diff --git a/.fixtures.yml b/.fixtures.yml
index cf4ff2d7b..b25e8c459 100644
--- a/.fixtures.yml
+++ b/.fixtures.yml
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 fixtures:
   repositories:
     facts: 'https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-facts.git'
-    puppet_agent:
-      repo: 'https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-puppet_agent.git'
-      ref: v4.13.0
+    puppet_agent: 'https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-puppet_agent.git'
     provision: 'https://github.com/puppetlabs/provision.git'
   symlinks:
     stdlib: "#{source_dir}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/labeller.yml b/.github/workflows/labeller.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index ee149bf52..000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/labeller.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-name: Labeller
-
-on:
-  issues:
-    types:
-      - opened
-      - labeled
-      - unlabeled
-  pull_request_target:
-    types:
-      - opened
-      - labeled
-      - unlabeled
-
-jobs:
-  label:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-
-      - uses: puppetlabs/community-labeller@v1.0.1
-        name: Label issues or pull requests
-        with:
-          label_name: community
-          label_color: '5319e7'
-          org_membership: puppetlabs
-          fail_if_member: 'true'
-          token: ${{ secrets.IAC_COMMUNITY_LABELER }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 0b7b8a05d..4b3b80fc8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ name: "Publish module"
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
-  
+ 
 jobs:
   release: 
     uses: "puppetlabs/cat-github-actions/.github/workflows/module_release.yml@main"
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3f1551212..2803e566b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 /spec/fixtures/modules/*
 /tmp/
 /vendor/
+/.vendor/
 /convert_report.txt
 /update_report.txt
 .DS_Store
@@ -26,3 +27,9 @@
 .envrc
 /inventory.yaml
 /spec/fixtures/litmus_inventory.yaml
+.resource_types
+.modules
+.task_cache.json
+.plan_cache.json
+.rerun.json
+bolt-debug.log
diff --git a/.pdkignore b/.pdkignore
index 862847a72..84684be63 100644
--- a/.pdkignore
+++ b/.pdkignore
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 /spec/fixtures/modules/*
 /tmp/
 /vendor/
+/.vendor/
 /convert_report.txt
 /update_report.txt
 .DS_Store
@@ -26,6 +27,12 @@
 .envrc
 /inventory.yaml
 /spec/fixtures/litmus_inventory.yaml
+.resource_types
+.modules
+.task_cache.json
+.plan_cache.json
+.rerun.json
+bolt-debug.log
 /.fixtures.yml
 /Gemfile
 /.gitattributes
diff --git a/.rubocop.yml b/.rubocop.yml
index 7a66e0833..439ea84ee 100644
--- a/.rubocop.yml
+++ b/.rubocop.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ require:
 AllCops:
   NewCops: enable
   DisplayCopNames: true
-  TargetRubyVersion: '2.7'
+  TargetRubyVersion: '2.6'
   Include:
   - "**/*.rb"
   Exclude:
@@ -529,6 +529,8 @@ Lint/DuplicateBranch:
   Enabled: false
 Lint/DuplicateMagicComment:
   Enabled: false
+Lint/DuplicateMatchPattern:
+  Enabled: false
 Lint/DuplicateRegexpCharacterClassElement:
   Enabled: false
 Lint/EmptyBlock:
@@ -645,6 +647,8 @@ Style/ComparableClamp:
   Enabled: false
 Style/ConcatArrayLiterals:
   Enabled: false
+Style/DataInheritance:
+  Enabled: false
 Style/DirEmpty:
   Enabled: false
 Style/DocumentDynamicEvalDefinition:
@@ -713,6 +717,8 @@ Style/RedundantHeredocDelimiterQuotes:
   Enabled: false
 Style/RedundantInitialize:
   Enabled: false
+Style/RedundantLineContinuation:
+  Enabled: false
 Style/RedundantSelfAssignmentBranch:
   Enabled: false
 Style/RedundantStringEscape:
diff --git a/.vscode/extensions.json b/.vscode/extensions.json
index 2f1e4f73a..6da8d472f 100644
--- a/.vscode/extensions.json
+++ b/.vscode/extensions.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "recommendations": [
     "puppet.puppet-vscode",
-    "rebornix.Ruby"
+    "Shopify.ruby-lsp"
   ]
 }
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 71b2e8ac1..6f650b7a7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,20 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/) and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org).
 
