[release/2.14] Pin validation to release/2.14 and bump CURRENT_CANDIDATE_VERSION - #8495

Node.js 20 is deprecated. The following actions target Node.js 20 but are being forced to run on Node.js 24: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683, actions/setup-python@a26af69be951a213d495a4c3e4e4022e16d87065. For more information see: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-19-deprecation-of-node-20-on-github-actions-runners/