diff --git a/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/pom.xml b/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/pom.xml
index dfcf82e15e..7630e64a0b 100644
--- a/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/pom.xml
+++ b/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/pom.xml
@@ -137,6 +137,20 @@ limitations under the License.
         <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
         <configuration>
           <trimStackTrace>false</trimStackTrace>
+          <!-- Drop jspecify from the TEST runtime classpath only (it stays on the
+               compile classpath, so downstream modules and shaded jars are
+               unaffected). Since google-cloud-bigtable 2.81.0 (gax 2.83.0) the
+               veneer API is annotated with @org.jspecify.annotations.NullMarked,
+               whose @Target references ElementType.MODULE (Java 9+). When
+               Mockito/byte-buddy mocks an annotated veneer type (e.g. Batcher) on
+               Java 8, the JDK parses that @Target, cannot find the MODULE constant,
+               and throws ArrayStoreException: EnumConstantNotPresentExceptionProxy
+               ("Mockito cannot mock this class"). jspecify carries no runtime
+               behavior, so removing it from the test classpath makes the JVM
+               silently ignore @NullMarked and the mocks succeed. -->
+          <classpathDependencyExcludes>
+            <classpathDependencyExclude>org.jspecify:jspecify</classpathDependencyExclude>
+          </classpathDependencyExcludes>
           <systemProperties>
             <property>
               <name>java.util.logging.config.file</name>
@@ -178,6 +192,8 @@ limitations under the License.
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
                 <!-- forcefully replaced with reload4j -->
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>log4j:log4j</dependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
diff --git a/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/hbase/wrappers/veneer/metrics/MetricsApiTracerAdapter.java b/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/hbase/wrappers/veneer/metrics/MetricsApiTracerAdapter.java
index 50ffb2794c..24832885cc 100644
--- a/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/hbase/wrappers/veneer/metrics/MetricsApiTracerAdapter.java
+++ b/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/hbase/wrappers/veneer/metrics/MetricsApiTracerAdapter.java
@@ -61,7 +61,11 @@ public MetricsApiTracerAdapter(
     this.rpcMetrics = rpcMetrics;
     operationTimer = rpcMetrics.timeOperation();
     lastRetryStatus = RetryStatus.PERMANENT_FAILURE;
-    if (methodName.equals("ReadRows") && operationType == OperationType.ServerStreaming) {
+    // Track first-response latency for ReadRows. Historically ReadRows was always a
+    // ServerStreaming operation, but since google-cloud-bigtable 2.81.0 bounded
+    // single-row reads (e.g. an HBase point-scan) are traced as OperationType.Unary,
+    // so key off the method name alone rather than the operation type.
+    if (methodName.equals("ReadRows")) {
       this.firstResponseTimer = firstResponseLatencyTimer.time();
     }
     firstResponseRecorded = new AtomicBoolean(false);
diff --git a/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/hbase/wrappers/veneer/TestBigtableHBaseVeneerSettings.java b/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/hbase/wrappers/veneer/TestBigtableHBaseVeneerSettings.java
index 53c37f0f4e..09b70070af 100644
--- a/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/hbase/wrappers/veneer/TestBigtableHBaseVeneerSettings.java
+++ b/bigtable-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/hbase/wrappers/veneer/TestBigtableHBaseVeneerSettings.java
@@ -100,7 +100,12 @@ public void testDataSettingsBasicKeys() throws IOException {
     String appProfileId = "appProfileId";
     String userAgent = "test-user-agent";
     String fakeTracingCookie = "fake-tracing-cookie";
-    Credentials credentials = Mockito.mock(Credentials.class);
+    // withoutAnnotations(): com.google.auth.Credentials carries jspecify TYPE_USE
+    // nullness annotations. On Java 8, byte-buddy reading them while building the
+    // mock hits a JDK bug (NPE in sun.reflect.annotation.TypeAnnotationParser), so
+    // tell Mockito not to copy annotations onto the generated mock.
+    Credentials credentials =
+        Mockito.mock(Credentials.class, Mockito.withSettings().withoutAnnotations());
 
