diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 2e765b176d..02219171e1 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>xerces</groupId>
                 <artifactId>xercesImpl</artifactId>
-                <version>2.9.1</version> <!-- Old but latest 2.9.x, matching xmlsec 1.5.8 -->
+                <version>2.12.0</version> <!-- Old but latest 2.9.x, matching xmlsec 1.5.8 -->
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>xalan</groupId>