diff --git a/drivers/jdbc/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/drivers/jdbc/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index 3cd913fbb..f938bb815 100644
--- a/drivers/jdbc/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/drivers/jdbc/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -17,6 +17,6 @@
 
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-7.0-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.5-bin.zip
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/drivers/jdbc/lib/build.gradle.kts b/drivers/jdbc/lib/build.gradle.kts
index 0b63bc5a6..07e543d70 100644
--- a/drivers/jdbc/lib/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/drivers/jdbc/lib/build.gradle.kts
@@ -30,19 +30,24 @@ repositories {
 }
 
 dependencies {
-    implementation("org.postgresql:postgresql:42.6.0")
-    api("org.apache.commons:commons-text:1.10.0")
-    antlr("org.antlr:antlr4:4.12.0")
+    // SECURITY: Updated from 42.6.0 - fixes CVE-2024-1597 (Critical: SQL injection
+    // in simple query mode) and CVE-2025-49146 (High: auth bypass with
+    // channelBinding=require). See:
+    // https://github.com/pgjdbc/pgjdbc/security/advisories/GHSA-24rp-q3w6-vc56
+    // https://github.com/pgjdbc/pgjdbc/security/advisories/GHSA-hq9p-pm7w-8p54
+    implementation("org.postgresql:postgresql:42.7.5")
+    api("org.apache.commons:commons-text:1.13.0")
+    antlr("org.antlr:antlr4:4.13.2")
 
-    testImplementation("org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-api:5.9.3")
+    testImplementation("org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-api:5.11.4")
     testRuntimeOnly("org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-engine")
     testRuntimeOnly("org.junit.platform:junit-platform-launcher")
 
-    testImplementation("org.testcontainers:testcontainers:1.18.0")
-    testImplementation("org.postgresql:postgresql:42.6.0")
+    testImplementation("org.testcontainers:testcontainers:1.20.4")
+    testImplementation("org.postgresql:postgresql:42.7.5")
 
-    testImplementation("org.slf4j:slf4j-api:2.0.7")
-    testImplementation("org.slf4j:slf4j-simple:2.0.7")
+    testImplementation("org.slf4j:slf4j-api:2.0.16")
+    testImplementation("org.slf4j:slf4j-simple:2.0.16")
 }
 
 tasks.generateGrammarSource {
diff --git a/drivers/jdbc/lib/src/test/java/org/apache/age/jdbc/BaseDockerizedTest.java b/drivers/jdbc/lib/src/test/java/org/apache/age/jdbc/BaseDockerizedTest.java
index 393175c3d..86b120574 100644
--- a/drivers/jdbc/lib/src/test/java/org/apache/age/jdbc/BaseDockerizedTest.java
+++ b/drivers/jdbc/lib/src/test/java/org/apache/age/jdbc/BaseDockerizedTest.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 import java.sql.DriverManager;
 import java.sql.Statement;
+import java.time.Duration;
 import org.apache.age.jdbc.base.Agtype;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterAll;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.TestInstance.Lifecycle;
 import org.postgresql.jdbc.PgConnection;
 import org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.wait.strategy.Wait;
 import org.testcontainers.utility.DockerImageName;
 
 @TestInstance(Lifecycle.PER_CLASS)
@@ -54,20 +56,18 @@ public void beforeAll() throws Exception {
         agensGraphContainer = new GenericContainer<>(DockerImageName
             .parse("apache/age:dev_snapshot_master"))
             .withEnv("POSTGRES_PASSWORD", CORRECT_DB_PASSWORDS)
-            .withExposedPorts(5432);
+            .withExposedPorts(5432)
+            .waitingFor(Wait.forLogMessage(".*database system is ready to accept connections.*\\n", 2)
+                .withStartupTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(60)));
         agensGraphContainer.start();
 
         int mappedPort = agensGraphContainer.getMappedPort(5432);
         String jdbcUrl = String
-            .format("jdbc:postgresql://%s:%d/%s", "localhost", mappedPort, "postgres");
+            .format("jdbc:postgresql://%s:%d/%s?sslmode=disable", "localhost", mappedPort, "postgres");
 
-        try {
-            this.connection = DriverManager.getConnection(jdbcUrl, "postgres", CORRECT_DB_PASSWORDS)
-                         .unwrap(PgConnection.class);
-            this.connection.addDataType("agtype", Agtype.class);
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            System.out.println(e);
-        }
+        this.connection = DriverManager.getConnection(jdbcUrl, "postgres", CORRECT_DB_PASSWORDS)
+                     .unwrap(PgConnection.class);
+        this.connection.addDataType("agtype", Agtype.class);
         try (Statement statement = connection.createStatement()) {
             statement.execute("CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS age;");
             statement.execute("LOAD 'age'");