diff --git a/python/aiffairness/poetry.lock b/python/aiffairness/poetry.lock
index 5f0cae3c7b1..09e61fe1104 100644
--- a/python/aiffairness/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/aiffairness/poetry.lock
@@ -936,6 +936,7 @@ tritonclient = "^2.18.0"
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]
diff --git a/python/alibiexplainer/poetry.lock b/python/alibiexplainer/poetry.lock
index 3dfc49b76e5..5126e1a47ee 100644
--- a/python/alibiexplainer/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/alibiexplainer/poetry.lock
@@ -2059,6 +2059,7 @@ urllib3 = {version = "^1.26.8", optional = true}
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]
@@ -3917,6 +3918,58 @@ botocore = ">=1.12.36,<2.0a.0"
 [package.extras]
 crt = ["botocore[crt] (>=1.20.29,<2.0a.0)"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "scikit-image"
+version = "0.19.3"
+description = "Image processing in Python"
+category = "main"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.7"
+files = [
+    {file = "scikit-image-0.19.3.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:24b5367de1762da6ee126dd8f30cc4e7efda474e0d7d70685433f0e3aa2ec450"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp310-cp310-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:3a01372ae4bca223873304b0bff79b9d92446ac6d6177f73d89b45561e2d09d8"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp310-cp310-macosx_12_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:fdf48d9b1f13af69e4e2c78e05067e322e9c8c97463c315cd0ecb47a94e259fc"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:6b6a8f98f2ac9bb73706461fd1dec875f6a5141759ed526850a5a49e90003d19"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:cfbb073f23deb48e0e60c47f8741d8089121d89cc78629ea8c5b51096efc5be7"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:cc24177de3fdceca5d04807ad9c87d665f0bf01032ed94a9055cd1ed2b3f33e9"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp37-cp37m-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:fd9dd3994bb6f9f7a35f228323f3c4dc44b3cf2ff15fd72d895216e9333550c6"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp37-cp37m-manylinux_2_12_i686.manylinux2010_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:ad5d8000207a264d1a55681a9276e6a739d3f05cf4429004ad00d61d1892235f"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp37-cp37m-manylinux_2_12_x86_64.manylinux2010_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:84baa3179f3ae983c3a5d81c1e404bc92dcf7daeb41bfe9369badcda3fb22b92"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp37-cp37m-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:7f9f8a1387afc6c70f2bed007c3854a2d7489f9f7713c242f16f32ee05934bc2"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp37-cp37m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:9fb0923a3bfa99457c5e17888f27b3b8a83a3600b4fef317992e7b7234764732"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:ce3d2207f253b8eb2c824e30d145a9f07a34a14212d57f3beca9f7e03c383cbe"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:2a02d1bd0e2b53e36b952bd5fd6118d9ccc3ee51de35705d63d8eb1f2e86adef"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp38-cp38-macosx_12_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:03779a7e1736fdf89d83c0ba67d44110496edd736a3bfce61a2b5177a1c8a099"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:19a21a101a20c587a3b611a2cf6f86c35aae9f8d9563279b987e83ee1c9a9790"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_i686.manylinux2014_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:2f50b923f8099c1045fcde7418d86b206c87e333e43da980f41d8577b9605245"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:e207c6ce5ce121d7d9b9d2b61b9adca57d1abed112c902d8ffbfdc20fb42c12b"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:a7c3985c68bfe05f7571167ee021d14f5b8d1a4a250c91f0b13be7fb07e6af34"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:651de1c2ce1fbee834753b46b8e7d81cb12a5594898babba63ac82b30ddad49d"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp39-cp39-macosx_10_13_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:8d8917fcf85b987b1f287f823f3a1a7dac38b70aaca759bc0200f3bc292d5ced"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp39-cp39-macosx_12_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:0b0a199157ce8487c77de4fde0edc0b42d6d42818881c11f459262351d678b2d"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:33dfd463ee6cc509defa279b963829f2230c9e0639ccd3931045be055878eea6"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_i686.manylinux2014_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:a8714348ddd671f819457a797c97d4c672166f093def66d66c3254cbd1d43f83"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:ff3b1025356508d41f4fe48528e509d95f9e4015e90cf158cd58c56dc63e0ac5"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:9439e5294de3f18d6e82ec8eee2c46590231cf9c690da80545e83a0733b7a69e"},
+    {file = "scikit_image-0.19.3-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:32fb88cc36203b99c9672fb972c9ef98635deaa5fc889fe969f3e11c44f22919"},
+]
+
+[package.dependencies]
+imageio = ">=2.4.1"
+networkx = ">=2.2"
+numpy = ">=1.17.0"
+packaging = ">=20.0"
+pillow = ">=6.1.0,<7.1.0 || >7.1.0,<7.1.1 || >7.1.1,<8.3.0 || >8.3.0"
+PyWavelets = ">=1.1.1"
+scipy = ">=1.4.1"
+tifffile = ">=2019.7.26"
+
+[package.extras]
+data = ["pooch (>=1.3.0)"]
+docs = ["cloudpickle (>=0.2.1)", "dask[array] (>=0.15.0,!=2.17.0)", "ipywidgets", "kaleido", "matplotlib (>=3.3)", "myst-parser", "numpydoc (>=1.0)", "pandas (>=0.23.0)", "plotly (>=4.14.0)", "pooch (>=1.3.0)", "pytest-runner", "scikit-learn", "seaborn (>=0.7.1)", "sphinx (>=1.8)", "sphinx-copybutton", "sphinx-gallery (>=0.10.1)", "tifffile (>=2020.5.30)"]
+optional = ["SimpleITK", "astropy (>=3.1.2)", "cloudpickle (>=0.2.1)", "dask[array] (>=1.0.0,!=2.17.0)", "matplotlib (>=3.0.3)", "pooch (>=1.3.0)", "pyamg", "qtpy"]
+test = ["asv", "codecov", "flake8", "matplotlib (>=3.0.3)", "pooch (>=1.3.0)", "pytest (>=5.2.0)", "pytest-cov (>=2.7.0)", "pytest-faulthandler", "pytest-localserver"]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "scikit-image"
 version = "0.20.0"
@@ -3956,10 +4009,7 @@ numpy = ">=1.21.1"
 packaging = ">=20.0"
 pillow = ">=9.0.1"
 PyWavelets = ">=1.1.1"
-scipy = [
-    {version = ">=1.8,<1.9.2", markers = "python_version <= \"3.9\""},
-    {version = ">=1.8", markers = "python_version > \"3.9\""},
-]
+scipy = {version = ">=1.8", markers = "python_version > \"3.9\""}
 tifffile = ">=2019.7.26"
 
