diff --git a/.golangci.yml b/.golangci.yml
index a5d836f..9a388ea 100644
--- a/.golangci.yml
+++ b/.golangci.yml
@@ -98,7 +98,6 @@ linters:
     # - errorlint
     # - exhaustive
     # - exhaustruct
-    # - exportloopref
     # - forbidigo
     # - forcetypeassert
     # - funlen
diff --git a/command/command_test.go b/command/command_test.go
index 003101f..5e62165 100644
--- a/command/command_test.go
+++ b/command/command_test.go
@@ -326,8 +326,8 @@ func TestCommandsFailure(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestEnv(t *testing.T) {
-	require.NoError(t, os.Setenv("ABC", "test")) // preserved
-	require.NoError(t, os.Setenv("FOO", "test")) // overwritten
+	t.Setenv("ABC", "test") // preserved
+	t.Setenv("FOO", "test") // overwritten
 	res, err := New("sh", "-c", "echo $TEST; echo $FOO; echo $ABC").
 		Env("TEST=123").
 		Env("FOO=bar").
diff --git a/dependencies.yaml b/dependencies.yaml
index 61fa16d..078c91d 100644
--- a/dependencies.yaml
+++ b/dependencies.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 dependencies:
   # golangci/golangci-lint
   - name: "golangci-lint"
-    version: 1.59.1
+    version: 1.61.0
     refPaths:
       - path: mage/golangci-lint.go
         match: defaultGolangCILintVersion\s+=\s+"v(0|[1-9]\d*)\.(0|[1-9]\d*)\.(0|[1-9]\d*)(?:-((?:0|[1-9]\d*|\d*[a-zA-Z-][0-9a-zA-Z-]*)(?:\.(?:0|[1-9]\d*|\d*[a-zA-Z-][0-9a-zA-Z-]*))*))?(?:\+([0-9a-zA-Z-]+(?:\.[0-9a-zA-Z-]+)*))?"
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index e570397..33091c7 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 module sigs.k8s.io/release-utils
 
-go 1.21
+go 1.23
 
 require (
 	github.com/blang/semver/v4 v4.0.0
diff --git a/http/agent.go b/http/agent.go
index aa057e8..4e54351 100644
--- a/http/agent.go
+++ b/http/agent.go
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ func (a *Agent) WithFailOnHTTPError(flag bool) *Agent {
 
 // WithMaxParallel controls how many requests we do when fetching groups.
 func (a *Agent) WithMaxParallel(workers int) *Agent {
+	//nolint:gosec // integer overflow highly unlikely
 	a.options.MaxParallel = uint(workers)
 	return a
 }
@@ -139,11 +140,11 @@ func (a *Agent) Get(url string) (content []byte, err error) {
 // GetRequest sends a GET request to a URL and returns the request and response.
 func (a *Agent) GetRequest(url string) (response *http.Response, err error) {
 	logrus.Debugf("Sending GET request to %s", url)
-	try := 0
+	var try uint
 	for {
 		response, err = a.AgentImplementation.SendGetRequest(a.Client(), url)
 		try++
-		if err == nil || try >= int(a.options.Retries) {
+		if err == nil || try >= a.options.Retries {
 			return response, err
 		}
 		// Do exponential backoff...
@@ -154,7 +155,7 @@ func (a *Agent) GetRequest(url string) (response *http.Response, err error) {
 		}
 		logrus.Errorf(
 			"Error getting URL (will retry %d more times in %.0f secs): %s",
-			int(a.options.Retries)-try, waitTime, err.Error(),
+			a.options.Retries-try, waitTime, err.Error(),
 		)
 		time.Sleep(time.Duration(waitTime) * time.Second)
 	}
@@ -174,11 +175,11 @@ func (a *Agent) Post(url string, postData []byte) (content []byte, err error) {
 // PostRequest sends the postData in a POST request to a URL and returns the request object.
 func (a *Agent) PostRequest(url string, postData []byte) (response *http.Response, err error) {
 	logrus.Debugf("Sending POST request to %s", url)
-	try := 0
+	var try uint
 	for {
 		response, err = a.AgentImplementation.SendPostRequest(a.Client(), url, postData, a.options.PostContentType)
 		try++
-		if err == nil || try >= int(a.options.Retries) {
+		if err == nil || try >= a.options.Retries {
 			return response, err
 		}
 		// Do exponential backoff...
@@ -189,7 +190,7 @@ func (a *Agent) PostRequest(url string, postData []byte) (response *http.Respons
 		}
 		logrus.Errorf(
 			"Error getting URL (will retry %d more times in %.0f secs): %s",
-			int(a.options.Retries)-try, waitTime, err.Error(),
+			a.options.Retries-try, waitTime, err.Error(),
 		)
 		time.Sleep(time.Duration(waitTime) * time.Second)
 	}
@@ -209,11 +210,11 @@ func (a *Agent) Head(url string) (content []byte, err error) {
 // HeadRequest sends a HEAD request to a URL and returns the request and response.
 func (a *Agent) HeadRequest(url string) (response *http.Response, err error) {
 	logrus.Debugf("Sending HEAD request to %s", url)
-	try := 0
+	var try uint
 	for {
 		response, err = a.AgentImplementation.SendHeadRequest(a.Client(), url)
 		try++
-		if err == nil || try >= int(a.options.Retries) {
+		if err == nil || try >= a.options.Retries {
 			return response, err
 		}
 		// Do exponential backoff...
@@ -224,7 +225,7 @@ func (a *Agent) HeadRequest(url string) (response *http.Response, err error) {
 		}
 		logrus.Errorf(
 			"Error getting URL (will retry %d more times in %.0f secs): %s",
-			int(a.options.Retries)-try, waitTime, err.Error(),
+			a.options.Retries-try, waitTime, err.Error(),
 		)
 		time.Sleep(time.Duration(waitTime) * time.Second)
 	}
@@ -324,12 +325,12 @@ func (a *Agent) PostToWriter(w io.Writer, url string, postData []byte) error {
 // and performs the requests in parallel. The number of simultaneous requests is
 // controlled by options.MaxParallel.
 func (a *Agent) GetRequestGroup(urls []string) ([]*http.Response, []error) {
+	//nolint:gosec // integer overflow highly unlikely
 	t := throttler.New(int(a.options.MaxParallel), len(urls))
 	ret := make([]*http.Response, len(urls))
 	errs := make([]error, len(urls))
 	m := sync.Mutex{}
 	for i := range urls {
-		i := i
 		go func(url string) {
 			//nolint: bodyclose // We don't close here as we're returning the response
 			resp, err := a.AgentImplementation.SendGetRequest(a.Client(), url)
@@ -360,16 +361,16 @@ func (a *Agent) PostRequestGroup(urls []string, postData [][]byte) ([]*http.Resp
 	// URLs and postData arrays must be equal in length. If not exit now.
 	if len(postData) != len(urls) {
 		err := errors.New("unable to perform requests, same number URLs and POST payloads required")
-		for i := 0; i < len(urls); i++ {
+		for i := range urls {
 			errs[i] = err
 		}
 		return ret, errs
 	}
 
