diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index e3431f20792505ae0f975e90aef7734516625daf..88b16d3285b40a9f580771bce46fd58539db33a4 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ variables:
 
 default:
   image:
-    name: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.22.0-debug
+    name: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug
     entrypoint: [""]
 
 tfcpu.image:
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 34ec9b5527c6d08c0a44db2956c066baa2e3798d..ec2b926c4b873697e612e9e12ae14d869b399893 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ Pushing to docker hub is done from CI/CD automatically when the Dockerfile chang
 cd tensorflow-cpu-with-vscode
 docker run \
     -v .:/workspace \
-    gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.22.0-debug \
+    gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug \
     --context dir:///workspace/ \
     --dockerfile /workspace/Dockerfile \
     --no-push \
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ cd tensorflow-gpu-with-vscode
 cd keras3-gpu
 docker run \
     -v ".:/workspace" \
-    gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.22.0-debug \
+    gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug \
     --context dir:///workspace/ \
     --dockerfile /workspace/Dockerfile \
     --no-push \
diff --git a/keras3-cpu/Dockerfile b/keras3-cpu/Dockerfile
index 04b6625fec9a6adceb8e508a6bd487ac2611889f..1dcf0d94e627a57ee74a74fa3c2a7b26c3b109cb 100644
--- a/keras3-cpu/Dockerfile
+++ b/keras3-cpu/Dockerfile
@@ -9,9 +9,12 @@ SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 
 USER root
 
-# R pre-requisites
 RUN apt-get update --yes && \
     apt-get install --yes --no-install-recommends \
+    # general purpose utils
+    iputils-ping \
+    htop \
+    # R pre-requisites
     fonts-dejavu \
     unixodbc \
     unixodbc-dev \
@@ -57,7 +60,7 @@ RUN mamba install --yes \
 USER root
 
 # install code-server and extensions
-ENV CODE_VERSION=4.95.2
+ENV CODE_VERSION=4.95.3
 RUN wget --no-hsts -q https://github.com/coder/code-server/releases/download/v$CODE_VERSION/code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
     dpkg -i code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
     rm -f code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
@@ -82,6 +85,8 @@ RUN wget --no-hsts -q -O vscode_cli.tar.gz 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/do
 # install some packages
 USER ${NB_UID}
 RUN mamba install --yes \
+    # system monitor
+    'bpytop' \
     # umap + hdbscan
     'umap-learn' \
     'hdbscan' \
diff --git a/keras3-gpu/Dockerfile b/keras3-gpu/Dockerfile
index d2561d17973c26c056a4d5caec2500f36b4a55ad..e237d45a5c9226d51d08900f4405ff701bccf7b3 100644
--- a/keras3-gpu/Dockerfile
+++ b/keras3-gpu/Dockerfile
@@ -9,8 +9,15 @@ SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 
 USER root
 
+# general purpose utils
+RUN apt-get update --yes && \
+    apt-get install --yes --no-install-recommends \
+    iputils-ping \
+    htop && \
+    apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 # install code-server and extensions
-ENV CODE_VERSION=4.95.2
+ENV CODE_VERSION=4.95.3
 RUN wget --no-hsts -q https://github.com/coder/code-server/releases/download/v$CODE_VERSION/code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
     dpkg -i code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
     rm -f code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
@@ -33,6 +40,8 @@ RUN wget --no-hsts -q -O vscode_cli.tar.gz 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/do
 # install some packages
 USER ${NB_UID}
 RUN mamba install --yes \
+    # system monitor
+    'bpytop' \
     # umap + hdbscan
     'umap-learn' \
     'hdbscan' \
diff --git a/pytorch-gpu/Dockerfile b/pytorch-gpu/Dockerfile
index f779210aec474ff6353f24f40eb1d170e8527d4b..53e2af3fd2295d433c1615b6baa306773e355343 100644
--- a/pytorch-gpu/Dockerfile
+++ b/pytorch-gpu/Dockerfile
@@ -9,8 +9,15 @@ SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 
 USER root
 
+# general purpose utils
+RUN apt-get update --yes && \
+    apt-get install --yes --no-install-recommends \
+    iputils-ping \
+    htop && \
+    apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 # install code-server and extensions
-ENV CODE_VERSION=4.95.2
+ENV CODE_VERSION=4.95.3
 RUN wget --no-hsts -q https://github.com/coder/code-server/releases/download/v$CODE_VERSION/code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
     dpkg -i code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
     rm -f code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
@@ -34,6 +41,8 @@ RUN wget --no-hsts -q -O vscode_cli.tar.gz 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/do
 # NOTE: without --no-update-deps somehow an undefined symbol error in /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/lib-dynload/_sqlite3.cpython-311-x86_64-linux-gnu.so occurs, which crashes jupyter lab.
 USER ${NB_UID}
 RUN conda install --yes --no-update-deps \
+    # system monitor
+    'bpytop' \
     # umap + hdbscan
     'umap-learn' \
     'hdbscan' \