 [package.extras]
@@ -4025,42 +4075,6 @@ docs = ["Pillow (>=7.1.2)", "matplotlib (>=2.2.3)", "memory-profiler (>=0.57.0)"
 examples = ["matplotlib (>=2.2.3)", "pandas (>=0.25.0)", "scikit-image (>=0.14.5)", "seaborn (>=0.9.0)"]
 tests = ["black (>=21.6b0)", "flake8 (>=3.8.2)", "matplotlib (>=2.2.3)", "mypy (>=0.770)", "pandas (>=0.25.0)", "pyamg (>=4.0.0)", "pytest (>=5.0.1)", "pytest-cov (>=2.9.0)", "scikit-image (>=0.14.5)"]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "scipy"
-version = "1.9.1"
-description = "SciPy: Scientific Library for Python"
-category = "main"
-optional = false
-python-versions = ">=3.8,<3.12"
-files = [
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp310-cp310-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:c61b4a91a702e8e04aeb0bfc40460e1f17a640977c04dda8757efb0199c75332"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp310-cp310-macosx_12_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:d79da472015d0120ba9b357b28a99146cd6c17b9609403164b1a8ed149b4dfc8"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp310-cp310-macosx_12_0_universal2.macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:825951b88f56765aeb6e5e38ac9d7d47407cfaaeb008d40aa1b45a2d7ea2731e"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:f950a04b33e17b38ff561d5a0951caf3f5b47caa841edd772ffb7959f20a6af0"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:8cc81ac25659fec73599ccc52c989670e5ccd8974cf34bacd7b54a8d809aff1a"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:8d3faa40ac16c6357aaf7ea50394ea6f1e8e99d75e927a51102b1943b311b4d9"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:7a412c476a91b080e456229e413792bbb5d6202865dae963d1e6e28c2bb58691"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp38-cp38-macosx_12_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:eb954f5aca4d26f468bbebcdc5448348eb287f7bea536c6306f62ea062f63d9a"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp38-cp38-macosx_12_0_universal2.macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:3c6f5d1d4b9a5e4fe5e14f26ffc9444fc59473bbf8d45dc4a9a15283b7063a72"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_12_i686.manylinux2010_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:bc4e2c77d4cd015d739e75e74ebbafed59ba8497a7ed0fd400231ed7683497c4"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:0419485dbcd0ed78c0d5bf234c5dd63e86065b39b4d669e45810d42199d49521"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:34441dfbee5b002f9e15285014fd56e5e3372493c3e64ae297bae2c4b9659f5a"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:b97b479f39c7e4aaf807efd0424dec74bbb379108f7d22cf09323086afcd312c"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:e8fe305d9d67a81255e06203454729405706907dccbdfcc330b7b3482a6c371d"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp39-cp39-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:39ab9240cd215a9349c85ab908dda6d732f7d3b4b192fa05780812495536acc4"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp39-cp39-macosx_12_0_arm64.whl", hash = "sha256:71487c503e036740635f18324f62a11f283a632ace9d35933b2b0a04fd898c98"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp39-cp39-macosx_12_0_universal2.macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:3bc1ab68b9a096f368ba06c3a5e1d1d50957a86665fc929c4332d21355e7e8f4"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_12_i686.manylinux2010_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:f7c39f7dbb57cce00c108d06d731f3b0e2a4d3a95c66d96bce697684876ce4d4"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:47d1a95bd9d37302afcfe1b84c8011377c4f81e33649c5a5785db9ab827a6ade"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp39-cp39-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:96d7cf7b25c9f23c59a766385f6370dab0659741699ecc7a451f9b94604938ce"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:09412eb7fb60b8f00b328037fd814d25d261066ebc43a1e339cdce4f7502877e"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:90c805f30c46cf60f1e76e947574f02954d25e3bb1e97aa8a07bc53aa31cf7d1"},
-    {file = "scipy-1.9.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:26d28c468900e6d5fdb37d2812ab46db0ccd22c63baa095057871faa3a498bc9"},
-]
-
-[package.dependencies]
-numpy = ">=1.18.5,<1.25.0"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "scipy"
 version = "1.10.1"
@@ -4891,7 +4905,6 @@ python-versions = "*"
 files = [
     {file = "tritonclient-2.33.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:8fd7db59c76a6e3e4506e682a3d5ba549685b70baf7c7ff560701852774ba0f5"},
     {file = "tritonclient-2.33.0-py3-none-manylinux1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:92c162dac8ed25724bc80d8d8cc6dd77d8518cd6d8fa0903dae75261a609c24c"},
-    {file = "tritonclient-2.33.0-py3-none-manylinux2014_aarch64.whl", hash = "sha256:959b0108cb39f83d500fe27f83741ec5222149612db69565ad8aa44ffd1274af"},
 ]
 
