diff --git a/.github/renovate.json5 b/.github/renovate.json5
index e763b1d7e33a..0d4b4b63244a 100644
--- a/.github/renovate.json5
+++ b/.github/renovate.json5
@@ -351,10 +351,12 @@
       customType: 'regex',
       datasourceTemplate: 'java-version',
       managerFilePatterns: [
-        '.github/workflows/**'
+        '.github/workflows/**',
+        '**/*.gradle.kts'
       ],
       matchStrings: [
         '(?<currentValue>\\d+) # renovate: datasource=java-version',
+        '"(?<currentValue>\\d+)" // renovate: datasource=java-version',
       ],
       depNameTemplate: 'java',
       extractVersionTemplate: '^(?<version>\\d+)',
diff --git a/smoke-tests/images/servlet/build.gradle.kts b/smoke-tests/images/servlet/build.gradle.kts
index 1a52c535d360..89d3737dfb69 100644
--- a/smoke-tests/images/servlet/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/smoke-tests/images/servlet/build.gradle.kts
@@ -19,14 +19,16 @@ data class ImageTarget(
 val extraTag = findProperty("extraTag")
   ?: java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyyMMdd.HHmmSS").format(java.time.LocalDateTime.now())
 
+val latestJava = "23" // renovate: datasource=java-version
+
 // Each line under appserver describes one matrix of (version x vm x jdk), dockerfile key overrides
 // Dockerfile name, args key passes raw arguments to docker build
 val targets = mapOf(
   "jetty" to listOf(
-    ImageTarget(listOf("9.4.53"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", "23"), mapOf("sourceVersion" to "9.4.53.v20231009")),
-    ImageTarget(listOf("10.0.19"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", "23"), mapOf("sourceVersion" to "10.0.19")),
-    ImageTarget(listOf("11.0.19"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", "23"), mapOf("sourceVersion" to "11.0.19"), "servlet-5.0"),
-    ImageTarget(listOf("12.0.6"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("17", "21", "23"), mapOf("sourceVersion" to "12.0.6"), "servlet-5.0"),
+    ImageTarget(listOf("9.4.53"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", latestJava), mapOf("sourceVersion" to "9.4.53.v20231009")),
+    ImageTarget(listOf("10.0.19"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", latestJava), mapOf("sourceVersion" to "10.0.19")),
+    ImageTarget(listOf("11.0.19"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", latestJava), mapOf("sourceVersion" to "11.0.19"), "servlet-5.0"),
+    ImageTarget(listOf("12.0.6"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("17", "21", latestJava), mapOf("sourceVersion" to "12.0.6"), "servlet-5.0"),
   ),
   "liberty" to listOf(
     ImageTarget(listOf("20.0.0.12"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11"), mapOf("release" to "2020-11-11_0736")),
@@ -40,18 +42,18 @@ val targets = mapOf(
     ImageTarget(listOf("5.2020.6", "5.2021.8"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11")),
     // Test application is not deployed when server is sarted with hotspot jdk version 21
     ImageTarget(listOf("6.2023.12"), listOf("hotspot"), listOf("11", "17"), war = "servlet-5.0"),
-    ImageTarget(listOf("6.2023.12"), listOf("openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", "23"), war = "servlet-5.0")
+    ImageTarget(listOf("6.2023.12"), listOf("openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", latestJava), war = "servlet-5.0")
   ),
   "tomcat" to listOf(
     ImageTarget(listOf("7.0.109"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8"), mapOf("majorVersion" to "7")),
-    ImageTarget(listOf("8.5.98"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", "23"), mapOf("majorVersion" to "8")),
-    ImageTarget(listOf("9.0.85"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", "23"), mapOf("majorVersion" to "9")),
-    ImageTarget(listOf("10.1.18"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", "23"), mapOf("majorVersion" to "10"), "servlet-5.0"),
+    ImageTarget(listOf("8.5.98"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", latestJava), mapOf("majorVersion" to "8")),
+    ImageTarget(listOf("9.0.85"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", latestJava), mapOf("majorVersion" to "9")),
+    ImageTarget(listOf("10.1.18"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", latestJava), mapOf("majorVersion" to "10"), "servlet-5.0"),
   ),
   "tomee" to listOf(
     ImageTarget(listOf("7.0.9", "7.1.4"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8")),
-    ImageTarget(listOf("8.0.16"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", "23")),
-    ImageTarget(listOf("9.1.2"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", "23"), war = "servlet-5.0"),
+    ImageTarget(listOf("8.0.16"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", latestJava)),
+    ImageTarget(listOf("9.1.2"), listOf("hotspot", "openj9"), listOf("11", "17", "21", latestJava), war = "servlet-5.0"),
   ),
   "websphere" to listOf(
     ImageTarget(listOf("8.5.5.22", "9.0.5.14"), listOf("openj9"), listOf("8"), windows = false),
@@ -61,12 +63,12 @@ val targets = mapOf(
     ImageTarget(
       listOf("17.0.1.Final", "21.0.0.Final"),
       listOf("hotspot", "openj9"),
-      listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", "23")
+      listOf("8", "11", "17", "21", latestJava)
     ),
     ImageTarget(
       listOf("28.0.1.Final", "29.0.1.Final", "30.0.1.Final"),
       listOf("hotspot", "openj9"),
-      listOf("11", "17", "21", "23"),
+      listOf("11", "17", "21", latestJava),
       war = "servlet-5.0"
     ),
   ),