diff --git a/packages/manager/.changeset/pr-13072-tests-1762800216646.md b/packages/manager/.changeset/pr-13072-tests-1762800216646.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d5d66b9ecfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/manager/.changeset/pr-13072-tests-1762800216646.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@linode/manager": Tests
+---
+
+Fix flakey stackscript tests ([#13072](https://github.com/linode/manager/pull/13072))
diff --git a/packages/manager/cypress.config.ts b/packages/manager/cypress.config.ts
index aab31745a48..c122e309fd2 100644
--- a/packages/manager/cypress.config.ts
+++ b/packages/manager/cypress.config.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import { discardPassedTestRecordings } from './cypress/support/plugins/discard-p
 import { featureFlagOverrides } from './cypress/support/plugins/feature-flag-override';
 import { fetchAccount } from './cypress/support/plugins/fetch-account';
 import { fetchLinodeClusters } from './cypress/support/plugins/fetch-linode-clusters';
+import { fetchLinodeImages } from './cypress/support/plugins/fetch-linode-images';
 import { fetchLinodeRegions } from './cypress/support/plugins/fetch-linode-regions';
 import { generateTestWeights } from './cypress/support/plugins/generate-weights';
 import { enableHtmlReport } from './cypress/support/plugins/html-report';
@@ -102,6 +103,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
         fetchAccount,
         fetchLinodeRegions,
         fetchLinodeClusters,
+        fetchLinodeImages,
         resetUserPreferences,
         regionOverrideCheck,
         clusterOverrideCheck,
diff --git a/packages/manager/cypress/e2e/core/stackscripts/create-stackscripts.spec.ts b/packages/manager/cypress/e2e/core/stackscripts/create-stackscripts.spec.ts
index a0e95b46b21..01a7dbe891e 100644
--- a/packages/manager/cypress/e2e/core/stackscripts/create-stackscripts.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/manager/cypress/e2e/core/stackscripts/create-stackscripts.spec.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
 import { ui } from 'support/ui';
 import { SimpleBackoffMethod } from 'support/util/backoff';
 import { cleanUp } from 'support/util/cleanup';
+import { chooseImage } from 'support/util/images';
 import { createTestLinode } from 'support/util/linodes';
 import {
   pollImageStatus,
@@ -185,8 +186,9 @@ describe('Create stackscripts', () => {
   it('creates a StackScript and deploys a Linode with it', () => {
     const stackscriptLabel = randomLabel();
     const stackscriptDesc = randomPhrase();
-    const stackscriptImage = 'Alpine 3.19';
-
+    // use random image. can specify image w/ getImageByLabel, then set images option in chooseImage
+    const randomImage = chooseImage();
+    const stackscriptImage = randomImage.label;
     const linodeLabel = randomLabel();
     const linodeRegion = chooseRegion({ capabilities: ['Vlans'] });
 
diff --git a/packages/manager/cypress/e2e/core/stackscripts/update-stackscripts.spec.ts b/packages/manager/cypress/e2e/core/stackscripts/update-stackscripts.spec.ts
index e44b741e5ce..183c0af195e 100644
--- a/packages/manager/cypress/e2e/core/stackscripts/update-stackscripts.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/manager/cypress/e2e/core/stackscripts/update-stackscripts.spec.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import { ui } from 'support/ui';
 import { depaginate } from 'support/util/paginate';
 import { randomLabel, randomPhrase } from 'support/util/random';
 
+import { isImageDeprecated } from 'src/components/ImageSelect/utilities';
+
 import type { Image, StackScript } from '@linode/api-v4';
 
 // StackScript fixture paths.
@@ -98,7 +100,7 @@ describe('Update stackscripts', () => {
         getImages({ page }, { is_public: true })
       );
       return allPublicImages.find(
-        (image) => image.vendor === 'Alpine' && image.deprecated === false
+        (image) => image.vendor === 'Alpine' && !isImageDeprecated(image)
       );
     };
 