 [package.dependencies]
diff --git a/python/artexplainer/poetry.lock b/python/artexplainer/poetry.lock
index ab378ea4bf8..dd8cbe64192 100644
--- a/python/artexplainer/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/artexplainer/poetry.lock
@@ -1058,6 +1058,7 @@ tritonclient = "^2.18.0"
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]
diff --git a/python/custom_model/poetry.lock b/python/custom_model/poetry.lock
index cee57242c6d..7b3f1fa6a58 100644
--- a/python/custom_model/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/custom_model/poetry.lock
@@ -809,6 +809,7 @@ tritonclient = "^2.18.0"
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]
diff --git a/python/custom_transformer/poetry.lock b/python/custom_transformer/poetry.lock
index 2884921815b..fd2feae4b53 100644
--- a/python/custom_transformer/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/custom_transformer/poetry.lock
@@ -836,6 +836,7 @@ tritonclient = "^2.18.0"
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]
diff --git a/python/kserve/kserve/model.py b/python/kserve/kserve/model.py
index 0ec6ef460c2..2ea9f35059b 100644
--- a/python/kserve/kserve/model.py
+++ b/python/kserve/kserve/model.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 from .protocol.grpc.grpc_predict_v2_pb2 import ModelInferRequest, ModelInferResponse
 
