diff --git a/Dockerfile.ocp b/Dockerfile.ocp
index 253f50257..13dcfa836 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.ocp
+++ b/Dockerfile.ocp
@@ -54,3 +54,9 @@ COPY ironic-inspector-config/inspector-apache.conf.j2 /etc/httpd/conf.d/
 # configure non-root user and set relevant permissions
 RUN configure-nonroot.sh && \
   rm -f /bin/configure-nonroot.sh
+
+# NOTE(janders) forcing newer python to test fix for RHEL-29028 and OCPBUGS-33736
+COPY python3-3.9.16-1.el9_2.4.x86_64.rpm /root/
+COPY python3-libs-3.9.16-1.el9_2.4.x86_64.rpm /root/
+RUN rpm -Uhv --nodeps --force /root/*.rpm && dnf clean all && rm -rf /var/cache/*
+# NOTE(janders) end COPY hack
diff --git a/python3-3.9.16-1.el9_2.4.x86_64.rpm b/python3-3.9.16-1.el9_2.4.x86_64.rpm
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..db8d6346d
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diff --git a/python3-libs-3.9.16-1.el9_2.4.x86_64.rpm b/python3-libs-3.9.16-1.el9_2.4.x86_64.rpm
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cffe31dfa
Binary files /dev/null and b/python3-libs-3.9.16-1.el9_2.4.x86_64.rpm differ