set in DOCKERFILE)
         # See: https://github.com/ROCm/ROCm/blob/8aa43d132f0d541eb5303dc532f5931cb80ad87a/tools/rocm-build/envsetup.sh#L25-L42
         run: |
-          echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo ${{ github.ref }} | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+          echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo "${GITHUB_REF}" | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
           echo "AIS_GHA_CMD_FILES_DIR=${GITHUB_ENV%/*}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
           echo "AIS_SAFE_COMPILER_NAME=$(echo ${AIS_INPUT_CXX_COMPILER} | sed 's|[\+]|plus|g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
       - name: Set AIS CI container name
         # We should expect that there are multiple instances of this job with different cxx_compilers.
         # On non-pull_request triggering workflows, AIS_PR_NUMBER may be empty.
         run: |
-          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER:=${{ github.run_id }}}_${{ github.job }}_${AIS_INPUT_PLATFORM}_${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}_${AIS_SAFE_COMPILER_NAME}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER:=${GITHUB_RUN_ID}}_${GITHUB_JOB}_${AIS_INPUT_PLATFORM}_${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}_${AIS_SAFE_COMPILER_NAME}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
       - name: Fetching code repository...
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd #v6.0.2
         with:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/hipfile-nvidia.yml.disabled b/.github/workflows/hipfile-nvidia.yml.disabled
index 02f1ed97..9105c863 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/hipfile-nvidia.yml.disabled
+++ b/.github/workflows/hipfile-nvidia.yml.disabled
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: [linux, NVIDIA]
     steps:
       - name: Get PR number and store it as a environment variable
-        run: echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo ${{ github.ref }} | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+        run: echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo "${GITHUB_REF}" | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
       - name: Set AIS CI image environment variables
         run: |
-          echo "AIS_CI_DEV_IMAGE=${{ env.AIS_DOCKER_REGISTRY }}/${{ env.AIS_CI_IMAGE_NAME }}_dev:$(echo ${{ github.ref }} \
+          echo "AIS_CI_DEV_IMAGE=${{ env.AIS_DOCKER_REGISTRY }}/${{ env.AIS_CI_IMAGE_NAME }}_dev:$(echo "${GITHUB_REF}" \
             | sed 's|[^a-zA-Z0-9]|-|g')" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
-          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER}_${{ github.job }}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER}_${GITHUB_JOB}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
       - name: Fetching code repository...
         uses: actions/checkout@v5
       - name: Authenticating to GitHub Container Registry
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-ais-system.yml b/.github/workflows/test-ais-system.yml
index 8bb20663..f062a332 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-ais-system.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-ais-system.yml
@@ -50,10 +50,10 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: [linux, AIS]
     steps:
       - name: Set early AIS CI environment variables
-        run: echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo ${{ github.ref }} | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+        run: echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo "${GITHUB_REF}" | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
       - name: Set AIS CI container name
         run: |
-          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER}_${{ github.job }}_${AIS_INPUT_PLATFORM}_${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER}_${GITHUB_JOB}_${AIS_INPUT_PLATFORM}_${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
       - name: Fetching hipFile repository...
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd #v6.0.2
         with:
@@ -225,10 +225,10 @@ jobs:
         }}
     steps:
       - name: Set early AIS CI environment variables
-        run: echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo ${{ github.ref }} | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+        run: echo "AIS_PR_NUMBER=$(echo "${GITHUB_REF}" | sed 's|[^0-9]||g')" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
       - name: Set AIS CI container name
         run: |
-          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER}_${{ github.job }}_${AIS_INPUT_PLATFORM}_${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+          echo "AIS_CONTAINER_NAME=${AIS_PR_NUMBER}_${GITHUB_JOB}_${AIS_INPUT_PLATFORM}_${AIS_INPUT_ROCM_VERSION}" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
       # hipFile repo needed for //util directory
       - name: Fetching hipFile repository...
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd #v6.0.2