 from .errors import InvalidInput
-from .utils.utils import is_structured_cloudevent
 
 PREDICTOR_URL_FORMAT = "http://{0}/v1/models/{1}:predict"
 EXPLAINER_URL_FORMAT = "http://{0}/v1/models/{1}:explain"
@@ -200,27 +199,8 @@ async def preprocess(self, payload: Union[Dict, CloudEvent, InferRequest],
         Returns:
             Dict|InferRequest: Transformed inputs to ``predict`` handler or return InferRequest for predictor call.
         """
-        response = payload
-
-        if isinstance(payload, CloudEvent):
-            response = payload.data
-            # Try to decode and parse JSON UTF-8 if possible, otherwise
-            # just pass the CloudEvent data on to the predict function.
-            # This is for the cases that CloudEvent encoding is protobuf, avro etc.
-            try:
-                response = orjson.loads(response.decode('UTF-8'))
-            except (orjson.JSONDecodeError, UnicodeDecodeError) as e:
-                # If decoding or parsing failed, check if it was supposed to be JSON UTF-8
-                if "content-type" in payload._attributes and \
-                        (payload._attributes["content-type"] == "application/cloudevents+json" or
-                         payload._attributes["content-type"] == "application/json"):
-                    raise InvalidInput(f"Failed to decode or parse binary json cloudevent: {e}")
-
-        elif isinstance(payload, dict):
-            if is_structured_cloudevent(payload):
-                response = payload["data"]
 
-        return response
+        return payload
 
     def postprocess(self, response: Union[Dict, InferResponse, ModelInferResponse], headers: Dict[str, str] = None) \
             -> Union[Dict, ModelInferResponse]:
diff --git a/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/dataplane.py b/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/dataplane.py
index 67edfce3482..5f62fe55fd3 100644
--- a/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/dataplane.py
+++ b/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/dataplane.py
@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
+from importlib import metadata
 from typing import Dict, Union, Tuple, Optional
 
 import cloudevents.exceptions as ce
 import orjson
-import pkg_resources
 from cloudevents.http import CloudEvent, from_http
 from cloudevents.sdk.converters.util import has_binary_headers
 from ray.serve.api import RayServeHandle
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 from ..errors import InvalidInput, ModelNotFound
 from ..model import ModelType
 from ..model_repository import ModelRepository
-from ..utils.utils import create_response_cloudevent
+from ..utils.utils import create_response_cloudevent, is_structured_cloudevent
 from .infer_type import InferRequest
 from ..constants import constants
 from .grpc import grpc_predict_v2_pb2 as pb
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ def __init__(self, model_registry: ModelRepository):
 
         # Dynamically fetching version of the installed 'kserve' distribution. The assumption is
         # that 'kserve' will already be installed by the time this class is instantiated.
-        self._server_version = pkg_resources.get_distribution("kserve").version
+        self._server_version = metadata.version("kserve")
 
