diff --git a/.github/workflows/add-pr-sizing-label.yaml b/.github/workflows/add-pr-sizing-label.yaml
index 0a2d7fcbf7..ffd9b06a96 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/add-pr-sizing-label.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/add-pr-sizing-label.yaml
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ jobs:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.KATA_GITHUB_ACTIONS_PR_SIZE_TOKEN }}
         run: |
           pr=${{ github.event.number }}
+          # Removing man-db, workflow kept failing, fixes: #4480
+          sudo apt -y remove --purge man-db
           sudo apt -y install diffstat patchutils
 
           pr-add-size-label.sh -p "$pr"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/snap-release.yaml b/.github/workflows/snap-release.yaml
index 2fde90afc4..ecd34978f7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/snap-release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/snap-release.yaml
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Build snap
         run: |
+          # Removing man-db, workflow kept failing, fixes: #4480
+          sudo apt -y remove --purge man-db
           sudo apt-get install -y git git-extras
           kata_url="https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers"
           latest_version=$(git ls-remote --tags ${kata_url}  | egrep -o "refs.*" | egrep -v "\-alpha|\-rc|{}" | egrep -o "[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+" | sort -V -r | head -1)
diff --git a/snap/snapcraft.yaml b/snap/snapcraft.yaml
index 60185e8f61..77f27b15f9 100644
--- a/snap/snapcraft.yaml
+++ b/snap/snapcraft.yaml
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ parts:
       rustup toolchain install ${version}
       rustup default ${version}
       if [ "${arch}" == "ppc64le" ] || [ "${arch}" == "s390x" ] ; then
-        [ ${arch} == "ppc64le"] && arch="powerpc64le"
+        [ "${arch}" == "ppc64le" ] && arch="powerpc64le"
         rustup target add ${arch}-unknown-linux-gnu
       else
         rustup target add ${arch}-unknown-linux-musl
diff --git a/src/runtime/Makefile b/src/runtime/Makefile
index be47012f05..757d0a48a9 100644
--- a/src/runtime/Makefile
+++ b/src/runtime/Makefile
@@ -167,6 +167,11 @@ DEFDISABLEGUESTEMPTYDIR := false
 DEFAULTEXPFEATURES := []
 
 DEFDISABLESELINUX := false
+#Default SeccomSandbox param
+#The same default policy is used by libvirt
+#More explanation on https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2017-02/msg03348.html
+# Note: "elevateprivileges=deny" doesn't work with daemonize option, so it's removed from the seccomp sandbox
+DEFSECCOMPSANDBOXPARAM := on,obsolete=deny,spawn=deny,resourcecontrol=deny
 
 #Default entropy source
 DEFENTROPYSOURCE := /dev/urandom
@@ -459,6 +464,7 @@ USER_VARS += DEFVIRTIOFSCACHE
 USER_VARS += DEFVIRTIOFSEXTRAARGS
 USER_VARS += DEFENABLEANNOTATIONS
 USER_VARS += DEFENABLEIOTHREADS
+USER_VARS += DEFSECCOMPSANDBOXPARAM
 USER_VARS += DEFENABLEVHOSTUSERSTORE
 USER_VARS += DEFVHOSTUSERSTOREPATH
 USER_VARS += DEFVALIDVHOSTUSERSTOREPATHS
diff --git a/src/runtime/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in b/src/runtime/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in
index 09c219545d..702b71aadd 100644
--- a/src/runtime/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in
+++ b/src/runtime/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in
@@ -76,6 +76,14 @@ firmware_volume = "@FIRMWAREVOLUMEPATH@"
 # For example, `machine_accelerators = "nosmm,nosmbus,nosata,nopit,static-prt,nofw"`
 machine_accelerators="@MACHINEACCELERATORS@"
 
