diff --git a/dialect/db/mariadb/pom.xml b/dialect/db/mariadb/pom.xml
index 0774d23..2c70856 100644
--- a/dialect/db/mariadb/pom.xml
+++ b/dialect/db/mariadb/pom.xml
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.mariadb.jdbc</groupId>
       <artifactId>mariadb-java-client</artifactId>
-      <version>3.4.5</version>
+      <version>3.5.11</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
     <!-- Round-trip test (Testcontainer-backed). JUnit + assertj come from
diff --git a/jdbc/impl/pom.xml b/jdbc/impl/pom.xml
index 0244094..0bcd44c 100644
--- a/jdbc/impl/pom.xml
+++ b/jdbc/impl/pom.xml
@@ -92,7 +92,6 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.assertj</groupId>
       <artifactId>assertj-core</artifactId>
-      <version>3.27.7</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
diff --git a/jdbc/metadata/pom.xml b/jdbc/metadata/pom.xml
index 980c369..1eaa277 100644
--- a/jdbc/metadata/pom.xml
+++ b/jdbc/metadata/pom.xml
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.mariadb.jdbc</groupId>
       <artifactId>mariadb-java-client</artifactId>
-      <version>3.4.3</version>
+      <version>3.5.11</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
diff --git a/jdbc/pom.xml b/jdbc/pom.xml
index 0b633fe..8ccc55c 100644
--- a/jdbc/pom.xml
+++ b/jdbc/pom.xml
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
   <properties>
     <revision>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</revision>
     <slf4j.version>2.0.9</slf4j.version>
+    <!-- AssertJ is built against this Byte Buddy and imports it from 1.18 on: change the two together. -->
+    <assertj.version>3.27.7</assertj.version>
+    <bytebuddy.version>1.18.3</bytebuddy.version>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencyManagement>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 744a98e..727f471 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@
     <scm.repo.detail>org.eclipse.daanse.sql</scm.repo.detail>
     <slf4j.version>2.0.9</slf4j.version>
     <mockito.version>4.9.0</mockito.version>
+    <!-- AssertJ is built against this Byte Buddy and imports it from 1.18 on: change the two together. -->
     <assertj.version>3.27.7</assertj.version>
+    <bytebuddy.version>1.18.3</bytebuddy.version>
 
     <java.version>17</java.version>
     <java.release>17</java.release>