     @property
     def model_registry(self):
@@ -205,23 +205,50 @@ def model_ready(self, model_name: str) -> bool:
 
         return self._model_registry.is_model_ready(model_name)
 
-    def decode(self, body, headers) -> Union[Dict, InferRequest]:
+    def decode(self, body, headers) -> Tuple[Union[Dict, InferRequest, CloudEvent], Dict]:
         t1 = time.time()
+        decoded_body = body
+        attributes = {}
         if isinstance(body, InferRequest):
-            return body
+            return decoded_body, attributes
         if headers and has_binary_headers(headers):
             body = self.get_binary_cloudevent(body, headers)
-        else:
-            if type(body) is bytes:
-                try:
-                    body = orjson.loads(body)
-                except orjson.JSONDecodeError as e:
-                    raise InvalidInput(f"Unrecognized request format: {e}")
+        elif type(body) is bytes:
+            try:
+                body = orjson.loads(body)
+            except orjson.JSONDecodeError as e:
+                raise InvalidInput(f"Unrecognized request format: {e}")
+
+        decoded_body, attributes = self.decode_cloudevent(body)
         t2 = time.time()
         logging.debug(f"decoded request in {round((t2 - t1) * 1000, 9)}ms")
-        return body
-
-    def encode(self, model_name, body, response, headers) -> Tuple[Dict, Dict[str, str]]:
+        return decoded_body, attributes
+
+    def decode_cloudevent(self, body) -> Tuple[Union[Dict, InferRequest, CloudEvent], Dict]:
+        decoded_body = body
+        attributes = {}
+        if isinstance(body, CloudEvent):
+            # Try to decode and parse JSON UTF-8 if possible, otherwise
+            # just pass the CloudEvent data on to the predict function.
+            # This is for the cases that CloudEvent encoding is protobuf, avro etc.
+            try:
+                decoded_body = orjson.loads(body.data.decode('UTF-8'))
+                attributes = body._get_attributes()
+            except (orjson.JSONDecodeError, UnicodeDecodeError) as e:
+                # If decoding or parsing failed, check if it was supposed to be JSON UTF-8
+                if "content-type" in body._attributes and \
+                        (body._attributes["content-type"] == "application/cloudevents+json" or
+                         body._attributes["content-type"] == "application/json"):
+                    raise InvalidInput(f"Failed to decode or parse binary json cloudevent: {e}")
+
+        elif isinstance(body, dict):
+            if is_structured_cloudevent(body):
+                decoded_body = body["data"]
+                attributes = body
+                del attributes["data"]
+        return decoded_body, attributes
+
+    def encode(self, model_name, response, headers, req_attributes: Dict) -> Tuple[Dict, Dict[str, str]]:
         response_headers = {}
         # if we received a cloudevent, then also return a cloudevent
         is_cloudevent = False
@@ -233,7 +260,7 @@ def encode(self, model_name, body, response, headers) -> Tuple[Dict, Dict[str, s
             if headers.get("content-type", "") == "application/cloudevents+json":
                 is_cloudevent = True
         if is_cloudevent:
-            response_headers, response = create_response_cloudevent(model_name, body, response,
+            response_headers, response = create_response_cloudevent(model_name, response, req_attributes,
                                                                     is_binary_cloudevent)
 
             if is_binary_cloudevent:
@@ -268,7 +295,7 @@ async def infer(
 
         .. _CloudEvent: https://cloudevents.io/
         """
-        body = self.decode(body, headers)
+        body, req_attributes = self.decode(body, headers)
 
         # call model locally or remote model workers
         model = self.get_model(model_name)
@@ -278,7 +305,7 @@ async def infer(
             model_handle: RayServeHandle = model
             response = await model_handle.remote(body, headers=headers)
 