     configuration.set(BIGTABLE_PORT_KEY, String.valueOf(TEST_PORT));
     configuration.set(APP_PROFILE_ID_KEY, appProfileId);
@@ -161,7 +166,12 @@ public void testAdminSettingsBasicKeys() throws IOException {
     String adminHost = "testadmin.example.com";
     String userAgent = "test-user-agent";
     String fakeTracingCookie = "fake-tracing-cookie";
-    Credentials credentials = Mockito.mock(Credentials.class);
+    // withoutAnnotations(): com.google.auth.Credentials carries jspecify TYPE_USE
+    // nullness annotations. On Java 8, byte-buddy reading them while building the
+    // mock hits a JDK bug (NPE in sun.reflect.annotation.TypeAnnotationParser), so
+    // tell Mockito not to copy annotations onto the generated mock.
+    Credentials credentials =
+        Mockito.mock(Credentials.class, Mockito.withSettings().withoutAnnotations());
 
     configuration.set(BIGTABLE_ADMIN_HOST_KEY, adminHost);
     configuration.setInt(BIGTABLE_PORT_KEY, TEST_PORT);
diff --git a/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-hadoop/pom.xml b/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-hadoop/pom.xml
index a34ad43fcf..4d2b52e0f5 100644
--- a/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-hadoop/pom.xml
+++ b/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-hadoop/pom.xml
@@ -209,6 +209,8 @@ limitations under the License.
                 <targetDependency>org.apache.hbase:hbase-client</targetDependency>
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>log4j:log4j</dependency>
                 <!-- for some reason hbase-client exposes testing deps as a compile dep, just ignore them -->
                 <dependency>junit:junit</dependency>
diff --git a/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-mapreduce/pom.xml b/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-mapreduce/pom.xml
index 9bec7fe076..e62a98e9d9 100644
--- a/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-mapreduce/pom.xml
+++ b/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-mapreduce/pom.xml
@@ -201,6 +201,8 @@ limitations under the License.
               <ignoredDependencies>
 
                 <!-- hbase-common pulls in test deps via hbase-annotations, exclude them from mirror check -->
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>junit:junit</dependency>
                 <dependency>org.hamcrest:hamcrest-core</dependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
diff --git a/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-shaded/pom.xml b/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-shaded/pom.xml
index b9e97ac088..b030dbeee8 100644
--- a/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-shaded/pom.xml
+++ b/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x-shaded/pom.xml
@@ -56,13 +56,13 @@ limitations under the License.
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.conscrypt</groupId>
         <artifactId>conscrypt-openjdk-uber</artifactId>
-        <version>2.5.2</version>
+        <version>${conscrypt.version}</version>
         <scope>provided</scope>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.conscrypt</groupId>
         <artifactId>conscrypt-openjdk</artifactId>
-        <version>2.5.2</version>
+        <version>${conscrypt.version}</version>
         <scope>provided</scope>
       </dependency>
 
@@ -244,6 +244,16 @@ limitations under the License.
                     <exclude>META-INF/DEPENDENCIES</exclude>
                     <exclude>META-INF/versions/9/module-info.class</exclude>
                     <exclude>META-INF/versions/11/module-info.class</exclude>
+                    <!-- google-cloud-bigtable 2.81.0 pulls in jackson-core 2.18.x (via the
+                         opentelemetry GCP resource detector), which ships multi-release
+                         FastDoubleParser SIMD optimizations under META-INF/versions/{11,17,21,22}.
+                         The com.fasterxml relocation below rewrites the base classes to
+                         com.google.bigtable.repackaged.com.faster.xml, but the multi-release
+                         copies keep their original com/fasterxml path, so Java's MR mechanism can
+                         never match them to the relocated base class - they are dead weight and
+                         also trip verify-shaded-jar-entries as un-relocated com.fasterxml classes.
+                         Drop them; the base classes provide identical functionality. -->
+                    <exclude>META-INF/versions/*/com/fasterxml/**</exclude>
                   </excludes>
                 </filter>
               </filters>
@@ -426,6 +436,8 @@ limitations under the License.
                 <targetDependency>org.apache.hbase:hbase-shaded-client</targetDependency>
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <ignoredDependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</ignoredDependency>
                 <ignoredDependency>log4j:log4j</ignoredDependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
diff --git a/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x/pom.xml b/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x/pom.xml
index 8153d9cf9c..ee8d71fc02 100644
--- a/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x/pom.xml
+++ b/bigtable-hbase-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-1.x/pom.xml
@@ -160,6 +160,8 @@ limitations under the License.
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
                 <!-- forcefully replaced with reload4j -->
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>log4j:log4j</dependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
diff --git a/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-hadoop/pom.xml b/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-hadoop/pom.xml
index aeaded71d6..1684f76c39 100644
--- a/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-hadoop/pom.xml
+++ b/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-hadoop/pom.xml
@@ -193,6 +193,8 @@ limitations under the License.
                 <targetDependency>org.apache.hbase:hbase-client</targetDependency>
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>log4j:log4j</dependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
diff --git a/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-mapreduce/pom.xml b/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-mapreduce/pom.xml
index 6e68e83f8f..f8ca938e8d 100644
--- a/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-mapreduce/pom.xml
+++ b/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-mapreduce/pom.xml
@@ -190,6 +190,8 @@ limitations under the License.
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
                 <!-- TODO: version mismatches after upgrading hbase client to 2.6.4 -->
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <ignoredDependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</ignoredDependency>
                 <ignoredDependency>javax.activation:activation</ignoredDependency>
                 <ignoredDependency>javax.xml.bind:jaxb-api</ignoredDependency>
                 <ignoredDependency>javax.xml.stream:stax-api</ignoredDependency>
diff --git a/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-shaded/pom.xml b/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-shaded/pom.xml
index 7a3d590a93..0c2d00faf4 100644
--- a/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-shaded/pom.xml
+++ b/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x-shaded/pom.xml
@@ -56,13 +56,13 @@ limitations under the License.
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.conscrypt</groupId>
         <artifactId>conscrypt-openjdk-uber</artifactId>
-        <version>2.5.2</version>
+        <version>${conscrypt.version}</version>
         <scope>provided</scope>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.conscrypt</groupId>
         <artifactId>conscrypt-openjdk</artifactId>
-        <version>2.5.2</version>
+        <version>${conscrypt.version}</version>
         <scope>provided</scope>
       </dependency>
 
