diff --git a/core/java8/CHANGELOG.md b/core/java8/CHANGELOG.md
index 598db88a..8e8c1544 100644
--- a/core/java8/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/core/java8/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 # Java 8 OpenWhisk Runtime Container
 # next release
  - use `ibm-semeru-runtimes:open-8u332-b09-jdk-focal` as baseimage
+ - update gson version to 2.9.0
 
 # 1.19.0
  - Use adoptopenjdk/openjdk8-openj9:x86_64-ubuntu-jdk8u332-b09_openj9-0.32.0
diff --git a/core/java8/proxy/build.gradle b/core/java8/proxy/build.gradle
index eb28a7c6..528f073b 100644
--- a/core/java8/proxy/build.gradle
+++ b/core/java8/proxy/build.gradle
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ repositories {
 }
 
 dependencies {
-    compile 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.6.2'
+    compile 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.9.0'
 }
 
 jar {
diff --git a/core/java8actionloop/CHANGELOG.md b/core/java8actionloop/CHANGELOG.md
index 14821a8d..f69d54a1 100644
--- a/core/java8actionloop/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/core/java8actionloop/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 # Java 8 OpenWhisk Runtime Container
 # next release
  - use `ibm-semeru-runtimes:open-8u332-b09-jdk-focal` as baseimage
+ - update gson version to 2.9.0
 
 # 1.19.0
  - Use adoptopenjdk/openjdk8-openj9:x86_64-ubuntu-jdk8u332-b09_openj9-0.32.0
diff --git a/core/java8actionloop/Dockerfile b/core/java8actionloop/Dockerfile
index 6fe261f8..510393d4 100644
--- a/core/java8actionloop/Dockerfile
+++ b/core/java8actionloop/Dockerfile
@@ -64,10 +64,10 @@ COPY --from=builder_source /bin/proxy /bin/proxy_source
 COPY --from=builder_release /bin/proxy /bin/proxy_release
 RUN mv /bin/proxy_${GO_PROXY_BUILD_FROM} /bin/proxy
 
-ADD https://search.maven.org/remotecontent?filepath=com/google/code/gson/gson/2.8.5/gson-2.8.5.jar /usr/java/lib/gson-2.8.5.jar
+ADD https://search.maven.org/remotecontent?filepath=com/google/code/gson/gson/2.9.0/gson-2.9.0.jar /usr/java/lib/gson-2.9.0.jar
 ADD lib/src/Launcher.java /usr/java/src/Launcher.java
 RUN cd /usr/java/src ;\
-    javac -cp /usr/java/lib/gson-2.8.5.jar Launcher.java ;\
+    javac -cp /usr/java/lib/gson-2.9.0.jar Launcher.java ;\
     jar cvf /usr/java/lib/launcher.jar *.class
 ADD bin/compile /bin/compile
 ENV OW_COMPILER=/bin/compile
diff --git a/core/java8actionloop/bin/compile b/core/java8actionloop/bin/compile
index 6f992b62..67141da6 100755
--- a/core/java8actionloop/bin/compile
+++ b/core/java8actionloop/bin/compile
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ def assemble(argv):
     logging.info("%s %s", mainClass, mainMethod)
     source_dir = os.path.abspath(argv[2])
     target_dir = os.path.abspath(argv[3])
-    classpath = ["/usr/java/lib/launcher.jar", "/usr/java/lib/gson-2.8.5.jar"]
+    classpath = ["/usr/java/lib/launcher.jar", "/usr/java/lib/gson-2.9.0.jar"]
 
     # build   
     if build(source_dir, classpath, target_dir, mainClass):