diff --git a/mvn-defaults/pom.xml b/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
index 3c6355c1c..fa4e41fad 100644
--- a/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
+++ b/mvn-defaults/pom.xml
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.apache.groovy</groupId>
                 <artifactId>groovy</artifactId>
-                <version>4.0.20</version>
+                <version>4.0.25</version>
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.snakeyaml</groupId>
diff --git a/nb-apis/adapters-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/evalctx/GroovyCycleFunction.java b/nb-apis/adapters-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/evalctx/GroovyCycleFunction.java
index d7ab39c49..ffa2bf6a3 100644
--- a/nb-apis/adapters-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/evalctx/GroovyCycleFunction.java
+++ b/nb-apis/adapters-api/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/adapters/api/evalctx/GroovyCycleFunction.java
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ public class GroovyCycleFunction<T> implements CycleFunction<T> {
         String[] verifiedStaticImports = expandStaticImports(staticImports);
 
         CompilerConfiguration compilerConfiguration = new CompilerConfiguration();
+        compilerConfiguration.setTargetBytecode(CompilerConfiguration.JDK23);
         ImportCustomizer importer = new ImportCustomizer().addImports(verifiedClasses);
         importer.addStaticStars(verifiedStaticImports);
         compilerConfiguration.addCompilationCustomizers(importer);