+## [v9.7.0](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/tree/v9.7.0) - 2024-12-17
+
+[Full Changelog](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/compare/v9.6.0...v9.7.0)
+
+### Added
+
+- (CAT-2119) Add Ubuntu 24.04 support [#1440](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1440) ([shubhamshinde360](https://github.com/shubhamshinde360))
+- (CAT-2101) Add support for Debian-12 [#1439](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1439) ([skyamgarp](https://github.com/skyamgarp))
+- Support for Amazon linux 2 and 2023 [#1427](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1427) ([h0tw1r3](https://github.com/h0tw1r3))
+
+### Fixed
+
+- (CAT-2180) Upgrade rexml to address CVE-2024-49761 [#1443](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1443) ([amitkarsale](https://github.com/amitkarsale))
+
 ## [v9.6.0](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/tree/v9.6.0) - 2024-04-03
 
 [Full Changelog](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/compare/v9.5.0...v9.6.0)
@@ -89,6 +103,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/) a
 [Full Changelog](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/compare/v8.6.0...v9.0.0)
 
 ### Changed
+
 - Deprecate the `validate_legacy()` function [#1353](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1353) ([smortex](https://github.com/smortex))
 - Remove deprecated functions [#1352](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1352) ([smortex](https://github.com/smortex))
 - Rewrite validate_email_address() as a Puppet 4.x function [#1350](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1350) ([smortex](https://github.com/smortex))
@@ -247,6 +262,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/) a
 [Full Changelog](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/compare/v7.1.0...v8.0.0)
 
 ### Changed
+
 - Flip installed and present in Function ensure_packages [#1196](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1196) ([cocker-cc](https://github.com/cocker-cc))
 
 ### Added
@@ -280,6 +296,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/) a
 [Full Changelog](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/compare/v6.6.0...v7.0.0)
 
 ### Changed
+
 - pdksync - Remove Puppet 5 from testing and bump minimal version to 6.0.0 [#1164](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1164) ([carabasdaniel](https://github.com/carabasdaniel))
 
 ### Added
@@ -388,6 +405,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/) a
 [Full Changelog](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/compare/5.2.0...v6.0.0)
 