diff --git a/packages/manager/cypress/support/plugins/fetch-linode-images.ts b/packages/manager/cypress/support/plugins/fetch-linode-images.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7edf07677ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/manager/cypress/support/plugins/fetch-linode-images.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { getImages } from '@linode/api-v4';
+
+import type { CypressPlugin } from './plugin';
+import type { Image, ResourcePage } from '@linode/api-v4';
+
+/**
+ * Fetches and stores Linode image data in Cypress environment object.
+ */
+export const fetchLinodeImages: CypressPlugin = async (_, config) => {
+  const data: ResourcePage<Image> = await getImages({ page_size: 500 });
+
+  const images = data.data;
+  return {
+    ...config,
+    env: {
+      ...config.env,
+      cloudManagerImages: images,
+    },
+  };
+};
diff --git a/packages/manager/cypress/support/util/images.ts b/packages/manager/cypress/support/util/images.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..03b066de027
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/manager/cypress/support/util/images.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+import { randomItem } from 'support/util/random';
+
+import { isImageDeprecated } from 'src/components/ImageSelect/utilities';
+
+import type { Image, ImageCapabilities } from '@linode/api-v4';
+/**
+ * Images that cannot be selected using `chooseImages()`.
+ */
+const disallowedImageIds: string[] = [];
+
+/**
+ * All Linode images available to the current Cloud Manager user.
+ *
+ * Retrieved via Linode APIv4 during Cypress start-up.
+ */
+export const images: Image[] = Cypress.env('cloudManagerImages') as Image[];
+
+/**
+ * Returns a known Cloud Manager image at random, or returns a user-chosen
+ * image if one was specified.
+ *
+ * @param options - Image selection options.
+ *
+ * @returns Object describing a Cloud Manager image to use during tests.
+ */
+export const chooseImage = (options?: ChooseImageOptions): Image => {
+  return randomItem(resolveSearchImages(options));
+};
+
+/**
+ * Returns an array of Image objects that meet the given criteria.
+ *
+ * @param options - Object describing Image selection criteria.
+ *
+ * @throws If no images meet the desired criteria.
+ * @throws If an override image is specified which does not meet the given criteria.
+ *
+ * @returns Array of Image objects that meet criteria specified by `options` param.
+ */
+const resolveSearchImages = (options?: ChooseImageOptions): Image[] => {
+  const imageFixtures = options?.images ?? images;
+  const currentImages = imageFixtures.filter(
+    (image) => !isImageDeprecated(image)
+  );
+  const requiredCapabilities = options?.capabilities ?? [];
+  const allDisallowedImageIds = [
+    ...disallowedImageIds,
+    ...(options?.exclude ?? []),
+  ];
+  const capableImages = imagesWithCapabilities(
+    currentImages,
+    requiredCapabilities
+  ).filter((image: Image) => !allDisallowedImageIds.includes(image.id));
+
+  if (!capableImages.length) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `No images are available with the required capabilities: ${requiredCapabilities.join(
+        ', '
+      )}`
+    );
+  }
+  return capableImages;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Returns `true` if the given Image has all of the given capabilities and availability for each capability.
+ *
+ * @param image - Image to check capabilities.
+ * @param capabilities - ImageCapabilities to check.
+ *
+ * @returns `true` if `image` has all of the given capabilities.
+ */
+const imageHasCapabilities = (
+  image: Image,
+  capabilities: ImageCapabilities[]
+): boolean => {
+  return capabilities.every((capability) =>
+    image.capabilities.includes(capability)
+  );
+};
+
+/**
+ * Returns an array of Image objects that have all of the given capabilities.
+ *
+ * @param images - Images from which to search.
+ * @param capabilities - ImageCapabilities to check.
+ *
+ * @returns Array of Image objects containing the required capabilities.
+ */
+const imagesWithCapabilities = (
+  images: Image[],
+  capabilities: ImageCapabilities[]
+): Image[] => {
+  return images.filter((image: Image) =>
+    imageHasCapabilities(image, capabilities)
+  );
+};
+
+/**
+ * Returns an object describing a Cloud Manager image with the given label.
+ *
+ * If no known image exists with the given human-readable label, an error is
+ * thrown.
+ *
+ * @param label - Label (API or Cloud-specific) of the image to find.
+ * @param searchImages - Optional array of Images from which to search.
+ *
+ * @throws When no image exists in the `images` array with the given label.
+ */
+export const getImageByLabel = (label: string, searchImages?: Image[]) => {
+  const image = (searchImages ?? images).find(
+    (findImage: Image) => findImage.label === label
+  );
+  if (!image) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `Unable to find image by label. Unknown image label '${label}'.`
+    );
+  }
+  return image;
+};
+
+interface ChooseImageOptions {
+  /**
+   * If specified, the image returned will support the defined capabilities
+   * @example ['cloud-init', 'distributed-sites']
+   */
+  capabilities?: ImageCapabilities[];
+
+  /**
+   * Array of image IDs to exclude from results.
+   */
+  exclude?: string[];
+
+  /**
+   * Images from which to choose. If unspecified, Images exposed by the API will be used.
+   */
+  images?: Image[];
+}