diff --git a/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh b/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh
index 9a2244ebff..204c66587a 100644
--- a/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh
+++ b/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh
@@ -62,7 +62,14 @@ function enable_cluster_http_application_routing() {
 }
 
 function install_azure_cli() {
-	curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash
+	# This is a workaround for https://github.com/Azure/azure-cli/issues/28984
+	# which ended up breaking our CI.
+	curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb -o installAzureCli.sh
+	sed -i '/curl -sLS https:\/\/packages.microsoft.com\/keys\/microsoft.asc |/d' installAzureCli.sh
+	sed -i '/gpg --dearmor -o \/etc\/apt\/keyrings\/microsoft.gpg/d' installAzureCli.sh
+	sed -i '/chmod go+r \/etc\/apt\/keyrings\/microsoft.gpg/d' installAzureCli.sh
+	sudo bash installAzureCli.sh
+
 	# The aks-preview extension is required while the Mariner Kata host is in preview.
 	az extension add --name aks-preview
 }
diff --git a/tests/integration/kubernetes/confidential_common.sh b/tests/integration/kubernetes/confidential_common.sh
index b1bc9208aa..dd59e75eec 100644
--- a/tests/integration/kubernetes/confidential_common.sh
+++ b/tests/integration/kubernetes/confidential_common.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ function check_hypervisor_for_confidential_tests() {
 	local kata_hypervisor="${1}"
 	# This check must be done with "<SPACE>${KATA_HYPERVISOR}<SPACE>" to avoid
 	# having substrings, like qemu, being matched with qemu-$something.
-    if [[ " ${SUPPORTED_TEE_HYPERVISORS[*]} " =~ " ${kata_hypervisor} " ]] ||\
+    if check_hypervisor_for_confidential_tests_tee_only "${kata_hypervisor}" ||\
        [[ " ${SUPPORTED_NON_TEE_HYPERVISORS[*]} " =~ " ${kata_hypervisor} " ]]; then        
         return 0
     else
@@ -52,10 +52,33 @@ function check_hypervisor_for_confidential_tests() {
     fi
 }
 
-# Common setup for confidential tests.
-function confidential_setup() {
-	ensure_yq
-	if ! check_hypervisor_for_confidential_tests "${KATA_HYPERVISOR}"; then
-        return 1
-    fi
+# This function verifies whether the input hypervisor supports confidential tests and 
+# relies on `KATA_HYPERVISOR` being an environment variable
+function check_hypervisor_for_confidential_tests_tee_only() {
+	local kata_hypervisor="${1}"
+	# This check must be done with "<SPACE>${KATA_HYPERVISOR}<SPACE>" to avoid
+	# having substrings, like qemu, being matched with qemu-$something.
+	if [[ " ${SUPPORTED_TEE_HYPERVISORS[*]} " =~ " ${kata_hypervisor} " ]]; then
+		return 0
+	fi
+
+	return 1
+}
+
+# Common check for confidential tests.
+function is_confidential_runtime_class() {
+	if check_hypervisor_for_confidential_tests "${KATA_HYPERVISOR}"; then
+		return 0
+	fi
+
+	return 1
+}
+
+# Common check for confidential hardware tests.
+function is_confidential_hardware() {
+	if check_hypervisor_for_confidential_tests_tee_only "${KATA_HYPERVISOR}"; then
+		return 0
+	fi
+
+	return 1
 }
diff --git a/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-confidential-attestation.bats b/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-confidential-attestation.bats
index c2035e1bb7..2be9a37ae0 100644
--- a/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-confidential-attestation.bats
+++ b/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-confidential-attestation.bats
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ export KATA_HYPERVISOR="${KATA_HYPERVISOR:-qemu}"
 export AA_KBC="${AA_KBC:-cc_kbc}"
 
 setup() {
-	confidential_setup || skip "Test not supported for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+	is_confidential_runtime_class || skip "Test not supported for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
 
 	if [ "${KBS}" = "false" ]; then
 		skip "Test skipped as KBS not setup"
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ setup() {
 }
 
 teardown() {
-	check_hypervisor_for_confidential_tests ${KATA_HYPERVISOR} || skip "Test not supported for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+	is_confidential_runtime_class || skip "Test not supported for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
 
 	if [ "${KBS}" = "false" ]; then
 		skip "Test skipped as KBS not setup"
diff --git a/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-confidential.bats b/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-confidential.bats
index 01abec96a0..afb464b047 100644
--- a/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-confidential.bats
+++ b/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-confidential.bats
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ load "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/confidential_common.sh"
 load "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/tests_common.sh"
 
 setup() {
-	confidential_setup || skip "Test not supported for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+	if ! is_confidential_hardware; then
+		skip "Test is supported only on confidential hardware (which ${KATA_HYPERVISOR} is not)"
+	fi
 	setup_unencrypted_confidential_pod
 }
 
@@ -41,7 +43,9 @@ setup() {
 }
 
 teardown() {
-	check_hypervisor_for_confidential_tests ${KATA_HYPERVISOR} || skip "Test not supported for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+	if ! is_confidential_hardware; then
+		skip "Test is supported only on confidential hardware (which ${KATA_HYPERVISOR} is not)"
+	fi
 	
 	kubectl describe "pod/${pod_name}" || true
 	kubectl delete -f "${pod_config_dir}/pod-confidential-unencrypted.yaml" || true
diff --git a/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-guest-pull-image.bats b/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-guest-pull-image.bats
index 93d9120a68..fb42974019 100644
--- a/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-guest-pull-image.bats
+++ b/tests/integration/kubernetes/k8s-guest-pull-image.bats
@@ -9,18 +9,30 @@ load "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/lib.sh"
 load "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/confidential_common.sh"
 
 setup() {
-    confidential_setup && skip "Due to issues related to pull-image integration skip tests for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+    if is_confidential_hardware; then
+        skip "Due to issues related to pull-image integration skip tests for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+    fi
+
+    if ! is_confidential_runtime_class; then
+        skip "Test not supported for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+    fi
 