+# Qemu seccomp sandbox feature
+# comma-separated list of seccomp sandbox features to control the syscall access.
+# For example, `seccompsandbox= "on,obsolete=deny,spawn=deny,resourcecontrol=deny"`
+# Note: "elevateprivileges=deny" doesn't work with daemonize option, so it's removed from the seccomp sandbox
+# Another note: enabling this feature may reduce performance, you may enable
+# /proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable to reduce the impact. see https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/bpfc.8.html
+#seccompsandbox="@DEFSECCOMPSANDBOXPARAM@"
+
 # CPU features
 # comma-separated list of cpu features to pass to the cpu
 # For example, `cpu_features = "pmu=off,vmx=off"
diff --git a/src/runtime/pkg/containerd-shim-v2/create.go b/src/runtime/pkg/containerd-shim-v2/create.go
index 1edf005916..c80d85efd5 100644
--- a/src/runtime/pkg/containerd-shim-v2/create.go
+++ b/src/runtime/pkg/containerd-shim-v2/create.go
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func create(ctx context.Context, s *service, r *taskAPI.CreateTaskRequest) (*con
 		}
 
 		// create root span
-		rootSpan, newCtx := katatrace.Trace(s.ctx, shimLog, "root span", shimTracingTags)
+		rootSpan, newCtx := katatrace.Trace(s.ctx, shimLog, "rootSpan", shimTracingTags)
 		s.rootCtx = newCtx
 		defer rootSpan.End()
 
diff --git a/src/runtime/pkg/govmm/qemu/qemu.go b/src/runtime/pkg/govmm/qemu/qemu.go
index ea3f1311a8..100316dd9e 100644
--- a/src/runtime/pkg/govmm/qemu/qemu.go
+++ b/src/runtime/pkg/govmm/qemu/qemu.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ package qemu
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"os"
@@ -23,8 +24,6 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"syscall"
-
-	"context"
 )
 
 // Machine describes the machine type qemu will emulate.
diff --git a/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config.go b/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config.go
index 15fc533102..c883d9a8de 100644
--- a/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config.go
+++ b/src/runtime/pkg/katautils/config.go
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ type hypervisor struct {
 	FileBackedMemRootDir           string   `toml:"file_mem_backend"`
 	GuestHookPath                  string   `toml:"guest_hook_path"`
 	GuestMemoryDumpPath            string   `toml:"guest_memory_dump_path"`
+	SeccompSandbox                 string   `toml:"seccompsandbox"`
 	HypervisorPathList             []string `toml:"valid_hypervisor_paths"`
 	JailerPathList                 []string `toml:"valid_jailer_paths"`
 	CtlPathList                    []string `toml:"valid_ctlpaths"`
@@ -767,6 +768,7 @@ func newQemuHypervisorConfig(h hypervisor) (vc.HypervisorConfig, error) {
 		EnableVhostUserStore:    h.EnableVhostUserStore,
 		VhostUserStorePath:      h.vhostUserStorePath(),
 		VhostUserStorePathList:  h.VhostUserStorePathList,
+		SeccompSandbox:          h.SeccompSandbox,
 		GuestHookPath:           h.guestHookPath(),
 		RxRateLimiterMaxRate:    rxRateLimiterMaxRate,
 		TxRateLimiterMaxRate:    txRateLimiterMaxRate,
diff --git a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/hypervisor.go b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/hypervisor.go
index 9de4dc0d0a..20d7d61038 100644
--- a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/hypervisor.go
+++ b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/hypervisor.go
@@ -370,6 +370,9 @@ type HypervisorConfig struct {
 	// VhostUserStorePathList is the list of valid values for vhost-user paths
 	VhostUserStorePathList []string
 
+	// SeccompSandbox is the qemu function which enables the seccomp feature
+	SeccompSandbox string
+
 	// KernelParams are additional guest kernel parameters.
 	KernelParams []Param
 
