Dropbear doesn't start when using banner file on Debian 12

I have a running **dropbear-initramfs** server in my **nitramfs** environment, however I am not able to get it to display banner. Following contents of /etc/dropbear/initramfs/dropbear.conf work just fine:

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DROPBEAR_OPTIONS="-I 60 -p 22 -j -k -s -c cryptroot-unlock"
...

Specifying banner-file, however, results in dropbear failing to start, even though /etc/banner & /etc/dropbear/initramfs/banner files are present and populated (I have even tried turning on **+x** bit)

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DROPBEAR_OPTIONS="-I 60 -p 22 -j -k -s -b /etc/banner -c cryptroot-unlock"
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Updating the initramfs with update-initramfs -u and checking lsinitramfs /initrd.img | grep banner shows no banner file present. Rebooting results in dropbear not starting and port remains closed. I already verified that this singular change is responsible for dropbear (not) starting. I am running **Debian 12** with **dropbear-initramfs/stable,now 2022.83-1+deb12u2**. On my previous Arch installation, simply including -b /etc/banner in the **DROPBEAR_OPTIONS** was sufficient to populate initrd with banner file. Is there something I am missing?