diff --git a/.github/workflows/basic-ci-amd64.yaml b/.github/workflows/basic-ci-amd64.yaml
index 72348b2454..0d79d314b0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/basic-ci-amd64.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/basic-ci-amd64.yaml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ jobs:
       # all the tests due to a single flaky instance.
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        containerd_version: ['sandbox_api']
+        containerd_version: ['latest']
         vmm: ['dragonball', 'clh-runtime-rs', 'qemu-runtime-rs']
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-sandboxapi-amd64-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        containerd_version: ['lts', 'active']
+        containerd_version: ['minimum', 'latest']
         vmm: ['clh', 'clh-runtime-rs', 'dragonball', 'qemu', 'qemu-runtime-rs']
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-run-containerd-stability-amd64-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ jobs:
       # all the tests due to a single flaky instance.
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        containerd_version: ['lts', 'active']
+        containerd_version: ['minimum', 'latest']
         vmm: ['clh', 'qemu', 'dragonball', 'qemu-runtime-rs']
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-run-nydus-amd64-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/basic-ci-s390x.yaml b/.github/workflows/basic-ci-s390x.yaml
index 9216a5964e..c4fa6b508d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/basic-ci-s390x.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/basic-ci-s390x.yaml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ jobs:
       # all the tests due to a single flaky instance.
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        containerd_version: ['active']
+        containerd_version: ['minimum']
         vmm: ['qemu-runtime-rs']
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-s390x-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        containerd_version: ['lts', 'active']
+        containerd_version: ['minimum', 'latest']
         vmm: ['qemu']
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-s390x-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index ac1a3234c6..33f305158a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -398,16 +398,16 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         params: [
-          { containerd_version: lts,    vmm: clh              },
-          { containerd_version: lts,    vmm: dragonball       },
-          { containerd_version: lts,    vmm: qemu             },
-          { containerd_version: lts,    vmm: clh-runtime-rs   },
-          { containerd_version: lts,    vmm: qemu-runtime-rs  },
-          { containerd_version: active, vmm: clh              },
-          { containerd_version: active, vmm: dragonball       },
-          { containerd_version: active, vmm: qemu             },
-          { containerd_version: active, vmm: clh-runtime-rs   },
-          { containerd_version: active, vmm: qemu-runtime-rs  },
+          { containerd_version: latest,    vmm: clh              },
+          { containerd_version: latest,    vmm: dragonball       },
+          { containerd_version: latest,    vmm: qemu             },
+          { containerd_version: latest,    vmm: clh-runtime-rs   },
+          { containerd_version: latest,    vmm: qemu-runtime-rs  },
+          { containerd_version: minimum, vmm: clh              },
+          { containerd_version: minimum, vmm: dragonball       },
+          { containerd_version: minimum, vmm: qemu             },
+          { containerd_version: minimum, vmm: clh-runtime-rs   },
+          { containerd_version: minimum, vmm: qemu-runtime-rs  },
         ]
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-cri-amd64-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
@@ -429,8 +429,8 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         params: [
-          {containerd_version: active, vmm: qemu},
-          {containerd_version: active, vmm: qemu-runtime-rs},
+          {containerd_version: latest, vmm: qemu},
+          {containerd_version: latest, vmm: qemu-runtime-rs},
         ]
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         params: [
-          {containerd_version: active, vmm: qemu},
+          {containerd_version: latest, vmm: qemu},
         ]
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-cri-ppc64le-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-free-runner.yaml b/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-free-runner.yaml
index 9845bb308b..d8d9b4c636 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-free-runner.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-k8s-tests-on-free-runner.yaml
@@ -40,16 +40,16 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         environment: [
-          { vmm: clh, containerd_version: lts },
-          { vmm: clh, containerd_version: active },
-          { vmm: dragonball, containerd_version: lts },
-          { vmm: dragonball, containerd_version: active },
-          { vmm: qemu, containerd_version: lts },
-          { vmm: qemu, containerd_version: active },
-          { vmm: qemu-runtime-rs, containerd_version: lts },
-          { vmm: qemu-runtime-rs, containerd_version: active },
-          { vmm: clh-runtime-rs, containerd_version: lts },
-          { vmm: clh-runtime-rs, containerd_version: active },
+          { vmm: clh, containerd_version: latest },
+          { vmm: clh, containerd_version: minimum },
+          { vmm: dragonball, containerd_version: latest },
+          { vmm: dragonball, containerd_version: minimum },
+          { vmm: qemu, containerd_version: latest },
+          { vmm: qemu, containerd_version: minimum },
+          { vmm: qemu-runtime-rs, containerd_version: latest },
+          { vmm: qemu-runtime-rs, containerd_version: minimum },
+          { vmm: clh-runtime-rs, containerd_version: latest },
+          { vmm: clh-runtime-rs, containerd_version: minimum },
         ]
     concurrency:
       group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}-free-runner-${{ toJSON(matrix) }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-kata-coco-tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/run-kata-coco-tests.yaml
index 1b009f23a3..f240775a78 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-kata-coco-tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-kata-coco-tests.yaml
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ jobs:
       AUTO_GENERATE_POLICY: "yes"
       K8S_TEST_HOST_TYPE: "all"
       CONTAINER_ENGINE: "containerd"
-      CONTAINER_ENGINE_VERSION: "active"
+      CONTAINER_ENGINE_VERSION: "latest"
       GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-kata-monitor-tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/run-kata-monitor-tests.yaml
index 759295bf79..bbb4772e6b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-kata-monitor-tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-kata-monitor-tests.yaml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ jobs:
         # TODO: enable when https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/issues/9853 is fixed
         #include:
         #  - container_engine: containerd
-        #    containerd_version: lts
+        #    containerd_version: latest
         exclude:
           # TODO: enable with containerd when https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/issues/9761 is fixed
           - container_engine: containerd
diff --git a/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh b/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh
index 54692cda67..26655b66a2 100644
--- a/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh
+++ b/tests/gha-run-k8s-common.sh
@@ -528,9 +528,9 @@ function deploy_vanilla_k8s() {
 	[[ -z "${container_engine}" ]] && die "container_engine is required"
 	[[ -z "${container_engine_version}" ]] && die "container_engine_version is required"
 
-	# Resolve lts/active to the actual version from versions.yaml (e.g. v1.7, v2.1)
+	# Resolve minimum/latest to the actual version from versions.yaml (e.g. v1.7, v2.3)
 	case "${container_engine_version}" in
-		lts|active)
+		minimum|latest)
 			container_engine_version=$(get_from_kata_deps ".externals.containerd.${container_engine_version}")
 			;;
 		*) ;;
diff --git a/versions.yaml b/versions.yaml
index fddd9efe3e..d9317b13f6 100644
--- a/versions.yaml
+++ b/versions.yaml
@@ -312,10 +312,8 @@ externals:
     # containerd from v1.5.0 used the path unix socket
     # instead of abstract socket, thus kata wouldn's support the containerd's
     # version older than them.
-    version: "v1.7.25"
-    lts: "v1.7"
-    active: "v2.2"
-    sandbox_api: "v2.3"
+    minimum: "v1.7"
+    latest: "v2.3"
 
   critools:
     description: "CLI tool for Container Runtime Interface (CRI)"