diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 0269fb9959..7a2033c619 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -45,13 +45,13 @@
 		<maven.compiler.target>11</maven.compiler.target>
 		<maven.compiler.release>11</maven.compiler.release>
 		<!-- internal dependencies -->
-		<dependencies.version>2025.6.25</dependencies.version>
-		<step-grid.version>2.5.0</step-grid.version>
-		<step-framework.version>2.5.0</step-framework.version>
+		<step-grid.version>2025.12.2-692eba8911ea7b7be5d003f0</step-grid.version>
+		<step-framework.version>2025.12.2-692eb3c011ea7b7be5bc6ea2</step-framework.version>
 
 		<!-- external, non-transitive, dependencies -->
 		<dep.groovy.version>3.0.23</dep.groovy.version>
 		<dep.apache-jmeter.version>5.4.3</dep.apache-jmeter.version>
+		<!-- When updating POI, see where this reference is used and read the comments there! -->
 		<dep.apache-poi.version>5.2.3</dep.apache-poi.version>
 		<dep.aether.version>1.1.0</dep.aether.version>
 
@@ -219,7 +219,14 @@
 			<dependency>
 				<groupId>org.quartz-scheduler</groupId>
 				<artifactId>quartz</artifactId>
-				<version>2.5.0-rc1</version>
+				<version>2.5.1</version>
+				<exclusions>
+					<!-- unneeded, and conflicting, dependency from Quartz to Java EE 10-->
+					<exclusion>
+						<groupId>jakarta.xml.bind</groupId>
+						<artifactId>jakarta.xml.bind-api</artifactId>
+					</exclusion>
+				</exclusions>
 			</dependency>
 
 			<dependency>
@@ -282,39 +289,27 @@
 				<artifactId>poi</artifactId>
 				<version>${dep.apache-poi.version}</version>
 			</dependency>
+
 			<dependency>
 				<groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
 				<artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId>
 				<version>${dep.apache-poi.version}</version>
+				<!-- When updating POI, check if the definition right below is still necessary!!! -->
 			</dependency>
 
+			<!-- For POI: force javaparser-core to the higher version from groovy (POI references 3.24.4) -->
 			<dependency>
-				<groupId>com.google.apis</groupId>
-				<artifactId>google-api-services-sheets</artifactId>
-				<version>v4-rev20250211-2.0.0</version>
-			</dependency>
-			<dependency>
-				<groupId>com.google.apis</groupId>
-				<artifactId>google-api-services-drive</artifactId>
-				<version>v3-rev20250216-2.0.0</version>
-			</dependency>
-			<dependency>
-				<groupId>com.google.http-client</groupId>
-				<artifactId>google-http-client-jackson2</artifactId>
-				<version>1.46.1</version>
+				<groupId>com.github.javaparser</groupId>
+				<artifactId>javaparser-core</artifactId>
+				<version>3.25.6</version>
 			</dependency>
+
 			<dependency>
 				<groupId>org.everit.json</groupId>
 				<artifactId>org.everit.json.schema</artifactId>
 				<version>1.5.1</version>
 			</dependency>
 
-			<dependency>
-				<groupId>org.ow2.asm</groupId>
-				<artifactId>asm</artifactId>
-				<version>9.7</version>
-			</dependency>
-
 			<!-- plexus stuff is mostly referred to by maven classes -->
 			<dependency>
 				<groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
@@ -354,7 +349,7 @@
 			<dependency>
 				<groupId>net.minidev</groupId>
 				<artifactId>accessors-smart</artifactId>
-				<version>2.5.0</version>
+				<version>2.5.2</version>
 			</dependency>
 
 			<dependency>
@@ -383,6 +378,7 @@
 			</dependency>
 
 			<!-- These are not for the maven builds, but for the actual sources implementing maven functionality -->
+			<!-- See SED-4411, these need to be consolidated -->
 			<dependency>
 				<groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
 				<artifactId>maven-aether-provider</artifactId>
@@ -393,13 +389,6 @@
 				<artifactId>maven-settings-builder</artifactId>
 				<version>3.8.6</version>
 			</dependency>
-
-			<!-- quick-fixes, these should be upstreamed to exense-dependencies -->
-			<dependency>
-				<groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
-				<artifactId>commons-compress</artifactId>
-				<version>1.27.1</version>
-			</dependency>
 		</dependencies>
 	</dependencyManagement>
 