+	//nolint:gosec // integer overflow highly unlikely
 	t := throttler.New(int(a.options.MaxParallel), len(urls))
 	m := sync.Mutex{}
 	for i := range urls {
-		i := i
 		go func(url string, pdata []byte) {
 			//nolint: bodyclose // We don't close here as we're returning the raw response
 			resp, err := a.AgentImplementation.SendPostRequest(
diff --git a/http/http_test.go b/http/http_test.go
index 0c4d050..306726d 100644
--- a/http/http_test.go
+++ b/http/http_test.go
@@ -144,7 +144,6 @@ func TestAgentGet(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 	} {
-		tc := tc
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
 			fake := &httpfakes.FakeAgentImplementation{}
@@ -418,7 +417,6 @@ func TestAgentPostRequestGroup(t *testing.T) {
 		{"http-error", 5, true, []string{noErrorURL, httpErrorURL, noErrorURL}, make([][]byte, 3)},
 		{"software-error", 5, true, []string{noErrorURL, errorURL, noErrorURL}, make([][]byte, 3)},
 	} {
-		tc := tc
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
 			// No retries as the errors are synthetic
diff --git a/log/hooks.go b/log/hooks.go
index f9fcfcd..aeac221 100644
--- a/log/hooks.go
+++ b/log/hooks.go
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ func (f *FileNameHook) findCaller() (file, function string, line int) {
 	var pc uintptr
 	// The maximum amount of frames to be iterated
 	const maxFrames = 10
-	for i := 0; i < maxFrames; i++ {
+	for i := range maxFrames {
 		// The amount of frames to be skipped to land at the actual caller
 		const skipFrames = 5
 		pc, file, line = caller(skipFrames + i)
diff --git a/mage/golangci-lint.go b/mage/golangci-lint.go
index c52022a..d3cdc15 100644
--- a/mage/golangci-lint.go
+++ b/mage/golangci-lint.go
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ import (
 
 const (
 	// golangci-lint.
-	defaultGolangCILintVersion = "v1.59.1"
+	defaultGolangCILintVersion = "v1.61.0"
 	golangciCmd                = "golangci-lint"
 	golangciConfig             = ".golangci.yml"
 	golangciURLBase            = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint"
diff --git a/tar/tar.go b/tar/tar.go
index 470f85b..8087691 100644
--- a/tar/tar.go
+++ b/tar/tar.go
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ func Extract(tarFilePath, destinationPath string) error {
 				if err != nil {
 					return false, fmt.Errorf("create target file: %w", err)
 				}
+				//nolint:gosec // integer overflow highly unlikely
 				if err := outFile.Chmod(os.FileMode(header.Mode)); err != nil {
 					return false, fmt.Errorf("chmod target file: %w", err)
 				}
diff --git a/util/common_test.go b/util/common_test.go
index cd81b03..bce17c7 100644
--- a/util/common_test.go
+++ b/util/common_test.go
@@ -606,7 +606,6 @@ func TestIsDir(t *testing.T) {
 			expected: false,
 		},
 	} {
-		tc := tc
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
 			path := tc.prepare(t)