-        response, response_headers = self.encode(model_name, body, response, headers)
+        response, response_headers = self.encode(model_name, response, headers, req_attributes)
         return response, response_headers
 
     async def explain(self, model_name: str,
@@ -298,7 +325,7 @@ async def explain(self, model_name: str,
         Raises:
             InvalidInput: An error when the body bytes can't be decoded as JSON.
         """
-        body = self.decode(body, headers)
+        body, req_attributes = self.decode(body, headers)
 
         # call model locally or remote model workers
         model = self.get_model(model_name)
@@ -307,5 +334,5 @@ async def explain(self, model_name: str,
         else:
             model_handle = model
             response = await model_handle.remote(body, model_type=ModelType.EXPLAINER)
-        response, response_headers = self.encode(model_name, body, response, headers)
+        response, response_headers = self.encode(model_name, response, headers, req_attributes)
         return response, response_headers
diff --git a/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/infer_type.py b/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/infer_type.py
index 2c3d8903fd2..627056851be 100644
--- a/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/infer_type.py
+++ b/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/infer_type.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class InferInput:
     _datatype: str
     _parameters: Dict
 
-    def __init__(self, name, shape, datatype, data=None, parameters={}):
+    def __init__(self, name, shape, datatype, data=None, parameters=None):
         """An object of InferInput class is used to describe
         input tensor for an inference request.
         Parameters
@@ -42,9 +42,13 @@ def __init__(self, name, shape, datatype, data=None, parameters={}):
             The shape of the associated input.
         datatype : str
             The datatype of the associated input.
-        data: Union[List, InferTensorContents]
+        data : Union[List, InferTensorContents]
             The data of the REST/gRPC input. When data is not set, raw_data is used for gRPC for numpy array bytes.
+        parameters : dict
+            The additional server-specific parameters.
         """
+        if parameters is None:
+            parameters = {}
         self._name = name
         self._shape = shape
         self._datatype = datatype
@@ -236,7 +240,9 @@ class InferRequest:
     from_grpc: bool
 
     def __init__(self, model_name: str, infer_inputs: List[InferInput],
-                 request_id=None, raw_inputs=None, from_grpc=False, parameters={}):
+                 request_id=None, raw_inputs=None, from_grpc=False, parameters=None):
+        if parameters is None:
+            parameters = {}
         self.id = request_id
         self.model_name = model_name
         self.inputs = infer_inputs
@@ -326,7 +332,7 @@ def as_dataframe(self) -> pd.DataFrame:
 
 
 class InferOutput:
-    def __init__(self, name, shape, datatype, data=None, parameters={}):
+    def __init__(self, name, shape, datatype, data=None, parameters=None):
         """An object of InferOutput class is used to describe
         input tensor for an inference request.
         Parameters
@@ -337,9 +343,13 @@ def __init__(self, name, shape, datatype, data=None, parameters={}):
             The shape of the associated input.
         datatype : str
             The datatype of the associated input.
-        data: Union[List, InferTensorContents]
+        data : Union[List, InferTensorContents]
             The data of the REST/gRPC input. When data is not set, raw_data is used for gRPC for numpy array bytes.
+        parameters : dict
+            The additional server-specific parameters.
         """
+        if parameters is None:
+            parameters = {}
         self._name = name
         self._shape = shape
         self._datatype = datatype
@@ -514,7 +524,9 @@ class InferResponse:
     from_grpc: bool
 
     def __init__(self, response_id: str, model_name: str, infer_outputs: List[InferOutput],
-                 raw_outputs=None, from_grpc=False, parameters={}):
+                 raw_outputs=None, from_grpc=False, parameters=None):
+        if parameters is None:
+            parameters = {}
         self.id = response_id
         self.model_name = model_name
         self.outputs = infer_outputs
diff --git a/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/rest/server.py b/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/rest/server.py
index 206963a88c4..e6228cf0fee 100644
--- a/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/rest/server.py
+++ b/python/kserve/kserve/protocol/rest/server.py
@@ -14,10 +14,10 @@
 
 import asyncio
 import socket
+from importlib import metadata
 from typing import List, Optional
 from prometheus_client import REGISTRY, exposition
 
