diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index b3d39e0904..9e0e42ad80 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@
                             <exclude>bundles/**</exclude>
                             <fileExclude>module-info.java</fileExclude>
                         </sourceFileExcludes>
-                        <verbose />
+                        <verbose/>
                         <additionalparam>-Xdoclint:none</additionalparam>
                         <maxmemory>256m</maxmemory>
                     </configuration>
@@ -998,7 +998,7 @@
         <profile>
             <id>securityOff</id>
             <properties>
-                <surefire.security.argline />
+                <surefire.security.argline/>
             </properties>
         </profile>
         <profile>
@@ -1927,7 +1927,7 @@
         <findbugs.threshold>Low</findbugs.threshold>
         <!-- the exclude file cannot be here directly, as FindBugs would interpret the path as relative to
         each module; the default exclude filter file is at etc/config/findbugs-exclude.xml -->
-        <findbugs.exclude />
+        <findbugs.exclude/>
         <findbugs.glassfish.logging.validLoggerPrefixes>
             javax.enterprise
         </findbugs.glassfish.logging.validLoggerPrefixes>
@@ -1940,11 +1940,11 @@
         <release.tests.args>-Dmaven.test.skip=false</release.tests.args>
         <release.preparationGoals>clean install</release.preparationGoals>
         <skip.tests>false</skip.tests>
-        <xdk.absolute.path />
-        <surefire.security.argline />
-        <surefire.coverage.argline />
+        <xdk.absolute.path/>
+        <surefire.security.argline/>
+        <surefire.coverage.argline/>
         <surefire.maxmem.argline>1024</surefire.maxmem.argline>
-        <failsafe.coverage.argline />
+        <failsafe.coverage.argline/>
         <server.coverage.argline>${failsafe.coverage.argline}</server.coverage.argline>
 
 
@@ -2020,7 +2020,7 @@
         <servlet4.version>4.0.2</servlet4.version>
         <simple.version>6.0.1</simple.version>
         <slf4j.version>1.7.21</slf4j.version>
-        <spring4.version>4.3.20.RELEASE</spring4.version>
+        <spring4.version>5.3.38</spring4.version>
         <validation.impl.version>6.0.11.Final</validation.impl.version>
         <weld.version>2.2.14.Final</weld.version> <!-- 2.4.1 doesn't work - bv tests -->
         <weld3.version>3.0.0.Final</weld3.version>