diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 531bf90..ba76300 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
         <java.version>17</java.version>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
-        <protobuf.version>3.25.8</protobuf.version>
+        <protobuf.version>4.33.0</protobuf.version>
         <!-- allow dynamic loading of the Mockito Mock agent -->
         <!-- see https://www.jacoco.org/jacoco/trunk/doc/prepare-agent-mojo.html -->
         <argLine>-XX:+EnableDynamicAgentLoading</argLine>
@@ -78,7 +78,8 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.junit</groupId>
                 <artifactId>junit-bom</artifactId>
-                <version>5.13.4</version>
+                <!-- this version must match the version of junit used by Cucumber JVM -->
+                <version>5.14.0</version>
                 <type>pom</type>
                 <scope>import</scope>
             </dependency>
@@ -99,7 +100,7 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
                 <artifactId>cucumber-bom</artifactId>
-                <version>7.25.0</version>
+                <version>7.30.0</version>
                 <type>pom</type>
                 <scope>import</scope>
             </dependency>
@@ -293,7 +294,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>io.github.ascopes</groupId>
                 <artifactId>protobuf-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.7.0</version>
+                <version>3.10.2</version>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
                         <goals>
@@ -310,17 +311,13 @@
             </plugin>
             <plugin>
                 <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-                <!-- 
-                    do NOT use 3.5.3 as it is incompatible with Cucumber
-                    https://github.com/cucumber/cucumber-jvm/issues/2984
-                 -->
-                <version>3.5.2</version>
+                <version>3.5.4</version>
                 <configuration>
                     <!--  allow to use unnamed modules -->
                     <useModulePath>false</useModulePath>
                     <properties>
                         <configurationParameters>
-                            cucumber.junit-platform.naming-strategy=surefire
+                            cucumber.junit-platform.naming-strategy=long
                         </configurationParameters>
                     </properties>
                 </configuration>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/eclipse/uprotocol/communication/InMemoryRpcClient.java b/src/main/java/org/eclipse/uprotocol/communication/InMemoryRpcClient.java
index f589836..cd328f2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/eclipse/uprotocol/communication/InMemoryRpcClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/eclipse/uprotocol/communication/InMemoryRpcClient.java
@@ -91,10 +91,10 @@ public CompletionStage<UPayload> invokeMethod(UUri methodUri, UPayload requestPa
         Objects.requireNonNull(options, "Call options cannot be null");
 
         UMessageBuilder builder = UMessageBuilder.request(getUriProvider().getSource(), methodUri, options.timeout());
-        Optional.ofNullable(options.priority()).ifPresent(priority -> builder.withPriority(priority));
+        Optional.ofNullable(options.priority()).ifPresent(builder::withPriority);
         Optional.ofNullable(options.token())
             .filter(s -> !s.isBlank())
-            .ifPresent(token -> builder.withToken(token));
+            .ifPresent(builder::withToken);
 
         // Build the request message
         final UMessage request = builder.build(requestPayload);
@@ -132,14 +132,13 @@ public void close() {
     }
 
     private void handleResponse(UMessage message) {
+        final UAttributes responseAttributes = message.getAttributes();
         // Only handle responses messages
-        if (message.getAttributes().getType() != UMessageType.UMESSAGE_TYPE_RESPONSE) {
+        if (responseAttributes.getType() != UMessageType.UMESSAGE_TYPE_RESPONSE) {
             Optional.ofNullable(unexpectedMessageHandler).ifPresent(handler -> handler.accept(message));
             return;
         }
-        
-        final UAttributes responseAttributes = message.getAttributes();
-        
+
         // Check if the response is for a request we made, if not then ignore it
         final CompletableFuture<UMessage> responseFuture = mRequests.remove(responseAttributes.getReqid());
         if (responseFuture == null) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/eclipse/uprotocol/uri/serializer/UriSerializerTest.java b/src/test/java/org/eclipse/uprotocol/uri/serializer/UriSerializerTest.java
index 4edde79..ec2d8d9 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/eclipse/uprotocol/uri/serializer/UriSerializerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/eclipse/uprotocol/uri/serializer/UriSerializerTest.java
@@ -30,14 +30,14 @@ void testSerializingANullUuri() {
     }
 
     @Test
-    @DisplayName("Test deserializing a null UUri fails")
-    void testDeserializingANullUuriFails() {
+    @DisplayName("Test deserializing a null URI fails")
+    void testDeserializingANullUriFails() {
         assertThrows(NullPointerException.class, () -> UriSerializer.deserialize((String) null));
         assertThrows(NullPointerException.class, () -> UriSerializer.deserialize((URI) null));
     }
 
     @Test
-    @DisplayName("Test deserializing a UUri with authority name exceeding max length fails")
+    @DisplayName("Test deserializing a URI with authority name exceeding max length fails")
     // [utest->dsn~uri-authority-name-length~1]
     void testDeserializeRejectsAuthorityNameExceedingMaxLength() {
         String authority = "a".repeat(UriValidator.AUTHORITY_NAME_MAX_LENGTH);
@@ -48,4 +48,14 @@ void testDeserializeRejectsAuthorityNameExceedingMaxLength() {
         var invalidUri = "up://%s/ABCD/1/1001".formatted(authority);
         assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> UriSerializer.deserialize(invalidUri));
     }
+
+    @Test
+    @DisplayName("Test deserializing URI that contains lower case hex-encoded values succeeds")
+    // [utest->dsn~uri-path-mapping~2]
+    void testDeserializingLowerCaseHexEncodingSuccceeds() {
+        var uuri = UriSerializer.deserialize("up://example.com/abcd/a1/ef01");
+        assertEquals(0xabcd, uuri.getUeId());
+        assertEquals(0xa1, uuri.getUeVersionMajor());
+        assertEquals(0xef01, uuri.getResourceId());
+    }
 }