diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index e9b25123b44..05f77e054f0 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -80,17 +80,14 @@ allprojects {
       if (name != "zinc") {
         resolutionStrategy {
           force(
-            // ensure we have a single version of scala jars in the classpath, we enable inlining
-            // in the scala compiler for the `core` module so binary compatibility is only
-            // guaranteed if the exact same version of the scala jars is used for compilation
-            // and at runtime
+            // be explicit about the javassist dependency version instead of relying on the transitive version
+            libs.javassist,
+            // ensure we have a single version in the classpath despite transitive dependencies
             libs.scalaLibrary,
             libs.scalaReflect,
-            // ensures we have a single version of jackson-annotations in the classpath even if
-            // some modules only have a transitive reference to an older version
             libs.jacksonAnnotations,
-            // be explicit about the Netty dependency version instead of relying on the version
-            // set by ZooKeeper (potentially older and containing CVEs)
+            // be explicit about the Netty dependency version instead of relying on the version set by
+            // ZooKeeper (potentially older and containing CVEs)
             libs.nettyHandler,
             libs.nettyTransportNativeEpoll
           )
diff --git a/gradle/dependencies.gradle b/gradle/dependencies.gradle
index b5a143c7349..709ef013cc1 100644
--- a/gradle/dependencies.gradle
+++ b/gradle/dependencies.gradle
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ versions += [
   jackson: "2.10.5",
   jacksonDatabind: "2.10.5.1",
   jacoco: "0.8.5",
+  javassist: "3.27.0-GA",
   jetty: "9.4.36.v20210114",
   jersey: "2.31",
   jline: "3.12.1",
@@ -144,6 +145,7 @@ libs += [
   jacksonJaxrsJsonProvider: "com.fasterxml.jackson.jaxrs:jackson-jaxrs-json-provider:$versions.jackson",
   jaxbApi: "javax.xml.bind:jaxb-api:$versions.jaxb",
   jaxrsApi: "javax.ws.rs:javax.ws.rs-api:$versions.jaxrs",
+  javassist: "org.javassist:javassist:$versions.javassist",
   jettyServer: "org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-server:$versions.jetty",
   jettyClient: "org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-client:$versions.jetty",
   jettyServlet: "org.eclipse.jetty:jetty-servlet:$versions.jetty",