diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 35ba4fb22f..e700f6d021 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,20 @@
+8.0.0-dev.713 | 2025-07-23 19:31:13 +0200
+
+  * NEWS: ZeekControl, ZeroMQ and WebSocket (Arne Welzel, Corelight)
+
+  * Update zeekctl module for ClusterBackend and UseWebSocket (Arne Welzel, Corelight)
+
+  * control: Use Cluster::publish() for replying (Arne Welzel, Corelight)
+
+    Switching to ZeroMQ as cluster backend and dabbling with zeekctl
+    and WebSocket, replies didn't arrive due to the usage of
+    Broker::publish() rather than Cluster::publish(). Additionally,
+    add the node name to the topic on which we reply so that the
+    receiver can figure out which node sent the reply. It could've
+    been a separate event parameter, but the topic appears just fine.
+
+  * Fix clang-tidy findings in embedded C++ from bif files (Tim Wojtulewicz, Corelight)
+
 8.0.0-dev.707 | 2025-07-23 08:21:17 -0700
 
   * CI: Add weekly task for running builds with newest compilers (Tim Wojtulewicz, Corelight)
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 8114393870..4d6ec7048e 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -130,6 +130,25 @@ New Functionality
   implementation in the ``src/packet_analysis/protocol/ip/conn_key/vlan_fivetuple``
   directory for an example.
 
+- Added support to ZeekControl for seamlessly switching to ZeroMQ as cluster
+  backend by adding the following settings to zeekctl.cfg:
+
+	ClusterBackend = ZeroMQ
+	UseWebSocket = 1
+
+  With the ZeroMQ cluster backend, Zeekctl requires to use Zeek's WebSocket API
+  to communicate with individual nodes for the ``print`` and ``netstats`` commands.
+  Setting the ``UseWebSocket`` option enables a WebSocket server on the manager
+  node, listening on 127.0.0.1:27759 by default (this is configurable with using
+  the newly introduced ``WebSocketHost`` and ``WebSocketPort`` options).
+  The ``UseWebSocket`` option can also be used when ``ClusterBackend`` is set
+  to ``Broker``, but isn't strictly required.
+
+  For ZeroMQ (or other future cluster backends), setting ``UseWebSocket`` is a
+  requirement as Zeekctl does not speak the native ZeroMQ protocol to communicate
+  with cluster nodes for executing commands. This functionality requires the
+  ``websockets`` Python package with version 11.0 or higher.
+
 - Cluster telemetry improvements. Zeek now exposes a configurable number of
   metrics regarding outgoing and incoming cluster events. By default, the number
   of events sent and received by a Zeek cluster node and any attached WebSocket
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index c012fd944b..2ba5695a41 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-8.0.0-dev.707
+8.0.0-dev.713
diff --git a/auxil/zeekctl b/auxil/zeekctl
index 61d7712b82..9be35bd6e1 160000
--- a/auxil/zeekctl
+++ b/auxil/zeekctl
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 61d7712b828a593bf7b84f67f3123442d5ab6f12
+Subproject commit 9be35bd6e1d7c61855594b08aa99d5fff49476f5
diff --git a/scripts/policy/frameworks/control/controllee.zeek b/scripts/policy/frameworks/control/controllee.zeek
index 0fa7a4495f..4b32996d0c 100644
--- a/scripts/policy/frameworks/control/controllee.zeek
+++ b/scripts/policy/frameworks/control/controllee.zeek
@@ -14,17 +14,20 @@ module Control;
 
 event zeek_init() &priority=-10
 	{
-	Broker::subscribe(Control::topic_prefix + "/" + Broker::node_id());
+	if ( Cluster::backend == Cluster::CLUSTER_BACKEND_BROKER )
+		{
+		Broker::subscribe(Control::topic_prefix + "/" + Broker::node_id());
 
-	if ( Control::controllee_listen )
-		Broker::listen();
+		if ( Control::controllee_listen )
+			Broker::listen();
+		}
 	}
 
 event Control::id_value_request(id: string)
 	{
 	local val = lookup_ID(id);
-	local reply_topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/id_value_response";
-	Broker::publish(reply_topic, Control::id_value_response, id, fmt("%s", val));
+	local reply_topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/id_value_response/" + Cluster::node;
+	Cluster::publish(reply_topic, Control::id_value_response, id, fmt("%s", val));
 	}
 
 event Control::peer_status_request()
@@ -44,8 +47,8 @@ event Control::peer_status_request()
 			          bpeer$status);
 		}
 
-	local topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/peer_status_response";
-	Broker::publish(topic, Control::peer_status_response, status);
+	local topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/peer_status_response/" + Cluster::node;
+	Cluster::publish(topic, Control::peer_status_response, status);
 	}
 
 event Control::net_stats_request()
@@ -53,8 +56,8 @@ event Control::net_stats_request()
 	local ns = get_net_stats();
 	local reply = fmt("%.6f recvd=%d dropped=%d link=%d\n", network_time(),
 	                  ns$pkts_recvd, ns$pkts_dropped, ns$pkts_link);
-	local topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/net_stats_response";
-	Broker::publish(topic, Control::net_stats_response, reply);
+	local topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/net_stats_response/" + Cluster::node;
+	Cluster::publish(topic, Control::net_stats_response, reply);
 	}
 
 event Control::configuration_update_request()
@@ -66,15 +69,15 @@ event Control::configuration_update_request()
 	# the configuration is going to be updated.  This event could be handled
 	# by other scripts if they need to do some ancillary processing if
 	# redef-able consts are modified at runtime.
-	local topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/configuration_update_response";
-	Broker::publish(topic, Control::configuration_update_response);
+	local topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/configuration_update_response/" + Cluster::node;
+	Cluster::publish(topic, Control::configuration_update_response);
 	}
 
 event Control::shutdown_request()
 	{
 	# Send the acknowledgement event.
-	local topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/shutdown_response";
-	Broker::publish(topic, Control::shutdown_response);
+	local topic = Control::topic_prefix + "/shutdown_response/" + Cluster::node;
+	Cluster::publish(topic, Control::shutdown_response);
 	# Schedule the shutdown to let the current event queue flush itself first.
 	schedule 1sec { terminate_event() };
 	}