diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8284b6e..2a3d185 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 /intel-qpl-*.tar.gz
+/googletest-*.tar.gz
diff --git a/intel-qpl.spec b/intel-qpl.spec
index 9a9f989..960bdd2 100644
--- a/intel-qpl.spec
+++ b/intel-qpl.spec
@@ -6,14 +6,17 @@ Summary:	Intel Query Processing Library
 License:	MIT
 URL:		https://github.com/intel/qpl
 Source0:	%{url}/archive/v%{version}/%{name}-%{version}.tar.gz
+Source1:	googletest-1.14.0.tar.gz
 
 Patch0:		qpl-accel.patch
-Patch1:		qpl-tests.patch
-Patch2:		qpl-werror.patch
+Patch1:		qpl-werror.patch
+Patch2:		qpl-tests.patch
+Patch3:		qpl-intel-cet.patch
 
 BuildRequires:	cmake >= 3.1
 BuildRequires:	gcc-c++
-BuildRequires:	gtest-devel
+# gtest is missing in CentOS/RHEL 9/10
+# BuildRequires:	gtest-devel
 BuildRequires:	libuuid-devel
 BuildRequires:	libtsan
 BuildRequires:	nasm
@@ -43,7 +46,8 @@ applications that use %{name}.
 %package	tests
 Summary:	Test applications that use %{name}
 Requires:	%{name}%{?_isa} = %{version}-%{release}
-Requires:	gtest
+# gtest is missing in CentOS/RHEL 9/10
+# Requires:	gtest
 
 %description tests
 The %{name}-tests package contains test datasets, functional
@@ -51,7 +55,11 @@ and cross-test applications that use and test %{name}.
 
 %prep
 %autosetup -p1 -n qpl-%{version}
-# Continue to use Gtest 1.14.0 instead of 1.15.2
+# Build gtest 1.14.0 from sources as it is missing in CentOS/RHEL 9/10
+tar xf %{SOURCE1}
+mv googletest-1.14.0 google-test
+mv google-test tools/third-party/
+# Continue to use gtest 1.14.0 instead of 1.15.2
 sed -i -e 's|GTEST_INTERNAL_ATTRIBUTE_MAYBE_UNUSED|GTEST_ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED_|g' tools/tests/common/test_cases.hpp
 