@@ -536,7 +525,7 @@
                 <artifactId>maven-enforcer-plugin</artifactId>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
-                        <id>enforce-banned-dependencies</id>
+                        <id>enforce-policies</id>
                         <goals>
                             <goal>enforce</goal>
                         </goals>
@@ -549,6 +538,15 @@
                                         <exclude>org.testng</exclude>
                                     </excludes>
                                 </bannedDependencies>
+								<requireUpperBoundDeps>
+									<excludes>
+										<exclude>jakarta.xml.bind:jakarta.xml.bind-api</exclude>
+										<!-- TODO: SED-4411 to consolidate versions, then remove next line -->
+										<exclude>org.apache.maven:maven-builder-support</exclude>
+										<!-- Same idea, different conflict (with POI ooxml, might be solved once POI is upgraded) -->
+										<exclude>org.apache.maven:maven-model</exclude>
+									</excludes>
+								</requireUpperBoundDeps>
                             </rules>
                             <fail>true</fail>
                         </configuration>
diff --git a/step-automation-packages/step-automation-packages-junit5/pom.xml b/step-automation-packages/step-automation-packages-junit5/pom.xml
index 9dc8a1faa3..a11574da06 100644
--- a/step-automation-packages/step-automation-packages-junit5/pom.xml
+++ b/step-automation-packages/step-automation-packages-junit5/pom.xml
@@ -50,17 +50,20 @@
                 <artifactId>maven-enforcer-plugin</artifactId>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
-                        <id>enforce-banned-dependencies</id>
+                        <id>enforce-policies</id>
                         <goals>
                             <goal>enforce</goal>
                         </goals>
-                        <configuration>
+                        <configuration combine.self="override">
                             <rules>
-                                <bannedDependencies>
-                                    <excludes></excludes>
-                                </bannedDependencies>
+                                <!-- no bannedDependencies here -->
+                                <requireUpperBoundDeps>
+                                    <excludes>
+                                        <exclude>jakarta.xml.bind:jakarta.xml.bind-api</exclude>
+                                    </excludes>
+                                </requireUpperBoundDeps>
                             </rules>
-                            <fail>false</fail>
+                            <fail>true</fail>
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
diff --git a/step-plans/step-plans-base-artefacts/pom.xml b/step-plans/step-plans-base-artefacts/pom.xml
index 3c8276d42f..e572d6159b 100644
--- a/step-plans/step-plans-base-artefacts/pom.xml
+++ b/step-plans/step-plans-base-artefacts/pom.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 
 	<artifactId>step-plans-base-artefacts</artifactId>
-	<name>${project.groupId}:${project.artifactId}</name>
+	<name>${project.groupId}:${project.artifactId}</name>
 	<packaging>jar</packaging>
 
 	<parent>
@@ -70,14 +70,19 @@
 
 		<!-- ATTENTION: Apache POI declares a dependency to an old version of commons-io (2.11)
 		that even POI itself is not entirely functional with. Because this is the "outermost"
-		place where that dependency is defined, it would actually fix an OLD (incomplete, and
-		vulnerable) version as the preferred one. We therefore manually define the correct
-		preferred dependency here (the version to use is automatically correctly determined)
+		place where that dependency is defined, it would actually establish an OLD (incomplete, and
+		vulnerable) version as the preferred one. We therefore manually override the
+		dependency here (the version to use is automatically determined from the imported dependencies);
+		similarly, we include up-to-date versions of other commons libraries like commons-compress.
 		-->
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>commons-io</groupId>
 			<artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
 		</dependency>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
+			<artifactId>commons-compress</artifactId>
+		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
 			<artifactId>poi</artifactId>