diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/Dockerfile b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/Dockerfile
index 94533a906d..cc14ff2dea 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/Dockerfile
@@ -3,27 +3,29 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 # Specify alternative base image, e.g. clefos for s390x
-ARG IMAGE
-FROM ${IMAGE:-registry.centos.org/centos}:7
+ARG BASE_IMAGE_NAME=ubuntu
+ARG BASE_IMAGE_TAG=20.04
+FROM $BASE_IMAGE_NAME:$BASE_IMAGE_TAG
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+
 ARG KATA_ARTIFACTS=./kata-static.tar.xz
 ARG DESTINATION=/opt/kata-artifacts
 
 COPY ${KATA_ARTIFACTS} ${WORKDIR}
 
-RUN \
-yum -y update && \
-yum -y install xz && \
-yum clean all && \
-mkdir -p ${DESTINATION} && \
-tar xvf ${KATA_ARTIFACTS} -C ${DESTINATION}
+SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 
-# hadolint will deny echo -e, heredocs don't work in Dockerfiles, shell substitution doesn't work with $'...'
 RUN \
-echo "[kubernetes]" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo && \
-echo "name=Kubernetes" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo && \
-echo "baseurl=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/repos/kubernetes-el7-$(uname -m)" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo && \
-echo "gpgkey=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/yum-key.gpg https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/rpm-package-key.gpg" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo && \
-yum -y install kubectl && \
-yum clean all
+apt-get update && \
+apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gpg xz-utils systemd && \
+mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings/ && \
+curl -fsSL https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-archive-keyring.gpg && \
+echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.kubernetes.io/ kubernetes-xenial main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list && \
+apt-get update && \
+apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends kubectl && \
+apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/ && \
+mkdir -p ${DESTINATION} && \
+tar xvf ${WORKDIR}/${KATA_ARTIFACTS} -C ${DESTINATION} && \
+rm -f ${WORKDIR}/${KATA_ARTIFACTS}
 
 COPY scripts ${DESTINATION}/scripts
diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-cleanup/base/kata-cleanup.yaml b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-cleanup/base/kata-cleanup.yaml
index be640ae584..c0220b89be 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-cleanup/base/kata-cleanup.yaml
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-cleanup/base/kata-cleanup.yaml
@@ -27,19 +27,19 @@ spec:
             fieldRef:
               fieldPath: spec.nodeName
         securityContext:
-          privileged: false
+          privileged: true
         volumeMounts:
         - name: dbus
-          mountPath: /var/run/dbus
+          mountPath: /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket
         - name: systemd
-          mountPath: /run/systemd
+          mountPath: /run/systemd/system
       volumes:
         - name: dbus
           hostPath:
-            path: /var/run/dbus
+            path: /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket
         - name: systemd
           hostPath:
-            path: /run/systemd
+            path: /run/systemd/system
   updateStrategy:
     rollingUpdate:
       maxUnavailable: 1
diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml
index a6616fe672..1bfc73530e 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ spec:
             fieldRef:
               fieldPath: spec.nodeName
         securityContext:
-          privileged: false
+          privileged: true
         volumeMounts:
         - name: crio-conf
           mountPath: /etc/crio/
@@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ spec:
         - name: kata-artifacts
           mountPath: /opt/kata/
         - name: dbus
-          mountPath: /var/run/dbus
+          mountPath: /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket
         - name: systemd
-          mountPath: /run/systemd
+          mountPath: /run/systemd/system
         - name: local-bin
           mountPath: /usr/local/bin/
       volumes:
@@ -56,10 +56,10 @@ spec:
             type: DirectoryOrCreate
         - name: dbus
           hostPath:
-            path: /var/run/dbus
+            path: /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket
         - name: systemd
           hostPath:
-            path: /run/systemd
+            path: /run/systemd/system
         - name: local-bin
           hostPath:
             path: /usr/local/bin/
diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh
index a4a4f9d5cd..76fd8792bc 100755
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh
@@ -58,7 +58,17 @@ function install_artifacts() {
 	echo "copying kata artifacts onto host"
 	cp -au /opt/kata-artifacts/opt/kata/* /opt/kata/
 	chmod +x /opt/kata/bin/*
-	chmod +x /opt/kata/runtime-rs/bin/*
+	[ -d /opt/kata/runtime-rs/bin ] && \
+		chmod +x /opt/kata/runtime-rs/bin/*
+}
+
+function wait_till_node_is_ready() {
+	local ready="False"
+
+	while ! [[ "${ready}" == "True" ]]; do
+		sleep 2s
+		ready=$(kubectl get node $NODE_NAME -o jsonpath='{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Ready")].status}')
+	done
 }
 
