diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4fb5ab8e3..4af75a4a9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+# v5.4.1 (2025-01-16)
+
+## OS Change
+* Parse proxy URI after prepending URL scheme ([#339])
+* Normalize inputs for ephemeral-storage ([#350])
+
+[#339]: https://github.com/bottlerocket-os/bottlerocket-core-kit/pull/339
+[#350]: https://github.com/bottlerocket-os/bottlerocket-core-kit/pull/350
+
 # v5.4.0 (2025-01-14)
 
 ## OS Change
diff --git a/Twoliter.toml b/Twoliter.toml
index 4c95ec06a..8fbace07d 100644
--- a/Twoliter.toml
+++ b/Twoliter.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 schema-version = 1
-release-version = "5.4.0"
+release-version = "5.4.1"
 
 [vendor.bottlerocket]
 registry = "public.ecr.aws/bottlerocket"
diff --git a/sources/api/apiserver/src/server/ephemeral_storage.rs b/sources/api/apiserver/src/server/ephemeral_storage.rs
index 6e5cde30d..a206f586b 100644
--- a/sources/api/apiserver/src/server/ephemeral_storage.rs
+++ b/sources/api/apiserver/src/server/ephemeral_storage.rs
@@ -118,6 +118,12 @@ pub fn bind(variant: &str, dirs: Vec<String>) -> Result<()> {
         _ => format!("{}{}", RAID_DEVICE_DIR, RAID_DEVICE_NAME),
     };
 
+    // Normalize input by trimming trailing "/"
+    let dirs: Vec<String> = dirs
+        .into_iter()
+        .map(|dir| dir.trim_end_matches("/").to_string())
+        .collect();
+
     let mount_point = format!("/mnt/{}", EPHEMERAL_MNT);
     let mount_point = Path::new(&mount_point);
     let allowed_dirs = allowed_bind_dirs(variant);
diff --git a/sources/aws-smithy-experimental/src/hyper_1_0.rs b/sources/aws-smithy-experimental/src/hyper_1_0.rs
index 6fde63d3f..8617dc7e4 100644
--- a/sources/aws-smithy-experimental/src/hyper_1_0.rs
+++ b/sources/aws-smithy-experimental/src/hyper_1_0.rs
@@ -256,7 +256,8 @@ mod build_connector {
         }
         let mut proxy = Proxy::new(intercept, proxy_uri);
         // Parse https_proxy as URL to extract out auth information if any
-        let proxy_url = Url::parse(https_proxy).expect("Unable to parse HTTPS proxy as URL");
+        let proxy_url =
+            Url::parse(&proxy.uri().to_string()).expect("Unable to parse HTTPS proxy as URL");
 
         if !proxy_url.username().is_empty() || proxy_url.password().is_some() {
             proxy.set_authorization(Authorization::basic(
diff --git a/sources/bootstrap-commands/src/main.rs b/sources/bootstrap-commands/src/main.rs
index 293e6b6e6..0b4eef85b 100644
--- a/sources/bootstrap-commands/src/main.rs
+++ b/sources/bootstrap-commands/src/main.rs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ prior to `preconfigured.target` while `host-containers@.service` which is a requ
 running "exec" commands are launched after preconfigured.target.
 */
 
-use log::info;
+use log::{info, warn};
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use simplelog::{Config as LogConfig, LevelFilter, SimpleLogger};
 use snafu::{ensure, OptionExt, ResultExt};
@@ -100,11 +100,16 @@ where
 {
     let mut command = Command::new(bin_path);
 
-    command
+    let output = command
         .args(args)
-        .status()
+        .output()
         .context(error::ExecutionFailureSnafu { command })?;
 
+    ensure!(
+        output.status.success(),
+        error::CommandFailureSnafu { bin_path, output }
+    );
+
     Ok(())
 }
 
@@ -198,10 +203,13 @@ fn run() -> Result<()> {
     for (bootstrap_command_name, bootstrap_command) in bootstrap_commands.iter() {
         let name = bootstrap_command_name.as_ref();
         let essential = bootstrap_command.essential;
-        let status = handle_bootstrap_command(name, bootstrap_command);
+        let result = handle_bootstrap_command(name, bootstrap_command);
 
+        if let Err(ref e) = result {
+            warn!("Bootstrap command failed to execute {}", e);
+        }
         ensure!(
-            !essential || status.is_ok(),
+            !essential || result.is_ok(),
             error::BootstrapCommandExecutionSnafu { name }
         )
     }
@@ -221,7 +229,7 @@ fn main() {
 mod error {
     use snafu::Snafu;
     use std::path::PathBuf;
-    use std::process::Command;
+    use std::process::{Command, Output};
 
     #[derive(Debug, Snafu)]
     #[snafu(visibility(pub(super)))]
@@ -247,6 +255,10 @@ mod error {
             source: std::io::Error,
         },
 
+        #[snafu(display("'{}' failed - stderr: {}",
+                        bin_path, String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr)))]
+        CommandFailure { bin_path: String, output: Output },
+
         #[snafu(display("Logger setup error: {}", source))]
         Logger { source: log::SetLoggerError },