 ### Changed
+
 - pdksync - (MODULES-8444) - Raise lower Puppet bound [#1011](https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-stdlib/pull/1011) ([david22swan](https://github.com/david22swan))
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index ca0e773ec..2d8e1608b 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -20,30 +20,30 @@ group :development do
   gem "json", '= 2.6.1',                         require: false if Gem::Requirement.create(['>= 3.1.0', '< 3.1.3']).satisfied_by?(Gem::Version.new(RUBY_VERSION.dup))
   gem "json", '= 2.6.3',                         require: false if Gem::Requirement.create(['>= 3.2.0', '< 4.0.0']).satisfied_by?(Gem::Version.new(RUBY_VERSION.dup))
   gem "racc", '~> 1.4.0',                        require: false if Gem::Requirement.create(['>= 2.7.0', '< 3.0.0']).satisfied_by?(Gem::Version.new(RUBY_VERSION.dup))
+  gem "deep_merge", '~> 1.2.2',                  require: false
   gem "voxpupuli-puppet-lint-plugins", '~> 5.0', require: false
-  gem "facterdb", '~> 1.18',                     require: false
-  gem "metadata-json-lint", '~> 3.0',            require: false
-  gem "puppetlabs_spec_helper", '~> 6.0',        require: false
-  gem "rspec-puppet-facts", '~> 2.0',            require: false
-  gem "codecov", '~> 0.2',                       require: false
+  gem "facterdb", '~> 2.1',                      require: false
+  gem "metadata-json-lint", '~> 4.0',            require: false
+  gem "rspec-puppet-facts", '~> 4.0',            require: false
   gem "dependency_checker", '~> 1.0.0',          require: false
   gem "parallel_tests", '= 3.12.1',              require: false
   gem "pry", '~> 0.10',                          require: false
-  gem "simplecov-console", '~> 0.5',             require: false
+  gem "simplecov-console", '~> 0.9',             require: false
   gem "puppet-debugger", '~> 1.0',               require: false
-  gem "rubocop", '= 1.48.1',                     require: false
+  gem "rubocop", '~> 1.50.0',                    require: false
   gem "rubocop-performance", '= 1.16.0',         require: false
   gem "rubocop-rspec", '= 2.19.0',               require: false
-  gem "puppet-strings", '~> 4.0',                require: false
   gem "rb-readline", '= 0.5.5',                  require: false, platforms: [:mswin, :mingw, :x64_mingw]
+  gem "rexml", '>= 3.3.9',                       require: false
 end
-group :system_tests do
-  gem "puppet_litmus", '~> 1.0', require: false, platforms: [:ruby, :x64_mingw]
-  gem "serverspec", '~> 2.41',   require: false
-end
-group :release_prep do
+group :development, :release_prep do
   gem "puppet-strings", '~> 4.0',         require: false
-  gem "puppetlabs_spec_helper", '~> 6.0', require: false
+  gem "puppetlabs_spec_helper", '~> 7.0', require: false
+end
+group :system_tests do
+  gem "puppet_litmus", '~> 1.0',   require: false, platforms: [:ruby, :x64_mingw]
+  gem "CFPropertyList", '< 3.0.7', require: false, platforms: [:mswin, :mingw, :x64_mingw]
+  gem "serverspec", '~> 2.41',     require: false
 end
 
 puppet_version = ENV['PUPPET_GEM_VERSION']
diff --git a/metadata.json b/metadata.json
index ce7b104f0..6ad792c81 100644
--- a/metadata.json
+++ b/metadata.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "puppetlabs-stdlib",
-  "version": "9.6.0",
+  "version": "9.7.0",
   "author": "puppetlabs",
   "summary": "Standard library of resources for Puppet modules.",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@
       "operatingsystem": "Debian",
       "operatingsystemrelease": [
         "10",
-        "11"
+        "11",
+        "12"
       ]
     },
     {
@@ -57,7 +58,8 @@
       "operatingsystemrelease": [
         "18.04",
         "20.04",
-        "22.04"
+        "22.04",
+        "24.04"
       ]
     },
     {
@@ -95,6 +97,13 @@
       "operatingsystemrelease": [
         "8"
       ]
+    },
+    {
+      "operatingsystem": "AmazonLinux",
+      "operatingsystemrelease": [
+        "2",
+        "2023"
+      ]
     }
   ],
   "requirements": [
@@ -104,7 +113,7 @@
     }
   ],
   "description": "Standard Library for Puppet Modules",
-  "pdk-version": "3.0.0",
+  "pdk-version": "3.2.0",
   "template-url": "https://github.com/puppetlabs/pdk-templates#main",
-  "template-ref": "heads/main-0-g79a2f93"
+  "template-ref": "tags/3.2.0.4-0-g5d17ec1"
 }
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 6820cebee..ae7c1f681 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@
   next unless File.exist?(f) && File.readable?(f) && File.size?(f)
 
   begin
-    default_facts.merge!(YAML.safe_load(File.read(f), permitted_classes: [], permitted_symbols: [], aliases: true))
+    require 'deep_merge'
+    default_facts.deep_merge!(YAML.safe_load(File.read(f), permitted_classes: [], permitted_symbols: [], aliases: true))
   rescue StandardError => e
     RSpec.configuration.reporter.message "WARNING: Unable to load #{f}: #{e}"
   end
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@
 
 # read default_facts and merge them over what is provided by facterdb
 default_facts.each do |fact, value|
-  add_custom_fact fact, value
+  add_custom_fact fact, value, merge_facts: true
 end
 
 RSpec.configure do |c|