 function configure_cri_runtime() {
@@ -74,6 +84,22 @@ function configure_cri_runtime() {
 	esac
 	systemctl daemon-reload
 	systemctl restart "$1"
+
+	wait_till_node_is_ready
+}
+
+function backup_shim() {
+	local shim_file="$1"
+	local shim_backup="${shim_file}.bak"
+
+	if [ -f "${shim_file}" ]; then
+		echo "warning: ${shim_file} already exists" >&2
+		if [ ! -f "${shim_backup}" ]; then
+			mv "${shim_file}" "${shim_backup}"
+		else
+			rm "${shim_file}"
+		fi
+	fi
 }
 
 function configure_different_shims_base() {
@@ -84,21 +110,15 @@ function configure_different_shims_base() {
 	#   https://github.com/containerd/containerd/issues/3073
 	#   https://github.com/containerd/containerd/issues/5006
 
+	local default_shim_file="/usr/local/bin/containerd-shim-kata-v2"
+
 	mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
 
 	for shim in "${shims[@]}"; do
 		local shim_binary="containerd-shim-kata-${shim}-v2"
 		local shim_file="/usr/local/bin/${shim_binary}"
-		local shim_backup="/usr/local/bin/${shim_binary}.bak"
 
-		if [ -f "${shim_file}" ]; then
-			echo "warning: ${shim_binary} already exists" >&2
-			if [ ! -f "${shim_backup}" ]; then
-				mv "${shim_file}" "${shim_backup}"
-			else
-				rm "${shim_file}"
-			fi
-		fi
+		backup_shim "${shim_file}"
 
 		if [[ "${shim}" == "dragonball" ]]; then
 			ln -sf /opt/kata/runtime-rs/bin/containerd-shim-kata-v2 "${shim_file}"
@@ -108,26 +128,37 @@ function configure_different_shims_base() {
 		chmod +x "$shim_file"
 
 		if [ "${shim}" == "${default_shim}" ]; then
+			backup_shim "${default_shim_file}"
+
 			echo "Creating the default shim-v2 binary"
-			ln -sf "${shim_file}" /usr/local/bin/containerd-shim-kata-v2
+			ln -sf "${shim_file}" "${default_shim_file}"
 		fi
 	done
 }
 
+function restore_shim() {
+	local shim_file="$1"
+	local shim_backup="${shim_file}.bak"
+
+	if [ -f "${shim_backup}" ]; then
+		mv "$shim_backup" "$shim_file"
+	fi
+}
+
 function cleanup_different_shims_base() {
+	local default_shim_file="/usr/local/bin/containerd-shim-kata-v2"
+
 	for shim in "${shims[@]}"; do
 		local shim_binary="containerd-shim-kata-${shim}-v2"
 		local shim_file="/usr/local/bin/${shim_binary}"
-		local shim_backup="/usr/local/bin/${shim_binary}.bak"
 
 		rm "${shim_file}" || true
 
-		if [ -f "${shim_backup}" ]; then
-			mv "$shim_backup" "$shim_file"
-		fi
+		restore_shim "${shim_file}"
 	done
 
-	rm /usr/local/bin/containerd-shim-kata-v2
+	rm "${default_shim_file}" || true
+	restore_shim "${default_shim_file}"
 }
 
 function configure_crio_runtime() {
@@ -264,6 +295,8 @@ function reset_runtime() {
 	if [ "$1" == "crio" ] || [ "$1" == "containerd" ]; then
 		systemctl restart kubelet
 	fi
+
+	wait_till_node_is_ready
 }
 
 function main() {