diff --git a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/persist.go b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/persist.go
index bc20af21fa..199c647ae2 100644
--- a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/persist.go
+++ b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/persist.go
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ func (s *Sandbox) dumpConfig(ss *persistapi.SandboxState) {
 		BootFromTemplate:        sconfig.HypervisorConfig.BootFromTemplate,
 		DisableVhostNet:         sconfig.HypervisorConfig.DisableVhostNet,
 		EnableVhostUserStore:    sconfig.HypervisorConfig.EnableVhostUserStore,
+		SeccompSandbox:          sconfig.HypervisorConfig.SeccompSandbox,
 		VhostUserStorePath:      sconfig.HypervisorConfig.VhostUserStorePath,
 		VhostUserStorePathList:  sconfig.HypervisorConfig.VhostUserStorePathList,
 		GuestHookPath:           sconfig.HypervisorConfig.GuestHookPath,
diff --git a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/persist/api/config.go b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/persist/api/config.go
index 0af8a09227..1c16b7bd91 100644
--- a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/persist/api/config.go
+++ b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/persist/api/config.go
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ type HypervisorConfig struct {
 	// related folders, sockets and device nodes should be.
 	VhostUserStorePath string
 
+	// SeccompSandbox is the qemu function which enables the seccomp feature
+	SeccompSandbox string
+
 	// GuestHookPath is the path within the VM that will be used for 'drop-in' hooks
 	GuestHookPath string
 
diff --git a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go
index 656548e88c..b56ffda051 100644
--- a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go
+++ b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go
@@ -629,30 +629,32 @@ func (q *qemu) CreateVM(ctx context.Context, id string, network Network, hypervi
 		// some devices configuration may also change kernel params, make sure this is called afterwards
 		Params: q.kernelParameters(),
 	}
+	q.checkBpfEnabled()
 
 	qemuConfig := govmmQemu.Config{
-		Name:        fmt.Sprintf("sandbox-%s", q.id),
-		UUID:        q.state.UUID,
-		Path:        qemuPath,
-		Ctx:         q.qmpMonitorCh.ctx,
-		Uid:         q.config.Uid,
-		Gid:         q.config.Gid,
-		Groups:      q.config.Groups,
-		Machine:     machine,
-		SMP:         smp,
-		Memory:      memory,
-		Devices:     devices,
-		CPUModel:    cpuModel,
-		Kernel:      kernel,
-		RTC:         rtc,
-		QMPSockets:  qmpSockets,
-		Knobs:       knobs,
-		Incoming:    incoming,
-		VGA:         "none",
-		GlobalParam: "kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=discard",
-		Bios:        firmwarePath,
-		PFlash:      pflash,
-		PidFile:     filepath.Join(q.config.VMStorePath, q.id, "pid"),
+		Name:           fmt.Sprintf("sandbox-%s", q.id),
+		UUID:           q.state.UUID,
+		Path:           qemuPath,
+		Ctx:            q.qmpMonitorCh.ctx,
+		Uid:            q.config.Uid,
+		Gid:            q.config.Gid,
+		Groups:         q.config.Groups,
+		Machine:        machine,
+		SMP:            smp,
+		Memory:         memory,
+		Devices:        devices,
+		CPUModel:       cpuModel,
+		SeccompSandbox: q.config.SeccompSandbox,
+		Kernel:         kernel,
+		RTC:            rtc,
+		QMPSockets:     qmpSockets,
+		Knobs:          knobs,
+		Incoming:       incoming,
+		VGA:            "none",
+		GlobalParam:    "kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=discard",
+		Bios:           firmwarePath,
+		PFlash:         pflash,
+		PidFile:        filepath.Join(q.config.VMStorePath, q.id, "pid"),
 	}
 
 	qemuConfig.Devices, qemuConfig.Bios, err = q.arch.appendProtectionDevice(qemuConfig.Devices, firmwarePath, firmwareVolumePath)
@@ -689,6 +691,25 @@ func (q *qemu) CreateVM(ctx context.Context, id string, network Network, hypervi
 	return err
 }
 
