diff --git a/.github/workflows/kernelctf-vuln-verify.yaml b/.github/workflows/kernelctf-vuln-verify.yaml
index 1de45adb..af2e8b3e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/kernelctf-vuln-verify.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/kernelctf-vuln-verify.yaml
@@ -31,24 +31,13 @@ jobs:
         with:
           credentials_json: '${{ secrets.KERNELCTF_GCS_SA_KEY }}'
 
-      - name: Checkout PR
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          ref: ${{ env.PR_REF }}
-          path: pr
-          sparse-checkout: pocs/linux/kernelctf/**
-          sparse-checkout-cone-mode: false
-      
-      - name: List PR contents
-        run: find pr
-
       - name: Determine submission folder
         id: determine_folder
         run: |
           FILES=$(gh pr view $PR_NUM --json files --jq '.files[] | .path')
           echo "Files in PR:"
           echo "$FILES"
-          
+
           POC_FOLDER=$(echo "$FILES" | grep '^pocs/linux/kernelctf/' | cut -d/ -f1-4 | sort -u)
           if [ $(echo "$POC_FOLDER" | grep -c .) -ne 1 ]; then
             echo "Exactly one PoC folder must be found in pocs/linux/kernelctf/, but found:"
@@ -64,6 +53,18 @@ jobs:
           echo "folder=$POC_FOLDER" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           echo "Found PoC folder: $POC_FOLDER"
 
+      - name: Checkout PR
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ env.PR_REF }}
+          path: pr
+          sparse-checkout: "${{ steps.determine_folder.outputs.folder }}"
+          sparse-checkout-cone-mode: true
+          fetch-depth: 1
+
+      - name: List PR contents
+        run: find pr
+
       - name: Checkout kernel-research
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
diff --git a/kernelctf/vuln-verify/utils.py b/kernelctf/vuln-verify/utils.py
index ddf280c0..18679570 100644
--- a/kernelctf/vuln-verify/utils.py
+++ b/kernelctf/vuln-verify/utils.py
@@ -12,13 +12,15 @@ CACHE_DIR = "./"
 CACHE_TIME = 0 if "--disable-cache" in sys.argv else 3600*24
 CACHE_FOREVER = float("inf")
 
-def run(cmd, cwd=None):
+def run(cmd, cwd=None, fail_silent=False):
     shell = not isinstance(cmd, list)
     try:
-        result = subprocess.check_output(cmd, cwd=cwd, shell=shell).decode('utf-8').split('\n')
+        stderr = subprocess.DEVNULL if fail_silent else None
+        result = subprocess.check_output(cmd, cwd=cwd, shell=shell, stderr=stderr).decode('utf-8').split('\n')
         return result if result[-1] != "" else result[0:-1]
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
-        print(f"[!] executing '{cmd}' failed with exit code {e.returncode}")
+        if not fail_silent:
+            print(f"[!] executing '{cmd}' failed with exit code {e.returncode}")
         return None
 
 def readTextFile(fn):
diff --git a/kernelctf/vuln-verify/verify.py b/kernelctf/vuln-verify/verify.py
index 6607bfcd..89449a9e 100755
--- a/kernelctf/vuln-verify/verify.py
+++ b/kernelctf/vuln-verify/verify.py
@@ -56,15 +56,13 @@ def gcs_download(local_fn, gcs_fn):
     if not args.gcs_cache or os.path.isfile(local_fn):
         return os.path.isfile(local_fn)
     print(f"  [CACHE] downloading {os.path.basename(local_fn)} from GCS...")
-    return run(["gcloud", "storage", "cp", f"{GCS_BASE_URL}/{gcs_fn}", local_fn]) is not None
+    return run(["gcloud", "storage", "cp", f"{GCS_BASE_URL}/{gcs_fn}", local_fn], fail_silent=True) is not None
 
 def gcs_upload(local_fn, gcs_fn, gzip=False):
     if not args.gcs_cache or not os.path.isfile(local_fn):
         return
     print(f"  [CACHE] uploading {os.path.basename(local_fn)} to GCS...")
-    cmd = ["gcloud", "storage", "cp", local_fn, f"{GCS_BASE_URL}/{gcs_fn}"]
-    if gzip:
-        cmd.append("--gzip-encoded")
+    cmd = ["gcloud", "storage", "cp"] + (["-Z"] if gzip else []) + [local_fn, f"{GCS_BASE_URL}/{gcs_fn}"]
     run(cmd)
 
 args.exploit_paths = [os.path.abspath(p) for p in args.exploit_paths]