diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 446139d5..3ca027c6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 - Run a `containerdebug` process in the background of each HBase container to collect debugging information ([#605]).
 - Aggregate emitted Kubernetes events on the CustomResources ([#612]).
 - Support configuring JVM arguments ([#620]).
+- Added support for HBase 2.6.1 ([#627]):
 
 ### Removed
 
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@
 [#611]: https://github.com/stackabletech/hbase-operator/pull/611
 [#612]: https://github.com/stackabletech/hbase-operator/pull/612
 [#620]: https://github.com/stackabletech/hbase-operator/pull/620
+[#627]: https://github.com/stackabletech/hbase-operator/pull/627
 
 ## [24.11.1] - 2025-01-09
 
diff --git a/docs/modules/hbase/partials/supported-versions.adoc b/docs/modules/hbase/partials/supported-versions.adoc
index 6f491e07..ca33eed1 100644
--- a/docs/modules/hbase/partials/supported-versions.adoc
+++ b/docs/modules/hbase/partials/supported-versions.adoc
@@ -2,6 +2,5 @@
 // This is a separate file, since it is used by both the direct HBase-Operator documentation, and the overarching
 // Stackable Platform documentation.
 
-- 2.6.0 (Experimental)
-- 2.4.18 (LTS)
-- 2.4.17 (Deprecated)
+- 2.6.1 (LTS)
+- 2.4.18 (Deprecated)
diff --git a/tests/templates/kuttl/snapshot-export/30_test-export.sh b/tests/templates/kuttl/snapshot-export/30_test-export.sh
index 92529c09..647ebc09 100755
--- a/tests/templates/kuttl/snapshot-export/30_test-export.sh
+++ b/tests/templates/kuttl/snapshot-export/30_test-export.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ hbase shell create-snapshot.hbase 2>&1 | \
     grep '=> \["snap"\]' > /dev/null
 
 # Export local snapshot to S3
+# --no-checksum-verify is needed for HBase 2.6.1 until this is fixed: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HBASE-28998
 export-snapshot-to-s3 \
+        --no-checksum-verify \
         --snapshot snap \
         --copy-to s3a://hbase/snap \
         --overwrite 2>&1 | \
@@ -24,7 +26,9 @@ hbase shell delete-snapshot.hbase 2>&1 | \
     grep '=> \[\]' > /dev/null
 
 # Import snapshot from S3
+# --no-checksum-verify is needed for HBase 2.6.1 until this is fixed: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HBASE-28998
 export-snapshot-to-s3 \
+        --no-checksum-verify \
         --snapshot snap \
         --copy-from s3a://hbase/snap \
         --copy-to hdfs://test-hdfs/hbase \
diff --git a/tests/test-definition.yaml b/tests/test-definition.yaml
index 8b8821d0..cbef7a1e 100644
--- a/tests/test-definition.yaml
+++ b/tests/test-definition.yaml
@@ -2,19 +2,19 @@
 dimensions:
   - name: hbase
     values:
-      - 2.6.0
       - 2.4.18
+      - 2.6.1
       # To use a custom image, add a comma and the full name after the product version
-      # - 2.6.0,oci.stackable.tech/sandbox/hbase:2.6.0-stackable0.0.0-dev
+      # - 2.6.1,oci.stackable.tech/sandbox/hbase:2.6.1-stackable0.0.0-dev
       # - 2.4.18,oci.stackable.tech/sandbox/hbase:2.4.18-stackable0.0.0-dev
   - name: hbase-opa
     values:
-      - 2.6.0
+      - 2.6.1
       # To use a custom image, add a comma and the full name after the product version
-      # - 2.6.0,oci.stackable.tech/sandbox/hbase:2.6.0-stackable0.0.0-dev
+      # - 2.6.1,oci.stackable.tech/sandbox/hbase:2.6.1-stackable0.0.0-dev
   - name: hbase-latest
     values:
-      - 2.6.0
+      - 2.6.1
       # - 2.4.18,oci.stackable.tech/sandbox/hbase:2.4.18-stackable0.0.0-dev
   - name: hdfs
     values: