diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index fa30861..360a76b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -11,9 +11,10 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         os:
-          - ubuntu-24.04
+          - ubuntu-26.04
           - windows-2022
         php:
+          - 8.6
           - 8.5
           - 8.4
           - 8.3
@@ -30,14 +31,15 @@ jobs:
           - 5.4
           - 5.3
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+      - run: choco install vcredist2012 -y --no-progress
+        if: ${{ matrix.php >= 5.5 && matrix.php < 7.0 && matrix.os == 'windows-2022' }} # legacy PHP 5.5/5.6 on Windows needs VC 2012 pre-installed until https://github.com/mlocati/powershell-phpmanager/pull/142 is released
       - uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
         with:
           php-version: ${{ matrix.php }}
           coverage: xdebug
           ini-file: development
-      - run: composer config secure-http false && composer config repo.packagist composer http://packagist.org && composer config preferred-install source
-        if: ${{ matrix.php < 5.5 && matrix.os == 'windows-2022' }} # legacy PHP on Windows is allowed to use insecure downloads until it will be removed again
+          tools: ${{ matrix.php < 5.5 && matrix.os == 'windows-2022' && 'composer:2.2.30' || '' }} # legacy PHP < 5.5 on Windows crashes with Composer 2.2.31+ until https://github.com/composer/composer/issues/13276 is fixed
       - run: composer install
       - run: vendor/bin/phpunit --coverage-text
         if: ${{ matrix.php >= 7.3 }}
@@ -47,10 +49,10 @@ jobs:
 
   PHPUnit-hhvm:
     name: PHPUnit (HHVM)
-    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-26.04
     continue-on-error: true
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
       - run: cp "$(which composer)" composer.phar && ./composer.phar self-update --2.2 # downgrade Composer for HHVM
       - name: Run hhvm composer.phar install
         uses: docker://hhvm/hhvm:3.30-lts-latest
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 1c86f17..6b144e4 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
     "require": {
         "php": ">=5.3.0",
         "evenement/evenement": "^3.0 || ^2.0 || ^1.0",
-        "react/event-loop": "^1.2",
+        "react/event-loop": "^1.6",
         "react/stream": "^1.4"
     },
     "require-dev": {