diff --git a/ethereum/evmtool/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evmtool/EvmToolCommand.java b/ethereum/evmtool/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evmtool/EvmToolCommand.java
index e55c36721b..4f2c2a5a5f 100644
--- a/ethereum/evmtool/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evmtool/EvmToolCommand.java
+++ b/ethereum/evmtool/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evmtool/EvmToolCommand.java
@@ -424,7 +424,8 @@ public class EvmToolCommand implements Runnable {
                 out.println(messageFrame.getExceptionalHaltReason().get());
               }
               if (messageFrame.getRevertReason().isPresent()) {
-                out.println(new String(messageFrame.getRevertReason().get().toArray(), UTF_8));
+                out.println(
+                    new String(messageFrame.getRevertReason().get().toArrayUnsafe(), UTF_8));
               }
             }
           }
diff --git a/ethereum/referencetests/src/reference-test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/ethereum/vm/BlockchainReferenceTestTools.java b/ethereum/referencetests/src/reference-test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/ethereum/vm/BlockchainReferenceTestTools.java
index 266f8bb6a3..9d6f7982d8 100644
--- a/ethereum/referencetests/src/reference-test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/ethereum/vm/BlockchainReferenceTestTools.java
+++ b/ethereum/referencetests/src/reference-test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/ethereum/vm/BlockchainReferenceTestTools.java
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ public class BlockchainReferenceTestTools {
     params.ignore("blockWithAllTransactionTypes");
 
     // EIP-4788 is still in flux and the current fill is not against the final address
-    params.ignore("[Cancun]");
+    params.ignore("\\[Cancun\\]");
 
     // EOF tests are written against an older version of the spec
     params.ignore("/stEOF/");
diff --git a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/frame/Memory.java b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/frame/Memory.java
index ac503ad090..ac5aa396b8 100644
--- a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/frame/Memory.java
+++ b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/frame/Memory.java
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
  */
 package org.hyperledger.besu.evm.frame;
 
+import org.hyperledger.besu.evm.internal.Words;
+
 import java.util.Arrays;
 
 import org.apache.tuweni.bytes.Bytes;
@@ -100,7 +102,7 @@ public class Memory {
     }
 
     try {
-      final long byteSize = Math.addExact(Math.addExact(location, numBytes), 31);
+      final long byteSize = Words.clampedAdd(Words.clampedAdd(location, numBytes), 31);
       long wordSize = byteSize / 32;
       return Math.max(wordSize, activeWords);
     } catch (ArithmeticException ae) {
diff --git a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/internal/Words.java b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/internal/Words.java
index 965573c995..71d599d0a2 100644
--- a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/internal/Words.java
+++ b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/internal/Words.java
@@ -117,10 +117,12 @@ public interface Words {
    * @return value of a plus b if no over/underflows or Long.MAX_VALUE/Long.MIN_VALUE otherwise
    */
   static long clampedAdd(final long a, final long b) {
-    try {
-      return Math.addExact(a, b);
-    } catch (final ArithmeticException ae) {
+    long r = a + b;
+    if (((a ^ r) & (b ^ r)) < 0) {
+      // out of bounds, clamp it!
       return a > 0 ? Long.MAX_VALUE : Long.MIN_VALUE;
+    } else {
+      return r;
     }
   }
 
@@ -132,10 +134,15 @@ public interface Words {
    * @return value of a times b if no over/underflows or Long.MAX_VALUE/Long.MIN_VALUE otherwise
    */
   static long clampedMultiply(final long a, final long b) {
-    try {
-      return Math.multiplyExact(a, b);
-    } catch (final ArithmeticException ae) {
+    long r = a * b;
+    long ax = Math.abs(a);
+    long ay = Math.abs(b);
+    if (((ax | ay) >>> 31 != 0)
+        && (((b != 0) && (r / b != a)) || (a == Long.MIN_VALUE && b == -1))) {
+      // out of bounds, clamp it!
       return ((a ^ b) < 0) ? Long.MIN_VALUE : Long.MAX_VALUE;
+    } else {
+      return r;
     }
   }
 
