diff --git a/.github/workflows/dep_build_v3.yml b/.github/workflows/dep_build_v3.yml
index 1c9bd610..4f3978b0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dep_build_v3.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/dep_build_v3.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        java_version: ['8', '17', '21']
+        java_version: ['17', '21']
     env:
       JAVA_OPTS: "-XX:+TieredCompilation -XX:TieredStopAtLevel=1"
     steps:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 68a48681..439ffb5d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ on:
     branches:
     - master
     - "3.0"
-    - "2.19"
     paths-ignore:
     - "README.md"
     - "release-notes/*"
@@ -12,7 +11,6 @@ on:
     branches:
     - master
     - "3.0"
-    - "2.19"
     paths-ignore:
     - "README.md"
     - "release-notes/*"
@@ -25,9 +23,9 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        java_version: ['8', '11', '17', '21' ]
+        java_version: ['17', '21' ]
         include:
-          - java_version: '8'
+          - java_version: '17'
             release_build: 'R'
     env:
       JAVA_OPTS: "-XX:+TieredCompilation -XX:TieredStopAtLevel=1"
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a39dcdb2..8782efd4 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ alternative support for serializing POJOs as XML and deserializing XML as pojos.
     <tag>HEAD</tag>
   </scm>
   <properties>
+    <!-- [databind#4820]: Java 17 baseline -->
+    <javac.src.version>17</javac.src.version>
+    <javac.target.version>17</javac.target.version>
+
     <packageVersion.dir>tools/jackson/dataformat/xml</packageVersion.dir>
     <packageVersion.package>${project.groupId}.xml</packageVersion.package>
 
diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION b/release-notes/VERSION
index 4a954ed8..59a31552 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ Version: 3.x (for earlier see VERSION-2.x)
 #687: JSTEP-8: rename `FromXmlParser.Feature` as `XmlReadFeature`,
   `ToXmlGenerator.Feature` as `XmlWriteFeature`
 - Add `XmlMapper.shared()`
+- Minimum Java baseline: Java 17