-import pkg_resources
 import uvicorn
 from fastapi import FastAPI, Request, Response
 from fastapi.routing import APIRoute as FastAPIRoute
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ def create_application(self) -> FastAPI:
 
         return FastAPI(
             title="KServe ModelServer",
-            version=pkg_resources.get_distribution("kserve").version,
+            version=metadata.version("kserve"),
             docs_url="/docs" if self.enable_docs_url else None,
             redoc_url=None,
             default_response_class=ORJSONResponse,
diff --git a/python/kserve/kserve/utils/utils.py b/python/kserve/kserve/utils/utils.py
index 070fd05051a..9eca490e566 100644
--- a/python/kserve/kserve/utils/utils.py
+++ b/python/kserve/kserve/utils/utils.py
@@ -94,18 +94,17 @@ def is_structured_cloudevent(body: Dict) -> bool:
            and "data" in body
 
 
-def create_response_cloudevent(model_name: str, body: Union[Dict, CloudEvent], response: Dict,
+def create_response_cloudevent(model_name: str, response: Dict, req_attributes: Dict,
                                binary_event=False) -> tuple:
     ce_attributes = {}
 
     if os.getenv("CE_MERGE", "false").lower() == "true":
         if binary_event:
-            ce_attributes = body._attributes
+            ce_attributes = req_attributes
             if "datacontenttype" in ce_attributes:  # Optional field so must check
                 del ce_attributes["datacontenttype"]
         else:
-            ce_attributes = body
-            del ce_attributes["data"]
+            ce_attributes = req_attributes
 
         # Remove these fields so we generate new ones
         del ce_attributes["id"]
diff --git a/python/kserve/poetry.lock b/python/kserve/poetry.lock
index 3ce3f893903..cc1c75a3853 100644
--- a/python/kserve/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/kserve/poetry.lock
@@ -254,9 +254,6 @@ files = [
     {file = "attrs-23.1.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:6279836d581513a26f1bf235f9acd333bc9115683f14f7e8fae46c98fc50e015"},
 ]
 
-[package.dependencies]
-importlib-metadata = {version = "*", markers = "python_version < \"3.8\""}
-
 [package.extras]
 cov = ["attrs[tests]", "coverage[toml] (>=5.3)"]
 dev = ["attrs[docs,tests]", "pre-commit"]
@@ -3052,4 +3049,4 @@ storage = ["azure-identity", "azure-storage-blob", "azure-storage-file-share", "
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = ">=3.8,<3.11"
-content-hash = "136659c633799e4d26eab95e854332df5c8d407423d221f1f2c3d7bfe0995a92"
+content-hash = "21b8e2aaa7ac6c6834a9fa7c6a2714480513982e85dd251942abee53c1dd52fd"
diff --git a/python/kserve/test/test_dataplane.py b/python/kserve/test/test_dataplane.py
index fa8fa1028b6..9fbb5630809 100644
--- a/python/kserve/test/test_dataplane.py
+++ b/python/kserve/test/test_dataplane.py
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ async def test_infer_ce_avro_binary(self, dataplane_with_ce_model):
         writer.write(msg, encoder)
         data = bytes_writer.getvalue()
 
-        event = dummy_cloud_event(data, set_contenttype=True)
+        event = dummy_cloud_event(data, set_contenttype=True, contenttype="application/avro")
         # Creates the HTTP request representation of the CloudEvent in binary content mode
         headers, body = to_binary(event)
 
diff --git a/python/kserve/test/test_server.py b/python/kserve/test/test_server.py
index e8aa36cba35..818c6368099 100644
--- a/python/kserve/test/test_server.py
+++ b/python/kserve/test/test_server.py
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@
         '''
 
