diff --git a/.mvn/wrapper/maven-wrapper.properties b/.mvn/wrapper/maven-wrapper.properties
index 44f3cf2c184..21c81a2a468 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/3.9.11/apache-maven-3.9.11-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/maven/apache-maven/4.0.0-rc-4/apache-maven-4.0.0-rc-4-bin.zip
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1a414958c9d..e6355dd7ae6 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
         <java.version>17</java.version>
         <node.version>v22.12.0</node.version>
 
-        <require.maven.version>3.9</require.maven.version>
+        <require.maven.version>[4.0.0-rc-4,)</require.maven.version>
 
         <maven.compiler.source>${java.version}</maven.compiler.source>
         <maven.compiler.target>${java.version}</maven.compiler.target>
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
 
+        <!-- required for later replacement of argLine -->
+        <argLine/>
+
         <!-- used dependencies versions -->
         <spring-boot.version>3.5.5</spring-boot.version>
         <spring-cloud.version>2025.0.0</spring-cloud.version>
@@ -359,6 +362,7 @@
                         <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 f3393f4d2d2..0c3321ebfeb 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 ${spring-cloud.version} -->
+                <version>2025.0.0</version>
                 <type>pom</type>
                 <scope>import</scope>
             </dependency>
@@ -97,6 +99,14 @@
                 <version>${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 1a5334c620f..c407420ddaf 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 79e51578823..ef549fb6f10 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 a2beab77024..e6fbfabe7cb 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 c50be933cdf..6b206529a1f 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>
 
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/spring-boot-admin-server/pom.xml b/spring-boot-admin-server/pom.xml
index 5b2a1771faa..c9087177b3a 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>