diff --git a/.mvn/wrapper/maven-wrapper.properties b/.mvn/wrapper/maven-wrapper.properties
index e788e5e691b..ba38eef3ed1 100644
--- a/.mvn/wrapper/maven-wrapper.properties
+++ b/.mvn/wrapper/maven-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 distributionType=only-script
-distributionUrl=https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/maven/apache-maven/3.9.16/apache-maven-3.9.16-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/maven/apache-maven/4.0.0-rc-5/apache-maven-4.0.0-rc-5-bin.zip
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 5fc2fdbacb9..2395e8baf2f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
         <npm.version>11.12.1</npm.version>
         <node.version>v24.18.0</node.version>
 
-        <require.maven.version>3.9</require.maven.version>
+        <require.maven.version>[4.0.0-rc-5,)</require.maven.version>
 
         <maven.compiler.source>${java.version}</maven.compiler.source>
         <maven.compiler.target>${java.version}</maven.compiler.target>
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@
         <!-- disable default maven site generation, but allow docusarus to hook into site lifecycle -->
         <maven.site.skip>true</maven.site.skip>
 
+        <!-- required for later replacement of argLine -->
+        <argLine/>
+
         <!-- used dependencies versions -->
         <spring-boot.version>4.1.0</spring-boot.version>
         <spring-cloud.version>2025.1.2</spring-cloud.version>
@@ -365,6 +368,7 @@
                         <useUnlimitedThreads>false</useUnlimitedThreads>
                         <redirectTestOutputToFile>true</redirectTestOutputToFile>
                         <rerunFailingTestsCount>2</rerunFailingTestsCount>
+                        <argLine>@{argLine} -Xshare:off</argLine>
                         <includes>
                             <include>**/*Tests.java</include>
                             <include>**/*Test.java</include>
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml
index a40ba486ca9..88df00ffb2b 100644
--- a/spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
         <groupId>de.codecentric</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-admin-dependencies</artifactId>
         <version>${revision}</version>
-        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-dependencies</relativePath>
+        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-dependencies/pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
     <dependencyManagement>
@@ -38,14 +38,16 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                 <artifactId>spring-boot-dependencies</artifactId>
-                <version>${spring-boot.version}</version>
+                <!-- hardcoded to fix issues with cyclonedx-maven-plugin, should be ${spring-boot.version} -->
+                <version>3.5.3</version>
                 <type>pom</type>
                 <scope>import</scope>
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
                 <artifactId>spring-cloud-dependencies</artifactId>
-                <version>${spring-cloud.version}</version>
+                <!-- hardcoded to fix issues with cyclonedx-maven-plugin, should be ${spring-cloud.version} -->
+                <version>2025.0.0</version>
                 <type>pom</type>
                 <scope>import</scope>
             </dependency>
@@ -85,6 +87,26 @@
                 <version>${awaitility.version}</version>
                 <scope>test</scope>
             </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
+                <artifactId>testcontainers</artifactId>
+                <version>${testcontainers.version}</version>
+                <scope>test</scope>
+            </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
+                <artifactId>testcontainers-junit-jupiter</artifactId>
+                <version>${testcontainers.version}</version>
+                <scope>test</scope>
+            </dependency>
+
+            <!-- Maven 4 related fixes: delete as soon as not needed! -->
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.springframework.retry</groupId>
+                <artifactId>spring-retry</artifactId>
+                <version>2.0.12</version>
+            </dependency>
+
         </dependencies>
     </dependencyManagement>
 
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-client/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-client/pom.xml
index ead3f1533f8..8e0b095d981 100644
--- a/spring-boot-admin-client/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-admin-client/pom.xml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
         <groupId>de.codecentric</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-admin-build</artifactId>
         <version>${revision}</version>
-        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build</relativePath>
+        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-docs/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-docs/pom.xml
index ffe3af33575..0228f2ff892 100644
--- a/spring-boot-admin-docs/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-admin-docs/pom.xml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
         <groupId>de.codecentric</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-admin-build</artifactId>
         <version>${revision}</version>
-        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build</relativePath>
+        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
     <build>
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-samples/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-samples/pom.xml
index 1860153702f..b9784661d93 100644
--- a/spring-boot-admin-samples/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-admin-samples/pom.xml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
         <groupId>de.codecentric</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-admin-build</artifactId>
         <version>${revision}</version>
-        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build</relativePath>
+        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
     <modules>
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-server-cloud/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-server-cloud/pom.xml
index 9aa6b12f1e4..04158764ffa 100644
--- a/spring-boot-admin-server-cloud/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-admin-server-cloud/pom.xml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
         <groupId>de.codecentric</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-admin-build</artifactId>
         <version>${revision}</version>
-        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build</relativePath>
+        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-server-ui/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-server-ui/pom.xml
index 6c8ef950d6a..de93936b2c7 100644
--- a/spring-boot-admin-server-ui/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-admin-server-ui/pom.xml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
         <groupId>de.codecentric</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-admin-build</artifactId>
         <version>${revision}</version>
-        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build</relativePath>
+        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
     <properties>
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-server/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-server/pom.xml
index 806c79c8e29..caf8009f182 100644
--- a/spring-boot-admin-server/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-admin-server/pom.xml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
         <groupId>de.codecentric</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-admin-build</artifactId>
         <version>${revision}</version>
-        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build</relativePath>
+        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-starter-client/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-starter-client/pom.xml
index 38c6fdefe13..5422d470329 100644
--- a/spring-boot-admin-starter-client/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-admin-starter-client/pom.xml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
         <groupId>de.codecentric</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-admin-build</artifactId>
         <version>${revision}</version>
-        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build</relativePath>
+        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-starter-server/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-starter-server/pom.xml
index 6b9a5189830..b10fccd8bd1 100644
--- a/spring-boot-admin-starter-server/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-admin-starter-server/pom.xml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
         <groupId>de.codecentric</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-admin-build</artifactId>
         <version>${revision}</version>
-        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build</relativePath>
+        <relativePath>../spring-boot-admin-build/pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
     <dependencies>