diff --git a/tests/pytorch/attention/test_attention.py b/tests/pytorch/attention/test_attention.py
index 6fe0ffdaee..65ca74c484 100644
--- a/tests/pytorch/attention/test_attention.py
+++ b/tests/pytorch/attention/test_attention.py
@@ -429,6 +429,15 @@ def test_dpa_softmax(dtype, model_configs, model):
     )
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif(get_cudnn_version() < (9, 18, 0), reason="cuDNN 9.18.0+ is required.")
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("dtype", [torch.bfloat16])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("model_configs", [model_configs_softmax])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("model", model_configs_softmax.keys())
+def test_dpa_softmax_thd(dtype, model_configs, model):
+    """Test DotProductAttention module with different softmax types"""
+    test_dot_product_attention(dtype, model_configs, model, True, True, "thd_thd_thd", False, False)
+
+
 model_configs_mla = {
     # test: ModelConfig(b, sq, hq, dqk)
     "mla_1_0": ModelConfig(8, 128, 16, 64, head_dim_v=128),
diff --git a/tests/pytorch/attention/test_attention_with_cp.py b/tests/pytorch/attention/test_attention_with_cp.py
index 9480b8de70..06ed6e5723 100644
--- a/tests/pytorch/attention/test_attention_with_cp.py
+++ b/tests/pytorch/attention/test_attention_with_cp.py
@@ -283,9 +283,14 @@ def test_cp_with_fused_attention(
         pytest.skip(
             "CP implementation only supports cp_comm_type=a2a for non-vanilla softmax types!"
         )
-    if config.softmax_type != "vanilla" and qkv_format == "thd":
+    if (
+        get_cudnn_version() < (9, 18, 0)
+        and config.softmax_type != "vanilla"
+        and qkv_format == "thd"
+    ):
         pytest.skip(
-            "CP implementation does not support qkv_format=thd for non-vanilla softmax types!"
+            "Unless cudnn version >= 9.18.0, CP implementation does not support qkv_format=thd for"
+            " non-vanilla softmax types!"
         )
 
     dtypes = {"fp16": torch.float16, "bf16": torch.bfloat16, "fp8": torch.bfloat16}
diff --git a/transformer_engine/pytorch/attention/dot_product_attention/context_parallel.py b/transformer_engine/pytorch/attention/dot_product_attention/context_parallel.py
index 75b360e485..a5931188dc 100644
--- a/transformer_engine/pytorch/attention/dot_product_attention/context_parallel.py
+++ b/transformer_engine/pytorch/attention/dot_product_attention/context_parallel.py
@@ -4026,28 +4026,30 @@ def attn_forward_func_with_cp(
     assert not sliding_window_attn or cp_comm_type in [
         "a2a",
         "all_gather",
-    ], "Context parallelism does not support sliding window attention with {cp_comm_type=}!"
+    ], f"Context parallelism does not support sliding window attention with {cp_comm_type=}!"
 
     enable_mla = k.shape[-1] != v.shape[-1]
     assert not enable_mla or cp_comm_type in [
         "p2p",
         "a2a+p2p",
-    ], "Context parallelism does not support MLA with {cp_comm_type=}!"
+    ], f"Context parallelism does not support MLA with {cp_comm_type=}!"
 
     if fp8 and fp8_meta is not None:
         if fp8_meta["recipe"].fp8_dpa:
             assert (
                 softmax_type == "vanilla"
-            ), "Context parallelism does not support {softmax_type=} with FP8 attention!"
+            ), f"Context parallelism does not support {softmax_type=} with FP8 attention!"
     assert (
         softmax_type == "vanilla" or use_fused_attention
-    ), "Context parallelism only supports {softmax_type=} with FusedAttention backend!"
+    ), f"Context parallelism only supports {softmax_type=} with FusedAttention backend!"
     assert (
         softmax_type == "vanilla" or cp_comm_type == "a2a"
-    ), "Context parallelism only supports {softmax_type=} with cp_comm_type = 'a2a'!"
-    assert (
-        softmax_type == "vanilla" or qkv_format != "thd"
-    ), "Context parallelism does not support {softmax_type=} with qkv_format = 'thd'!"
+    ), f"Context parallelism only supports {softmax_type=} with cp_comm_type = 'a2a'!"
+    if get_cudnn_version() < (9, 18, 0):
+        assert softmax_type == "vanilla" or qkv_format != "thd", (
+            f"Before cuDNN 9.18.0, context parallelism does not support {softmax_type=} with"
+            " qkv_format = 'thd'!"
+        )
 
     args = [
         is_training,
diff --git a/transformer_engine/pytorch/attention/dot_product_attention/utils.py b/transformer_engine/pytorch/attention/dot_product_attention/utils.py
index cb74a15e77..fcac740cc3 100644
--- a/transformer_engine/pytorch/attention/dot_product_attention/utils.py
+++ b/transformer_engine/pytorch/attention/dot_product_attention/utils.py
@@ -716,22 +716,14 @@ def _is_fa3_supported(num_heads, num_gqa_groups, head_dim_qk, head_dim_v, qkv_dt
             )
             use_unfused_attention = False
         if qkv_format == "thd":
-            logger.debug(
-                "Disabling FusedAttention for softmax_type = %s and qkv_format = thd", softmax_type
-            )
-            use_fused_attention = False
-            logger.debug(
-                "Disabling UnfusedDotProductAttention for softmax_type = %s and qkv_format = thd",
-                softmax_type,
-            )
-            use_unfused_attention = False
+            if cudnn_version < (9, 18, 0):
+                logger.debug(
+                    "Disabling FusedAttention for softmax_type = %s, qkv_format = thd and cuDNN"
+                    " version < 9.18",
+                    softmax_type,
+                )
+                use_fused_attention = False
         if context_parallel:
-            logger.debug(
-                "Disabling UnfusedDotProductAttention for context parallelism with softmax_type"
-                " = %s",
-                softmax_type,
-            )
-            use_unfused_attention = False
             if cp_comm_type != "a2a":
                 logger.debug(
                     "Disabling FusedAttention for context parallelism with softmax_type = %s and"
@@ -1049,6 +1041,15 @@ def _is_fa3_supported(num_heads, num_gqa_groups, head_dim_qk, head_dim_v, qkv_dt
             )
             use_flash_attention_2 = False
     if use_fused_attention and deterministic:
+        if softmax_type != "vanilla":
+            logger.debug(
+                "Disabling FusedAttention for determinism reasons with softmax_type = %s. "
+                "Sink attention (off-by-one and learnable softmax) requires "
+                "NVTE_ALLOW_NONDETERMINISTIC_ALGO=1",
+                softmax_type,
+            )
+            use_fused_attention = False
+            fused_attention_backend = None
         if fused_attention_backend == FusedAttnBackend["FP8"] and is_training:
             logger.debug("Disabling FusedAttention for determinism reasons with FP8")
             use_fused_attention = False