diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6d3b0920..f2984392 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -20,4 +20,8 @@ target/
 
 *.versionsBackup
 *.releaseBackup
-release.properties
\ No newline at end of file
+release.properties
+
+# Local Maven configuration files
+settings.xml
+toolchains.xml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/main/pom.xml b/main/pom.xml
index 6e3cc4c3..fbbef168 100644
--- a/main/pom.xml
+++ b/main/pom.xml
@@ -31,13 +31,13 @@
     <url>https://github.com/elasticsoftwarefoundation/elasticactors</url>
 
     <properties>
-        <spring.version>6.2.7</spring.version>
+        <spring.version>6.2.12</spring.version>
         <aspectj.version>1.9.24</aspectj.version>
-        <protobuf.version>4.31.1</protobuf.version>
+        <protobuf.version>4.33.0</protobuf.version>
         <grizzly.version>4.0.2</grizzly.version>
-        <log4j.version>2.24.3</log4j.version>
-        <guava.version>33.4.8-jre</guava.version>
-        <jackson.version>2.19.0</jackson.version>
+        <log4j.version>2.25.2</log4j.version>
+        <guava.version>33.5.0-jre</guava.version>
+        <jackson.version>2.20.0</jackson.version>
         <shoal.version>3.1.0</shoal.version>
         <slf4j.version>2.0.17</slf4j.version>
         <reflections.version>0.10.2</reflections.version>
@@ -46,25 +46,25 @@
         <rabbitmq.version>5.25.0</rabbitmq.version>
         <lyra.version>0.5.5</lyra.version>
         <lz4.version>1.8.0</lz4.version>
-        <kafka.version>3.9.0</kafka.version>
+        <kafka.version>3.9.1</kafka.version>
         <!-- the latest v3 version (3.11.5) has a dependency problem with the jnr libs causing the enforcer plugin to fail-->
         <cassandra-driver.version>3.11.5</cassandra-driver.version>
         <cassandra4-driver.version>4.19.0</cassandra4-driver.version>
         <servlet-api.version>3.1.0</servlet-api.version>
         <jakarta.servlet-api.version>6.0.0</jakarta.servlet-api.version>
-        <activemq-artemis.version>2.40.0</activemq-artemis.version>
+        <activemq-artemis.version>2.43.0</activemq-artemis.version>
         <disruptor.version>4.0.0</disruptor.version>
         <chronicle-bom.version>2.27ea33</chronicle-bom.version>
         <!-- this is needed to fix issue with chronicle-bom -->
         <jna.version>5.17.0</jna.version>
-        <elasticsearch.version>7.17.28</elasticsearch.version>
-        <kubernetes-client.version>7.1.0</kubernetes-client.version>
+        <elasticsearch.version>7.17.29</elasticsearch.version>
+        <kubernetes-client.version>7.4.0</kubernetes-client.version>
         <java-uuid-generator.version>5.1.0</java-uuid-generator.version>
         <!-- testing -->
         <testng-version>7.11.0</testng-version>
         <mockito.version>5.17.0</mockito.version>
         <jakarta-annotation-api.version>2.1.1</jakarta-annotation-api.version>
-        <spring-data-redis.version>3.4.4</spring-data-redis.version>
+        <spring-data-redis.version>3.5.5</spring-data-redis.version>
         <awaitility.version>4.3.0</awaitility.version>
         <reactive-streams.version>1.0.4</reactive-streams.version>
         <persistence-api.version>2.2</persistence-api.version>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 9b9a8433..a9fec327 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -256,6 +256,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
                 <dependencies>
+                    <!-- Maven SCM must stay at v2.1.0 due to issues in the release process -->
                     <dependency>
                         <groupId>org.apache.maven.scm</groupId>
                         <artifactId>maven-scm-provider-gitexe</artifactId>