diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index c6545c8abf..ec48137948 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ plugins {
 	id 'org.asciidoctor.jvm.convert' version '3.3.2'
 	id 'org.asciidoctor.jvm.pdf' version '3.3.2'
 	id 'de.undercouch.download' version '4.1.2'
-	id "io.freefair.aspectj" version '6.1.0' apply false
+	id "io.freefair.aspectj" version '6.2.0' apply false
 	id "com.github.ben-manes.versions" version '0.39.0'
 	id "com.github.johnrengelman.shadow" version '7.0.0' apply false
 	id "me.champeau.jmh" version "0.6.6" apply false
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ configure(allprojects) { project ->
 				exclude group: "xpp3", name: "xpp3_min"
 				exclude group: "xmlpull", name: "xmlpull"
 			}
-			dependency "org.apache.johnzon:johnzon-jsonb:1.2.10"
+			dependency "org.apache.johnzon:johnzon-jsonb:1.2.14"
 			dependency("org.codehaus.jettison:jettison:1.3.8") {
 				exclude group: "stax", name: "stax-api"
 			}
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ configure(allprojects) { project ->
 			dependency "com.github.librepdf:openpdf:1.3.26"
 			dependency "com.rometools:rome:1.16.0"
 			dependency "commons-io:commons-io:2.5"
-			dependency "io.vavr:vavr:0.10.3"
+			dependency "io.vavr:vavr:0.10.4"
 			dependency "net.sf.jopt-simple:jopt-simple:5.0.4"
 			dependencySet(group: 'org.apache.activemq', version: '5.16.2') {
 				entry 'activemq-broker'
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ configure(allprojects) { project ->
 			dependency "org.ehcache:ehcache:3.4.0"
 			dependency "org.hibernate:hibernate-core:5.4.32.Final"
 			dependency "org.hibernate:hibernate-validator:6.2.0.Final"
-			dependency "org.webjars:webjars-locator-core:0.47"
+			dependency "org.webjars:webjars-locator-core:0.48"
 			dependency "org.webjars:underscorejs:1.8.3"
 
 			dependencySet(group: 'org.apache.tomcat', version: '9.0.53') {
@@ -206,10 +206,10 @@ configure(allprojects) { project ->
 			}
 			dependency "io.mockk:mockk:1.12.0"
 
-			dependency("net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit:2.52.0") {
+			dependency("net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit:2.53.0") {
 				exclude group: "commons-logging", name: "commons-logging"
 			}
-			dependency("org.seleniumhq.selenium:htmlunit-driver:2.52.0") {
+			dependency("org.seleniumhq.selenium:htmlunit-driver:2.53.0") {
 				exclude group: "commons-logging", name: "commons-logging"
 			}
 			dependency("org.seleniumhq.selenium:selenium-java:3.141.59") {
diff --git a/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/JsonbMessageConverterTests.java b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/JsonbMessageConverterTests.java
index 63380ea4eb..7b524de480 100644
--- a/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/JsonbMessageConverterTests.java
+++ b/spring-messaging/src/test/java/org/springframework/messaging/converter/JsonbMessageConverterTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2020 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2021 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ public class JsonbMessageConverterTests {
 		String payload = "H\u00e9llo W\u00f6rld";
 		Message<?> message = converter.toMessage(payload, headers);
 
-		assertThat(new String((byte[]) message.getPayload(), StandardCharsets.UTF_16BE)).isEqualTo(payload);
+		assertThat(new String((byte[]) message.getPayload(), StandardCharsets.UTF_16BE)).isEqualTo("\"" + payload + "\"");
 		assertThat(message.getHeaders().get(MessageHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE)).isEqualTo(contentType);
 	}
 
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ public class JsonbMessageConverterTests {
 		String payload = "H\u00e9llo W\u00f6rld";
 		Message<?> message = converter.toMessage(payload, headers);
 
-		assertThat(message.getPayload()).isEqualTo(payload);
+		assertThat(message.getPayload()).isEqualTo("\"" + payload + "\"");
 		assertThat(message.getHeaders().get(MessageHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE)).isEqualTo(contentType);
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/converter/json/JsonbHttpMessageConverterTests.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/converter/json/JsonbHttpMessageConverterTests.java
index 7649e8415b..44e14ac576 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/converter/json/JsonbHttpMessageConverterTests.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/converter/json/JsonbHttpMessageConverterTests.java
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ public class JsonbHttpMessageConverterTests {
 		MockHttpOutputMessage outputMessage = new MockHttpOutputMessage();
 		String body = "H\u00e9llo W\u00f6rld";
 		this.converter.write(body, contentType, outputMessage);
-		assertThat(outputMessage.getBodyAsString(StandardCharsets.UTF_16BE)).as("Invalid result").isEqualTo(body);
+		assertThat(outputMessage.getBodyAsString(StandardCharsets.UTF_16BE)).as("Invalid result").isEqualTo("\"" + body + "\"");
 		assertThat(outputMessage.getHeaders().getContentType()).as("Invalid content-type").isEqualTo(contentType);
 	}
 
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ public class JsonbHttpMessageConverterTests {
 		MockHttpOutputMessage outputMessage = new MockHttpOutputMessage();
 		this.converter.setPrefixJson(true);
 		this.converter.writeInternal("foo", null, outputMessage);
-		assertThat(outputMessage.getBodyAsString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)).isEqualTo(")]}', foo");
+		assertThat(outputMessage.getBodyAsString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)).isEqualTo(")]}', \"foo\"");
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ public class JsonbHttpMessageConverterTests {
 		MockHttpOutputMessage outputMessage = new MockHttpOutputMessage();
 		this.converter.setJsonPrefix(")))");
 		this.converter.writeInternal("foo", null, outputMessage);
-		assertThat(outputMessage.getBodyAsString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)).isEqualTo(")))foo");
+		assertThat(outputMessage.getBodyAsString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)).isEqualTo(")))\"foo\"");
 	}