Merge branch '0.4.x' into 0.5.x by kapilchhajer

Author: ConfluentSemaphore

pom.xml

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
         <confluent.avro.generator.version>0.4.1</confluent.avro.generator.version>
         <junit.version>4.12</junit.version>
         <guava.version>32.0.1-jre</guava.version>
-        <avro.version>1.8.1</avro.version>
+        <avro.version>1.11.3</avro.version>
         <jackson.version>2.15.2</jackson.version>
         <maven.release.plugin.version>2.5.3</maven.release.plugin.version>
         <!-- temporary fix by pinning the version until we upgrade to a version of common that contains this or newer version.