diff --git a/ant/src/etc/poms/ant-trax/pom.xml b/ant/src/etc/poms/ant-trax/pom.xml
index d6123d2b99..0924ea1fb1 100644
--- a/ant/src/etc/poms/ant-trax/pom.xml
+++ b/ant/src/etc/poms/ant-trax/pom.xml
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
       xercesImpl.jar is provided with ant -->
       <groupId>xerces</groupId>
       <artifactId>xercesImpl</artifactId>
-      <version>2.8.1</version>
+      <version>2.12.0</version>
       <optional>true</optional>
       <scope>runtime</scope>
     </dependency>