     [ "${SNAPSHOTTER:-}" = "nydus" ] || skip "None snapshotter was found but this test requires one"
 
-    setup_common 
+    setup_common
     unencrypted_image_1="quay.io/sjenning/nginx:1.15-alpine"
     unencrypted_image_2="quay.io/prometheus/busybox:latest"
     large_image="quay.io/confidential-containers/test-images:largeimage"
 }
 
 @test "Test we can pull an unencrypted image outside the guest with runc and then inside the guest successfully" {
-    confidential_setup && skip "Due to issues related to pull-image integration skip tests for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+    if is_confidential_hardware; then
+        skip "Due to issues related to pull-image integration skip tests for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+    fi
+
+    if ! is_confidential_runtime_class; then
+        skip "Test not supported for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+    fi
 
     # 1. Create one runc pod with the $unencrypted_image_1 image
     # We want to have one runc pod, so we pass a fake runtimeclass "runc" and then delete the runtimeClassName,
@@ -82,7 +94,7 @@ setup() {
     echo "Pod $kata_pod_with_nydus_config file:"
     cat $kata_pod_with_nydus_config
 
-    # The pod should be failed because the default timeout of CreateContainerRequest is 60s 
+    # The pod should be failed because the default timeout of CreateContainerRequest is 60s
     assert_pod_fail "$kata_pod_with_nydus_config"
     assert_logs_contain "$node" kata "$node_start_time" \
 		'context deadline exceeded'
@@ -104,7 +116,6 @@ setup() {
 }
 
 @test "Test we can pull an unencrypted image inside the guest twice in a row and then outside the guest successfully" {
-    skip "Skip this test until we use containerd 2.0 with 'image pull per runtime class' feature: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/issues/9377"
     # 1. Create one kata pod with the $unencrypted_image_1 image and nydus annotation twice
     kata_pod_with_nydus_config="$(new_pod_config "$unencrypted_image_1" "kata-${KATA_HYPERVISOR}")"
     set_node "$kata_pod_with_nydus_config" "$node"
@@ -121,7 +132,7 @@ setup() {
 
     add_allow_all_policy_to_yaml "$kata_pod_with_nydus_config"
     k8s_create_pod "$kata_pod_with_nydus_config"
-    
+
     echo "Kata pod test-e2e with nydus annotation is running"
     echo "Checking the image was pulled in the guest"
 
@@ -160,7 +171,6 @@ setup() {
 }
 
 @test "Test we can pull an other unencrypted image outside the guest and then inside the guest successfully" {
-    skip "Skip this test until we use containerd 2.0 with 'image pull per runtime class' feature: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/issues/9377"
     # 1. Create one kata pod with the $unencrypted_image_2 image and without nydus annotation
     kata_pod_without_nydus_config="$(new_pod_config "$unencrypted_image_2" "kata-${KATA_HYPERVISOR}")"
     set_node "$kata_pod_without_nydus_config" "$node"
@@ -172,7 +182,7 @@ setup() {
 
     add_allow_all_policy_to_yaml "$kata_pod_without_nydus_config"
     k8s_create_pod "$kata_pod_without_nydus_config"
-    
+
     echo "Kata pod test-e2e without nydus annotation is running"
     echo "Checking the image was pulled in the host"
 
@@ -199,7 +209,7 @@ setup() {
 
     add_allow_all_policy_to_yaml "$kata_pod_with_nydus_config"
     k8s_create_pod "$kata_pod_with_nydus_config"
-    
+
     echo "Kata pod test-e2e with nydus annotation is running"
     echo "Checking the image was pulled in the guest"
     sandbox_id=$(get_node_kata_sandbox_id $node)
@@ -216,7 +226,13 @@ setup() {
 }
 
 teardown() {
-    confidential_setup && skip "Due to issues related to pull-image integration skip tests for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+    if is_confidential_hardware; then
+        skip "Due to issues related to pull-image integration skip tests for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+    fi
+
+    if ! is_confidential_runtime_class; then
+        skip "Test not supported for ${KATA_HYPERVISOR}."
+    fi
 
     [ "${SNAPSHOTTER:-}" = "nydus" ] || skip "None snapshotter was found but this test requires one"
 
diff --git a/tests/integration/kubernetes/lib.sh b/tests/integration/kubernetes/lib.sh
index 95eb161620..b4c2eaa0a6 100644
--- a/tests/integration/kubernetes/lib.sh
+++ b/tests/integration/kubernetes/lib.sh
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ assert_rootfs_count() {
 	local expect_count="$3"
 	local allrootfs=""
 
-	# verify that the sandbox_id is not empty; 
+	# verify that the sandbox_id is not empty;
 	# otherwise, the command $(exec_host $node "find /run/kata-containers/shared/sandboxes/${sandbox_id} -name rootfs -type d")
 	# may yield an unexpected count of rootfs.
 	if [ -z "$sandbox_id" ]; then
@@ -130,8 +130,8 @@ assert_rootfs_count() {
 	done
 	echo "allrootfs is: $allrootfs"
 	count=$(echo $allrootfs | grep -o "rootfs" | wc -l)
-	echo "count of container rootfs in host is: $count, expect count is: $expect_count"
-	[ $expect_count -eq $count ]
+	echo "count of container rootfs in host is: $count, expect count is less than, or equal to: $expect_count"
+	[ $expect_count -ge $count ]
 }
 
 # Create a pod configuration out of a template file.