diff --git a/src/SourceBuild/content/eng/tools/tasks/Microsoft.DotNet.UnifiedBuild.Tasks/WritePackageVersionsProps.cs b/src/SourceBuild/content/eng/tools/tasks/Microsoft.DotNet.UnifiedBuild.Tasks/WritePackageVersionsProps.cs
index 4c1413756..f17b4d6b3 100644
--- a/src/SourceBuild/content/eng/tools/tasks/Microsoft.DotNet.UnifiedBuild.Tasks/WritePackageVersionsProps.cs
+++ b/src/SourceBuild/content/eng/tools/tasks/Microsoft.DotNet.UnifiedBuild.Tasks/WritePackageVersionsProps.cs
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.UnifiedBuild.Tasks
             if (VersionPropsFlowType == DependenciesOnlyVersionPropsFlowType && (string.IsNullOrEmpty(VersionDetails) || !File.Exists(VersionDetails)))
             {
                 Log.LogError($"When version flow type is DependenciesOnly, the VersionDetails task parameter must point to a valid path to the Version.Details.xml file for the repo. " +
-                    "Provided file path '{VersionDetails}' does not exist.");
+                    $"Provided file path '{VersionDetails}' does not exist.");
                 return !Log.HasLoggedErrors;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/SourceBuild/content/repo-projects/aspnetcore.proj b/src/SourceBuild/content/repo-projects/aspnetcore.proj
index f6d9f7bd5..007f9a643 100644
--- a/src/SourceBuild/content/repo-projects/aspnetcore.proj
+++ b/src/SourceBuild/content/repo-projects/aspnetcore.proj
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@
     <RepositoryReference Include="symreader" />
   </ItemGroup>
 
+  <ItemGroup Condition="'$(DotNetBuildSourceOnly)' != 'true'">
+    <RepositoryReference Include="efcore" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+
   <ItemGroup>
     <EnvironmentVariables Include="warn_as_error=false" />
   </ItemGroup>
diff --git a/src/SourceBuild/content/repo-projects/efcore.proj b/src/SourceBuild/content/repo-projects/efcore.proj
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6813e941e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SourceBuild/content/repo-projects/efcore.proj
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
+
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <RepositoryReference Include="arcade" />
+    <RepositoryReference Include="runtime" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+
+</Project>
diff --git a/src/SourceBuild/patches/efcore/0001-Various-fixes-for-issues-in-efcore-in-VMR-build.patch b/src/SourceBuild/patches/efcore/0001-Various-fixes-for-issues-in-efcore-in-VMR-build.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9b1bf007c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SourceBuild/patches/efcore/0001-Various-fixes-for-issues-in-efcore-in-VMR-build.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+From a6d02a6f3859f341707a8c5fd76b68e2f13a5a86 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Jeremy Koritzinsky <jekoritz@microsoft.com>
+Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2024 12:16:14 -0700
+Subject: [PATCH] Various fixes for issues in efcore-in-VMR build (#33540)
+
+Backport: https://github.com/dotnet/efcore/pull/33540
+
+---
+ Directory.Build.props    | 1 +
+ src/dotnet-ef/Project.cs | 2 +-
+ 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/Directory.Build.props b/Directory.Build.props
+index 3a445c23b9d..80858aaddfc 100644
+--- a/Directory.Build.props
++++ b/Directory.Build.props
+@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
+         ( $(MSBuildProjectName.EndsWith('.Tests')) OR
+           $(MSBuildProjectName.EndsWith('.FunctionalTests'))) ">true</IsUnitTestProject>
+     <IsUnitTestProject Condition=" '$(IsUnitTestProject)' == '' ">false</IsUnitTestProject>
++    <IsTestUtilityProject Condition="'$(IsSpecificationTestProject)' == 'true'">true</IsTestUtilityProject>
+     <SolutionRoot>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)</SolutionRoot>
+   </PropertyGroup>
+ 
+diff --git a/src/dotnet-ef/Project.cs b/src/dotnet-ef/Project.cs
+index 1296a2d1c41..4b923364899 100644
+--- a/src/dotnet-ef/Project.cs
++++ b/src/dotnet-ef/Project.cs
+@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public Project(string file, string? framework, string? configuration, string? ru
+                    "Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.Resources.EntityFrameworkCore.targets")!)
+         {
+             efTargets = new byte[input.Length];
+-            input.Read(efTargets);
++            input.ReadExactly(efTargets);
+         }
+ 
+         var efTargetsPath = Path.Combine(