diff --git a/.pipelines/ci.yml b/.pipelines/ci.yml
index a54f1d47a..e1eab49d0 100644
--- a/.pipelines/ci.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/ci.yml
@@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ stages:
 
       - task: UsePythonVersion@0
         inputs:
-          versionSpec: '3.x'
+          versionSpec: '3.12'
           disableDownloadFromRegistry: true
           addToPath: true
           architecture: 'x64'
diff --git a/.pipelines/ci_optional.yml b/.pipelines/ci_optional.yml
index 7eaf689a7..7d58dc73c 100644
--- a/.pipelines/ci_optional.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/ci_optional.yml
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ stages:
 
       - task: UsePythonVersion@0
         inputs:
-          versionSpec: '3.x'
+          versionSpec: '3.12'
           disableDownloadFromRegistry: true
           addToPath: true
           architecture: 'x64'
diff --git a/cmake/externals/json.cmake b/cmake/externals/json.cmake
index 63ad0322e..e9b790f53 100644
--- a/cmake/externals/json.cmake
+++ b/cmake/externals/json.cmake
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 FetchContent_Declare(nlohmann_json
-  GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/nlohmann/json.git
-  GIT_TAG v3.10.5
+  URL       https://codeload.github.com/nlohmann/json/zip/refs/tags/v3.10.5
+  URL_HASH  SHA1=f257f8dc27c5b8c085dc887b40cddd18ae1f725c
   SOURCE_SUBDIR not_set
   )