diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 03e9f9d8..1bd73fb4 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #       requirements.  They are intertwined.  Also, Zaza itself should specify
 #       all of its own requirements and if it doesn't, fix it there.
 #
+setuptools<=68.1.2  # pinned to caracal version
 pbr==5.6.0
 simplejson>=2.2.0
 netifaces>=0.10.4
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index e972406e..1837669f 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -8,15 +8,11 @@
 #       all of its own requirements and if it doesn't, fix it there.
 #
 pyparsing<3.0.0  # aodhclient is pinned in zaza and needs pyparsing < 3.0.0, but cffi also needs it, so pin here.
-
+looseversion  # distutils.version.LooseVersion replacement for Python 3.12+
 requests>=2.18.4
 
 stestr>=2.2.0
 
-# Dependency of stestr. Workaround for
-# https://github.com/mtreinish/stestr/issues/145
-cliff<3.0.0
-
 coverage>=4.5.2
 pyudev              # for ceph-* charm unit tests (need to fix the ceph-* charm unit tests/mocking)
 git+https://github.com/openstack-charmers/zaza.git#egg=zaza