@@ -148,9 +155,12 @@ public interface Words {
    *     otherwise
    */
   static int clampedMultiply(final int a, final int b) {
-    try {
-      return Math.multiplyExact(a, b);
-    } catch (final ArithmeticException ae) {
+    long r = (long) a * (long) b;
+    int ri = (int) r;
+    if (ri == r) {
+      return ri;
+    } else {
+      // out of bounds, clamp it!
       return ((a ^ b) < 0) ? Integer.MIN_VALUE : Integer.MAX_VALUE;
     }
   }
diff --git a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/AltBN128MulPrecompiledContract.java b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/AltBN128MulPrecompiledContract.java
index 0b8da1a3e4..73b824f763 100644
--- a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/AltBN128MulPrecompiledContract.java
+++ b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/AltBN128MulPrecompiledContract.java
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ public class AltBN128MulPrecompiledContract extends AbstractAltBnPrecompiledCont
     if (offset > input.size() || length == 0) {
       return BigInteger.ZERO;
     }
-    final byte[] raw = Arrays.copyOfRange(input.toArray(), offset, offset + length);
+    final byte[] raw = Arrays.copyOfRange(input.toArrayUnsafe(), offset, offset + length);
     return new BigInteger(1, raw);
   }
 }
diff --git a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/AltBN128PairingPrecompiledContract.java b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/AltBN128PairingPrecompiledContract.java
index fd5205b309..992544d5c0 100644
--- a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/AltBN128PairingPrecompiledContract.java
+++ b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/AltBN128PairingPrecompiledContract.java
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ public class AltBN128PairingPrecompiledContract extends AbstractAltBnPrecompiled
     if (offset > input.size() || length == 0) {
       return BigInteger.ZERO;
     }
-    final byte[] raw = Arrays.copyOfRange(input.toArray(), offset, offset + length);
+    final byte[] raw = Arrays.copyOfRange(input.toArrayUnsafe(), offset, offset + length);
     return new BigInteger(1, raw);
   }
 }
diff --git a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/BLAKE2BFPrecompileContract.java b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/BLAKE2BFPrecompileContract.java
index de7152d604..44707525d8 100644
--- a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/BLAKE2BFPrecompileContract.java
+++ b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/BLAKE2BFPrecompileContract.java
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ public class BLAKE2BFPrecompileContract extends AbstractPrecompiledContract {
       return 0L;
     }
 
-    final byte[] roundsBytes = copyOfRange(input.toArray(), 0, 4);
+    final byte[] roundsBytes = copyOfRange(input.toArrayUnsafe(), 0, 4);
     final BigInteger rounds = new BigInteger(1, roundsBytes);
     return rounds.longValueExact();
   }
diff --git a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/BigIntegerModularExponentiationPrecompiledContract.java b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/BigIntegerModularExponentiationPrecompiledContract.java
index 669edc7810..ffb82f078c 100644
--- a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/BigIntegerModularExponentiationPrecompiledContract.java
+++ b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/BigIntegerModularExponentiationPrecompiledContract.java
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import org.hyperledger.besu.evm.gascalculator.GasCalculator;
 import org.hyperledger.besu.nativelib.arithmetic.LibArithmetic;
 
 import java.math.BigInteger;
-import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
 
@@ -200,11 +199,16 @@ public class BigIntegerModularExponentiationPrecompiledContract
    * @return the big integer
    */
   public static BigInteger extractParameter(final Bytes input, final int offset, final int length) {
-    if (offset > input.size() || length == 0) {
+    if (offset >= input.size() || length == 0) {
       return BigInteger.ZERO;
+    } else if (offset + length < input.size()) {
+      return new BigInteger(1, input.slice(offset, length).toArray());
+    } else {
+      byte[] raw = new byte[length];
+      Bytes partial = input.slice(offset);
+      System.arraycopy(partial.toArray(), 0, raw, 0, partial.size());
+      return new BigInteger(1, raw);
     }
-    final byte[] raw = Arrays.copyOfRange(input.toArray(), offset, offset + length);
-    return new BigInteger(1, raw);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/KZGPointEvalPrecompiledContract.java b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/KZGPointEvalPrecompiledContract.java
index 4383b44ddb..bd5747f3b2 100644
--- a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/KZGPointEvalPrecompiledContract.java
+++ b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/precompile/KZGPointEvalPrecompiledContract.java
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ public class KZGPointEvalPrecompiledContract implements PrecompiledContract {
       return PrecompileContractResult.halt(
           null, Optional.of(ExceptionalHaltReason.PRECOMPILE_ERROR));
     } else {
-      byte[] hash = Hash.sha256(commitment).toArray();
+      byte[] hash = Hash.sha256(commitment).toArrayUnsafe();
       hash[0] = 0x01;
       if (!versionedHash.equals(Bytes32.wrap(hash))) {
         return PrecompileContractResult.halt(
diff --git a/evm/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/toy/EvmToyCommand.java b/evm/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/toy/EvmToyCommand.java
index 368dbffabd..54060c9f34 100644
--- a/evm/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/toy/EvmToyCommand.java
+++ b/evm/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/besu/evm/toy/EvmToyCommand.java
@@ -211,7 +211,8 @@ public class EvmToyCommand implements Runnable {
           }
           if (messageFrame.getRevertReason().isPresent()) {
             out.println(
-                new String(messageFrame.getRevertReason().get().toArray(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+                new String(
+                    messageFrame.getRevertReason().get().toArrayUnsafe(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
           }
         }
         if (messageFrameStack.isEmpty()) {
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index b87d57af87..01fc7a14b8 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-version=23.10.0-RC
+version=23.10.0-RC2
 
 org.gradle.welcome=never
 # Set exports/opens flags required by Google Java Format and ErrorProne plugins. (JEP-396)