 %build
@@ -59,7 +67,6 @@ sed -i -e 's|GTEST_INTERNAL_ATTRIBUTE_MAYBE_UNUSED|GTEST_ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED_|g' to
 		-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo \
 		-DDYNAMIC_LOADING_LIBACCEL_CONFIG=ON \
 		-DQPL_LIBRARY_TYPE=SHARED \
-		-DSANITIZE_THREADS=ON \
 		-DQPL_BUILD_TESTS=ON \
 		-DQPL_BUILD_EXAMPLES=OFF
 %cmake_build
diff --git a/qpl-intel-cet.patch b/qpl-intel-cet.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b26324
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qpl-intel-cet.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+--- a/sources/isal/CMakeLists.txt	2025-12-02 14:42:56.000000000 +0100
++++ b/sources/isal/CMakeLists.txt	2025-12-02 14:42:56.000000000 +0100
+@@ -103,3 +103,18 @@
+     # Setting POSIX compliance level for Linux builds (to use strnlen() function on Linux)
+     target_compile_definitions(isal PRIVATE _POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L)
+ endif()
++
++# Enable Intel CET support in assembler sources
++check_c_source_compiles("
++    #if !defined(__CET__) || (__CET__ & 1) == 0
++    #error CET_BIT_0_NOT_SET
++    #endif
++    int main() { return 0; }
++" INTEL_CET_ENABLED)
++
++if(INTEL_CET_ENABLED)
++    target_compile_options(isal_asm PUBLIC "-DINTEL_CET_ENABLED")
++    message(STATUS "Intel CET protection is ENABLED")
++else()
++    message(STATUS "Intel CET protection is NOT enabled")
++endif()
+--- a/sources/isal/include/reg_sizes.asm	2025-12-02 14:42:56.000000000 +0100
++++ b/sources/isal/include/reg_sizes.asm	2025-12-02 14:42:56.000000000 +0100
+@@ -182,6 +182,21 @@
+ 
+ %define XWORD(reg) reg %+ x
+ 
++%ifdef INTEL_CET_ENABLED
++  %ifdef __NASM_VER__
++    %ifidn __OUTPUT_FORMAT__,elf32
++section .note.gnu.property  note  alloc noexec align=4
++DD 0x00000004,0x0000000c,0x00000005,0x00554e47
++DD 0xc0000002,0x00000004,0x00000003
++    %endif
++    %ifidn __OUTPUT_FORMAT__,elf64
++section .note.gnu.property  note  alloc noexec align=8
++DD 0x00000004,0x00000010,0x00000005,0x00554e47
++DD 0xc0000002,0x00000004,0x00000003,0x00000000
++    %endif
++  %endif
++%endif
++
+ %ifidn __OUTPUT_FORMAT__,elf32
+ section .note.GNU-stack noalloc noexec nowrite progbits
+ section .text
diff --git a/qpl-tests.patch b/qpl-tests.patch
index 4463974..8ebc57c 100644
--- a/qpl-tests.patch
+++ b/qpl-tests.patch
@@ -1,15 +1,35 @@
 --- a/tools/CMakeLists.txt	2025-12-02 14:42:56.000000000 +0100
 +++ b/tools/CMakeLists.txt	2025-12-02 14:42:56.000000000 +0100
-@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
+@@ -17,11 +17,28 @@ endif()
+ if (QPL_BUILD_TESTS)
+     add_subdirectory(ref)
      add_subdirectory(utils)
++
++    # Build third-party google-test library required for tests
++    # Build it without clang-tidy checks
      set(TEMP_CMAKE_CXX_CLANG_TIDY ${CMAKE_CXX_CLANG_TIDY})
      set(CMAKE_CXX_CLANG_TIDY "")
--    add_subdirectory(third-party/google-test EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
-+    # add_subdirectory(third-party/google-test EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
++    # Save the main project's current shared/static preference
++    set(TEMP_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS ${BUILD_SHARED_LIBS})
++    # Force google-test library to build as STATIC
++    set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OFF CACHE BOOL "Build shared libraries" FORCE)
++    # Disable google-test's internal tests to speed up the build
++    set(gtest_build_tests OFF CACHE BOOL "Build gtest tests" FORCE)
++    # Add the subdirectory creating the 'gtest' and 'gtest_main' targets
+     add_subdirectory(third-party/google-test EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
++    # Restore the original shared/static preference for the rest of the project
++    set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS ${TEMP_BUILD_SHARED_LIBS} CACHE BOOL "Build shared libraries" FORCE)
++    # Restore the original clang-tidy preference
      set(CMAKE_CXX_CLANG_TIDY ${TEMP_CMAKE_CXX_CLANG_TIDY})
++
      add_subdirectory(tests)
++    install(DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/testdata
++                      DESTINATION share/intel-qpl
++                      COMPONENT RUNTIME)
      if (UNIX)
-@@ -27,18 +27,21 @@ if (QPL_BUILD_TESTS)
+         # Disable building google-benchmarks tests
+         SET(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_TESTING OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
+@@ -27,18 +27,18 @@ if (QPL_BUILD_TESTS)
          SET(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_TESTING OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
          set(TEMP_CMAKE_CXX_CLANG_TIDY ${CMAKE_CXX_CLANG_TIDY})
          set(CMAKE_CXX_CLANG_TIDY "")
@@ -32,9 +52,6 @@
 +                  DESTINATION share/intel-qpl
                    COMPONENT        RUNTIME
                    FILE_PERMISSIONS USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS)
-+install(DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/testdata
-+                  DESTINATION share/intel-qpl
-+                  COMPONENT        RUNTIME)
 --- a/tools/tests/functional/CMakeLists.txt	2025-12-02 14:42:56.000000000 +0100
 +++ b/tools/tests/functional/CMakeLists.txt	2025-12-02 14:42:56.000000000 +0100
 @@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ add_executable(tests main.cpp
diff --git a/sources b/sources
index 3380a15..2f67232 100644
--- a/sources
+++ b/sources
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 SHA512 (intel-qpl-1.9.0.tar.gz) = 4a9c51d6866a517cd6b75f2ec431b00a3b3292e3b15b2a128ccafd807c4b5212b55f05f37dee872ff35df1c0764aed694281145122e63c0918281ad17ce01754
+SHA512 (googletest-1.14.0.tar.gz) = 765c326ccc1b87a01027385e69238266e356361cd4ee3e18e3c9d137a5d11fa5d657c164d02dd1be8fe693c8e10f2b580588dbfa57d27f070e2750f50d3e662c
diff --git a/tests/functest.sh b/tests/functest.sh
index 71c2cfb..797f0ae 100755
--- a/tests/functest.sh
+++ b/tests/functest.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# This is a software path test, it can be run on a machine without IAA hardware
-rpm -qa gtest\* intel-qpl\*
+# This is a software path test, it can be run on a machine without any IAA hardware
+rpm -qa intel-qpl\*
 qpl-func-tests --dataset=/usr/share/intel-qpl/testdata/ --gtest_filter=ta_unit\*
diff --git a/tests/tests.yml b/tests/tests.yml
index 518ddfb..f3e0c92 100644
--- a/tests/tests.yml
+++ b/tests/tests.yml
@@ -9,5 +9,4 @@
         dir: .
         run: functest.sh
     required_packages:
-        - gtest
         - intel-qpl-tests