diff --git a/test/system/260-sdnotify.bats b/test/system/260-sdnotify.bats
index c4724d6052..970a2e3c7c 100644
--- a/test/system/260-sdnotify.bats
+++ b/test/system/260-sdnotify.bats
@@ -41,7 +41,9 @@ function teardown() {
 function _start_socat() {
     _SOCAT_LOG="$PODMAN_TMPDIR/socat.log"
 
+    # Reset socat logfile to empty
     rm -f $_SOCAT_LOG
+    touch $_SOCAT_LOG
     # Execute in subshell so we can close fd3 (which BATS uses).
     # This is a superstitious ritual to try to avoid leaving processes behind,
     # and thus prevent CI hangs.
diff --git a/test/system/270-socket-activation.bats b/test/system/270-socket-activation.bats
index 6d582be180..a8ae234331 100644
--- a/test/system/270-socket-activation.bats
+++ b/test/system/270-socket-activation.bats
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ function teardown() {
         die "Pause pid file does not exist: $pause_pid_file"
     fi
 
-    echo "kill -9 $(< pause_pid_file)"
+    echo "kill -9 $(< $pause_pid_file) [pause process]"
     kill -9 $(< $pause_pid_file)
 
     run curl -s --max-time 3 --unix-socket $SERVICE_SOCK_ADDR $_PING
diff --git a/test/system/build-testimage b/test/system/build-testimage
index a0d831abb5..dcde2adfcc 100755
--- a/test/system/build-testimage
+++ b/test/system/build-testimage
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ chmod 755 pause
 # alpine because it's small and light and reliable
 #    - check for updates @ https://hub.docker.com/_/alpine
 # busybox-extras provides httpd needed in 500-networking.bats
+# iproute2 provides JSON output (not in busybox) for 505-networking-pasta.bats
+# socat offers convenient UDP test termination in 505-networking-pasta.bats
 #
 # Two Containerfiles, because we have to do the image build in two parts,
 # which I think are easier to describe in reverse order:
@@ -71,9 +73,10 @@ chmod 755 pause
 #
 cat >Containerfile1 <<EOF
 ARG REPO=please-override-repo
-FROM docker.io/\${REPO}/alpine:3.16.0
-RUN apk add busybox-extras
+FROM docker.io/\${REPO}/alpine:3.16.2
+RUN apk add busybox-extras iproute2 socat
 ADD testimage-id pause /home/podman/
+RUN rm -f /var/cache/apk/*
 EOF
 
 cat >Containerfile2 <<EOF
diff --git a/test/system/helpers.bash b/test/system/helpers.bash
index 4bc1ba78c1..a1114494c9 100644
--- a/test/system/helpers.bash
+++ b/test/system/helpers.bash
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ PODMAN=${PODMAN:-podman}
 PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_REGISTRY=${PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_REGISTRY:-"quay.io"}
 PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_USER=${PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_USER:-"libpod"}
 PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_NAME=${PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_NAME:-"testimage"}
-PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_TAG=${PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_TAG:-"20220615"}
+PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_TAG=${PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_TAG:-"20221018"}
 PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_FQN="$PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_REGISTRY/$PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_USER/$PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_NAME:$PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_TAG"
 PODMAN_TEST_IMAGE_ID=