diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1341f216f6e43..5182919c49595 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -89,12 +89,12 @@ flexible messaging model and an intuitive client API.</description>
     <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
     <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
     <redirectTestOutputToFile>true</redirectTestOutputToFile>
-    <test.additional.args></test.additional.args>
+    <test.additional.args/>
     <testReuseFork>true</testReuseFork>
     <testForkCount>4</testForkCount>
     <testRealAWS>false</testRealAWS>
     <testRetryCount>1</testRetryCount>
-    <testJacocoAgentArgument></testJacocoAgentArgument>
+    <testJacocoAgentArgument/>
     <docker.organization>apachepulsar</docker.organization>
     <skipSourceReleaseAssembly>false</skipSourceReleaseAssembly>
     <skipBuildDistribution>false</skipBuildDistribution>
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ flexible messaging model and an intuitive client API.</description>
     <jakarta.xml.bind.version>2.3.3</jakarta.xml.bind.version>
     <jakarta.validation.version>2.0.2</jakarta.validation.version>
     <jna.version>5.12.1</jna.version>
-    <kubernetesclient.version>18.0.0</kubernetesclient.version>
+    <kubernetesclient.version>21.0.0</kubernetesclient.version>
     <okhttp3.version>4.9.3</okhttp3.version>
     <!-- use okio version that matches the okhttp3 version -->
     <okio.version>2.8.0</okio.version>