+func (q *qemu) checkBpfEnabled() {
+	if q.config.SeccompSandbox != "" {
+		out, err := os.ReadFile("/proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable")
+		if err != nil {
+			q.Logger().WithError(err).Warningf("failed to get bpf_jit_enable status")
+			return
+		}
+		enabled, err := strconv.Atoi(string(out))
+		if err != nil {
+			q.Logger().WithError(err).Warningf("failed to convert bpf_jit_enable status to integer")
+			return
+		}
+		if enabled == 0 {
+			q.Logger().Warningf("bpf_jit_enable is disabled. " +
+				"It's recommended to turn on bpf_jit_enable to reduce the performance impact of QEMU seccomp sandbox.")
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func (q *qemu) vhostFSSocketPath(id string) (string, error) {
 	return utils.BuildSocketPath(q.config.VMStorePath, id, vhostFSSocket)
 }
diff --git a/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/rootfs.sh b/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/rootfs.sh
index 1e504c76f5..d82f2e7d6d 100755
--- a/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/rootfs.sh
+++ b/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/rootfs.sh
@@ -563,8 +563,13 @@ EOF
 
 	if [ -f "$chrony_systemd_service" ]; then
 		# Remove user option, user could not exist in the rootfs
+		# Set the /var/lib/chrony for ReadWritePaths to be ignored if
+		# its nonexistent, this broke the service on boot previously
+		# due to the directory not being present "(code=exited, status=226/NAMESPACE)"
 		sed -i -e 's/^\(ExecStart=.*\)-u [[:alnum:]]*/\1/g' \
-		       -e '/^\[Unit\]/a ConditionPathExists=\/dev\/ptp0' ${chrony_systemd_service}
+		       -e '/^\[Unit\]/a ConditionPathExists=\/dev\/ptp0' \
+		       -e 's/^ReadWritePaths=\(.\+\) \/var\/lib\/chrony \(.\+\)$/ReadWritePaths=\1 -\/var\/lib\/chrony \2/m' \
+		       ${chrony_systemd_service}
 	fi
 
 	AGENT_DIR="${ROOTFS_DIR}/usr/bin"
diff --git a/tools/packaging/release/publish-kata-image.sh b/tools/packaging/release/publish-kata-image.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1240e4f5dd..0000000000
--- a/tools/packaging/release/publish-kata-image.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,76 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-#Copyright (c) 2018 Intel Corporation
-#
-#SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
-#
-
-[ -z "${DEBUG}" ] || set -x
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o nounset
-set -o pipefail
-
-workdir="${PWD}"
-
-readonly script_name="$(basename "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
-readonly script_dir="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
-readonly project="kata-containers"
-GOPATH=${GOPATH:-${HOME}/go}
-
-source "${script_dir}/../scripts/lib.sh"
-source "${script_dir}/../obs-packaging/scripts/pkglib.sh"
-
-die() {
-	msg="$*"
-	echo "ERROR: ${FUNCNAME[1]} ${msg}" >&2
-	exit 1
-}
-
-usage() {
-	return_code=${1:-0}
-	cat <<EOF
-Usage:
-
-${script_name} [options]  <version>
-
-version: Kata version to create the image.
-
-Create image for a kata version.
-
-options:
-
--h      : show this help
--p      : push image to github
-EOF
-
-	exit "${return_code}"
-}
-
-main() {
-	push="false"
-	while getopts "d:hp" opt; do
-		case $opt in
-		h) usage 0 ;;
-		p) push="true" ;;
-		esac
-	done
-
-	shift $((OPTIND - 1))
-	kata_version=${1:-}
-	[ -n "${kata_version}" ] || usage "1"
-
-	ref="refs/tags/${kata_version}^{}"
-	agent_sha=$(get_kata_hash "agent" "${ref}")
-	agent_sha=${agent_sha:0:${short_commit_length}}
-	image_tarball=$(find -name 'kata-containers-*.tar.gz' | grep "${kata_version}" | grep "${agent_sha}") ||
-		"${script_dir}/../obs-packaging/kata-containers-image/build_image.sh" -v "${kata_version}"
-	image_tarball=$(find -name 'kata-containers-*.tar.gz' | grep "${kata_version}" | grep "${agent_sha}" ) || die "file not found ${image_tarball}"
-
-	if [ ${push} == "true" ]; then
-		hub -C "${GOPATH}/src/github.com/${project}/agent" release edit -a "${image_tarball}" "${kata_version}"
-	else
-		echo "Wont push image to github use -p option to do it."
-	fi
-}
-
-main $@