diff --git a/dkpro-core-corenlp-gpl/pom.xml b/dkpro-core-corenlp-gpl/pom.xml
index 54fd26e90..cd6b43f3f 100644
--- a/dkpro-core-corenlp-gpl/pom.xml
+++ b/dkpro-core-corenlp-gpl/pom.xml
@@ -154,16 +154,6 @@
       <groupId>eu.openminted.share.annotations</groupId>
       <artifactId>omtd-share-annotations-api</artifactId>
     </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <!-- 
-        - Xerces 2.12.0 no longer draws in the XML APIs causing ClassNotFoundExceptions on JREs
-        - not including the XML APIs either. However, there is no direct code dependency on the
-        - artifact in this module.
-        -->
-      <groupId>xml-apis</groupId>
-      <artifactId>xml-apis</artifactId>
-      <scope>runtime</scope>
-    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>junit</groupId>
       <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
@@ -597,7 +587,6 @@
           <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
           <configuration>
             <usedDependencies>
-              <usedDependency>xml-apis:xml-apis</usedDependency>
               <!-- Models not detected by byte-code analysis -->
               <usedDependency>de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core:de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core.stanfordnlp-model-coref-en-default</usedDependency>
               <usedDependency>de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core:de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core.stanfordnlp-model-ner-en-all.3class.distsim.crf</usedDependency>
diff --git a/dkpro-core-gate-asl/pom.xml b/dkpro-core-gate-asl/pom.xml
index 672ed4e45..5d907c144 100644
--- a/dkpro-core-gate-asl/pom.xml
+++ b/dkpro-core-gate-asl/pom.xml
@@ -74,16 +74,6 @@
       <groupId>eu.openminted.share.annotations</groupId>
       <artifactId>omtd-share-annotations-api</artifactId>
     </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <!-- 
-        - Xerces 2.12.0 no longer draws in the XML APIs causing ClassNotFoundExceptions on JREs
-        - not including the XML APIs either. However, there is no direct code dependency on the
-        - artifact in this module.
-        -->
-      <groupId>xml-apis</groupId>
-      <artifactId>xml-apis</artifactId>
-      <scope>runtime</scope>
-    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>junit</groupId>
       <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
@@ -134,7 +124,6 @@
           <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
           <configuration>
             <usedDependencies>
-              <usedDependency>xml-apis:xml-apis</usedDependency>
               <!-- Models not detected by byte-code analysis -->
               <usedDependency>de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core:de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core.gate-model-lemmatizer-en-default</usedDependency>
               <usedDependency>de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core:de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core.gate-model-tagger-en-annie</usedDependency>
diff --git a/dkpro-core-io-tgrep-gpl/pom.xml b/dkpro-core-io-tgrep-gpl/pom.xml
index 9e23d1f18..bf45909e9 100644
--- a/dkpro-core-io-tgrep-gpl/pom.xml
+++ b/dkpro-core-io-tgrep-gpl/pom.xml
@@ -67,16 +67,6 @@
       <groupId>eu.openminted.share.annotations</groupId>
       <artifactId>omtd-share-annotations-api</artifactId>
     </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <!-- 
-        - Xerces 2.12.0 no longer draws in the XML APIs causing ClassNotFoundExceptions on JREs
-        - not including the XML APIs either. However, there is no direct code dependency on the
-        - artifact in this module.
-        -->
-      <groupId>xml-apis</groupId>
-      <artifactId>xml-apis</artifactId>
-      <scope>runtime</scope>
-    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>junit</groupId>
       <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
@@ -117,7 +107,6 @@
           <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
           <configuration>
             <usedDependencies>
-              <usedDependency>xml-apis:xml-apis</usedDependency>
               <!-- Models not detected by byte-code analysis -->
               <usedDependency>de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core:de.tudarmstadt.ukp.dkpro.core.stanfordnlp-model-parser-en-pcfg</usedDependency>
             </usedDependencies>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index b3e7f2c16..35816119b 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -243,21 +243,12 @@
         <groupId>xerces</groupId>
         <artifactId>xercesImpl</artifactId>
         <version>2.12.2</version>
-      </dependency>
-      <dependency>
-        <groupId>xalan</groupId>
-        <artifactId>xalan</artifactId>
-        <version>2.7.2</version>
-      </dependency>
-      <dependency>
-        <groupId>xalan</groupId>
-        <artifactId>serializer</artifactId>
-        <version>2.7.2</version>
-      </dependency>
-      <dependency>
-        <groupId>xml-apis</groupId>
-        <artifactId>xml-apis</artifactId>
-        <version>1.4.01</version>
+        <exclusions>
+          <exclusion>
+            <groupId>xml-apis</groupId>
+            <artifactId>xml-apis</artifactId>
+          </exclusion>
+        </exclusions>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>stax</groupId>
@@ -527,7 +518,9 @@
                   <excludes>
 <!--                     <exclude>xerces:*</exclude> -->
                     <exclude>xalan:*</exclude>
+                    <exclude>xml-apis:*</exclude>
 <!--                     <exclude>commons-lang:commons-lang</exclude> -->
+<!--                     <exclude>org.apache.commons:commons-math</exclude> matetools still uses this -->
                     <exclude>commons-math:commons-math</exclude>
 <!--                     <exclude>commons-collections:commons-collections</exclude> -->
                   </excludes>
@@ -755,7 +748,7 @@
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
           <artifactId>versions-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-          <version>2.8.1</version>
+          <version>2.14.2</version>
           <configuration>
             <rulesUri>file:${session.executionRootDirectory}/dkpro-core-build/src/main/resources/dkpro-core/version-rules.xml</rulesUri>
           </configuration>
@@ -778,7 +771,7 @@
           <plugin>
             <groupId>org.spdx</groupId>
             <artifactId>spdx-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-            <version>0.2.5</version>
+            <version>0.6.3</version>
             <executions>
               <execution>
                 <id>build-spdx</id>