diff --git a/.woodpecker/build-ci-images.yml b/.woodpecker/build-ci-images.yml
index 3e698f85..45025530 100644
--- a/.woodpecker/build-ci-images.yml
+++ b/.woodpecker/build-ci-images.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,17 @@
 # Builds the CI tooling images (and the secret-rotator runtime image) with
 # kaniko and pushes them to the Gitea container registry.
 #
+# The kaniko image is NOT Google's. Google archived
+# GoogleContainerTools/kaniko on 2025-06-03, but the original authors forked
+# it to chainguard-dev/kaniko and kept releasing — the pin here is well past
+# the v1.24.0 the Google repo ended on. The fork ships no binaries or images
+# of its own, so these come from gitlab-ci-utils, which builds that fork for
+# amd64 and arm64 under versioned tags. A generic `:debug` tag exists there
+# and is deliberately unused; everything else in this repo is pinned too.
+#
+# The executor path, flags and busybox layout are unchanged from Google's
+# image, which is why the swap touched nothing but the `image:` lines (#552).
+#
 # Credential: ci_images_token — a PAT scoped to `package: read+write` and
 # NOTHING else (verified: 403 on /user/repos, /admin/users and the issues
 # API; 200 on the /v2/ registry endpoints kaniko uses). It replaces the
@@ -25,7 +36,7 @@ when:
 
 steps:
   - name: build-ansible
-    image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug
+    image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci-utils/container-images/kaniko:v1.25.18-debug
     directory: ci/images/ansible
     depends_on: []
     # Only rebuild when THIS image's source (or the pipeline file) changed, or
@@ -53,7 +64,7 @@ steps:
           --destination gitea.renner.uno/gitea_admin/ci-ansible:latest
 
   - name: build-k8s
-    image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug
+    image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci-utils/container-images/kaniko:v1.25.18-debug
     directory: ci/images/k8s
     depends_on: []
     when:
@@ -77,7 +88,7 @@ steps:
           --destination gitea.renner.uno/gitea_admin/ci-k8s:latest
 
   - name: build-tofu
-    image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug
+    image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci-utils/container-images/kaniko:v1.25.18-debug
     directory: ci/images/tofu
     depends_on: []
     when:
@@ -108,7 +119,7 @@ steps:
   # Runtime image, not CI tooling: a static musl binary in a FROM-scratch image,
   # used as the base for secret-rotation CronJobs. Replaces per-job inline Python.
   - name: build-secret-rotator
-    image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug
+    image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci-utils/container-images/kaniko:v1.25.18-debug
     directory: secret-rotator
     depends_on: []
     when:
@@ -136,21 +147,6 @@ steps:
   # not for who uses it — its first consumer is the zigbee2mqtt seed-data init
   # container, but nothing about it is zigbee-specific. Exists so tools come from
   # the image rather than an `apk add` on every container start.
-  # First step moved to the maintained kaniko fork (#552). Google archived
-  # GoogleContainerTools/kaniko on 2025-06-03, but the original authors forked
-  # it to chainguard-dev/kaniko and kept releasing: this is v1.25.18, well past
-  # the v1.24.0 the Google repo ended on. The fork publishes no binaries of its
-  # own, so the image comes from gitlab-ci-utils, which builds it for amd64 and
-  # arm64 with versioned tags.
-  #
-  # Same /kaniko/executor path, same flags, and /bin/sh, base64, tr, mkdir and
-  # date are all present — verified by pulling the image and running it, not by
-  # reading the README.
-  #
-  # Deliberately only this step for now. A change to this file rebuilds every
-  # step anyway, so one run gives the new executor on alpine-jq beside seven
-  # unchanged kaniko builds — an A/B in a single pipeline. The other seven and
-  # ci-claude-refresh.yml follow once this one is green.
   - name: build-alpine-jq
     image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci-utils/container-images/kaniko:v1.25.18-debug
     directory: ci/images/alpine-jq
@@ -181,7 +177,7 @@ steps:
   # critical path of every node rebuild. The download now happens here, once,
   # where the sha256 is checked — see the Containerfile for the full rationale.
   - name: build-cni-plugins
-    image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug
+    image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci-utils/container-images/kaniko:v1.25.18-debug
     directory: ci/images/cni-plugins
     depends_on: []
     when:
@@ -210,7 +206,7 @@ steps:
   # every paperless pod start. The openssl CLI is genuinely absent from the alpine
   # base, so this one needs an image rather than a busybox substitute.
   - name: build-alpine-openssl
-    image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug
+    image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci-utils/container-images/kaniko:v1.25.18-debug
     directory: ci/images/alpine-openssl
     depends_on: []
     when:
@@ -239,7 +235,7 @@ steps:
   # Ansible converge. Not a ci-* image -- it is a runtime artifact -- but it
   # builds the same way and lands in the same registry so the audit sees it.
   - name: build-heating-can
-    image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug
+    image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci-utils/container-images/kaniko:v1.25.18-debug
     directory: ci/images/heating-can
     depends_on: []
     when:
diff --git a/.woodpecker/ci-claude-refresh.yml b/.woodpecker/ci-claude-refresh.yml
index 4feaa8da..e5f381cd 100644
--- a/.woodpecker/ci-claude-refresh.yml
+++ b/.woodpecker/ci-claude-refresh.yml
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ steps:
   #    --build-arg to the resolved version (not "latest") guarantees the tag and
   #    the image content agree even if a new release lands mid-run.
   - name: build
-    image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.23.2-debug
+    image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci-utils/container-images/kaniko:v1.25.18-debug
     directory: ci/images/claude
     depends_on: [decide]
     environment:
diff --git a/kubernetes/infrastructure/admission-policies/woodpecker-ci-restrict.yaml b/kubernetes/infrastructure/admission-policies/woodpecker-ci-restrict.yaml
index ebe32167..23057055 100644
--- a/kubernetes/infrastructure/admission-policies/woodpecker-ci-restrict.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/infrastructure/admission-policies/woodpecker-ci-restrict.yaml
@@ -12,9 +12,11 @@
 #   * host namespaces + hostPath volumes: denied for every step pod (neither
 #     kaniko nor the buildx plugin needs them).
 #   * privileged containers: denied EXCEPT the allow-listed buildx plugin image.
-# Verified non-breaking: this repo's own builds use rootless kaniko
-# (gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor) which needs none of the above; only the
-# external buildx plugin needs privileged, and it is allow-listed by image ref.
+# Verified non-breaking: this repo's own builds use rootless kaniko, which needs
+# none of the above; only the external buildx plugin needs privileged, and it is
+# allow-listed by image ref. The kaniko image moved off gcr.io to the maintained
+# chainguard-dev fork in #552 — no policy change was needed, because nothing
+# here matches on the kaniko image, only on the buildx one.
 #
 # ValidatingAdmissionPolicy is GA / in-tree on the cluster's Kubernetes v1.35 —
 # no external admission controller (Kyverno/Gatekeeper) is introduced.