 
-def dummy_cloud_event(data, set_contenttype=False, add_extension=False):
+def dummy_cloud_event(data, set_contenttype: bool = False, add_extension: bool = False,
+                      contenttype: str = "application/json"):
     # This data defines a binary cloudevent
     attributes = {
         "type": "com.example.sampletype1",
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ def dummy_cloud_event(data, set_contenttype=False, add_extension=False):
         "time": "2021-01-28T21:04:43.144141+00:00"
     }
     if set_contenttype:
-        attributes["content-type"] = "application/json"
+        attributes["content-type"] = contenttype
     if add_extension:
         attributes["custom-extension"] = "custom-value"
 
@@ -150,7 +151,7 @@ def preprocess(self, request, headers: Dict[str, str] = None):
             assert attributes["specversion"] == "1.0"
             assert attributes["source"] == "https://example.com/event-producer"
             assert attributes["type"] == "com.example.sampletype1"
-            assert attributes["content-type"] == "application/json"
+            assert attributes["content-type"] == "application/avro"
             return self._parserequest(request.data)
 
     async def predict(self, request, headers=None):
@@ -507,7 +508,7 @@ def test_predict_ce_avro_binary(self, http_server_client):
         writer.write(msg, encoder)
         data = bytes_writer.getvalue()
 
-        event = dummy_cloud_event(data, set_contenttype=True)
+        event = dummy_cloud_event(data, set_contenttype=True, contenttype="application/avro")
         # Creates the HTTP request representation of the CloudEvent in binary content mode
         headers, body = to_binary(event)
         resp = http_server_client.post('/v1/models/TestModel:predict', headers=headers, data=body)
diff --git a/python/lgbserver/poetry.lock b/python/lgbserver/poetry.lock
index a542758c954..17d4bde62f0 100644
--- a/python/lgbserver/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/lgbserver/poetry.lock
@@ -1404,6 +1404,7 @@ urllib3 = {version = "^1.26.8", optional = true}
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]
diff --git a/python/paddleserver/poetry.lock b/python/paddleserver/poetry.lock
index acbba844093..2c0abc56cd8 100644
--- a/python/paddleserver/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/paddleserver/poetry.lock
@@ -1414,6 +1414,7 @@ urllib3 = {version = "^1.26.8", optional = true}
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]
diff --git a/python/pmmlserver/poetry.lock b/python/pmmlserver/poetry.lock
index 8383a65dde7..91c861b1719 100644
--- a/python/pmmlserver/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/pmmlserver/poetry.lock
@@ -1459,6 +1459,7 @@ urllib3 = {version = "^1.26.8", optional = true}
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]
diff --git a/python/sklearnserver/poetry.lock b/python/sklearnserver/poetry.lock
index 5a5e5a990cc..db8074a9042 100644
--- a/python/sklearnserver/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/sklearnserver/poetry.lock
@@ -1332,6 +1332,7 @@ urllib3 = {version = "^1.26.8", optional = true}
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]
diff --git a/python/xgbserver/poetry.lock b/python/xgbserver/poetry.lock
index c027eeea874..5cfd4075441 100644
--- a/python/xgbserver/poetry.lock
+++ b/python/xgbserver/poetry.lock
@@ -1404,6 +1404,7 @@ urllib3 = {version = "^1.26.8", optional = true}
 uvicorn = "^0.16.0"
 
 [package.extras]
+logging = ["asgi-logger (>=0.1.0,<0.2.0)"]
 storage = ["azure-identity (>=1.8.0,<2.0.0)", "azure-storage-blob (>=12.10.0,<13.0.0)", "azure-storage-file-share (>=12.7.0,<12.8.0)", "boto3 (>=1.21.0,<2.0.0)", "google-cloud-storage (>=1.20.0,<2.0.0)", "requests (>=2.20.0,<3.0.0)", "urllib3 (>=1.26.8,<2.0.0)"]
 
 [package.source]