@@ -236,6 +236,16 @@ limitations under the License.
                     <exclude>META-INF/DEPENDENCIES</exclude>
                     <exclude>META-INF/versions/9/module-info.class</exclude>
                     <exclude>META-INF/versions/11/module-info.class</exclude>
+                    <!-- google-cloud-bigtable 2.81.0 pulls in jackson-core 2.18.x (via the
+                         opentelemetry GCP resource detector), which ships multi-release
+                         FastDoubleParser SIMD optimizations under META-INF/versions/{11,17,21,22}.
+                         The com.fasterxml relocation below rewrites the base classes to
+                         com.google.bigtable.repackaged.com.faster.xml, but the multi-release
+                         copies keep their original com/fasterxml path, so Java's MR mechanism can
+                         never match them to the relocated base class - they are dead weight and
+                         also trip verify-shaded-jar-entries as un-relocated com.fasterxml classes.
+                         Drop them; the base classes provide identical functionality. -->
+                    <exclude>META-INF/versions/*/com/fasterxml/**</exclude>
                   </excludes>
                 </filter>
               </filters>
@@ -422,6 +432,8 @@ limitations under the License.
               <!-- opentelemetry dependency is added to veneer since 2.38.0. We shade veneer so ignoring
                    opentelemetry when comparing with hbase-shaded-client is fine-->
               <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-context</dependency>
                 <dependency>io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-semconv</dependency>
diff --git a/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x/pom.xml b/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x/pom.xml
index 07529f1aca..c0f4867ab7 100644
--- a/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x/pom.xml
+++ b/bigtable-hbase-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-2.x/pom.xml
@@ -182,6 +182,8 @@ limitations under the License.
                 <targetDependency>org.apache.hbase:hbase-shaded-client</targetDependency>
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-context</dependency>
                 <dependency>io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-semconv</dependency>
diff --git a/hbase-migration-tools/bigtable-hbase-replication/bigtable-hbase-1.x-replication/pom.xml b/hbase-migration-tools/bigtable-hbase-replication/bigtable-hbase-1.x-replication/pom.xml
index b7cb9d446b..0dabd4210f 100644
--- a/hbase-migration-tools/bigtable-hbase-replication/bigtable-hbase-1.x-replication/pom.xml
+++ b/hbase-migration-tools/bigtable-hbase-replication/bigtable-hbase-1.x-replication/pom.xml
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ limitations under the License.
               <targetDependencies>
                 <targetDependency>org.apache.hbase:hbase-server</targetDependency>
               </targetDependencies>
+              <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
+              </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
           </execution>
         </executions>
diff --git a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-shaded/pom.xml b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-shaded/pom.xml
index d0604af769..5f1bdc10cc 100644
--- a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-shaded/pom.xml
+++ b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-shaded/pom.xml
@@ -187,6 +187,8 @@ limitations under the License.
                 <targetDependency>org.apache.hbase:hbase-shaded-client</targetDependency>
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <ignoredDependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</ignoredDependency>
                 <ignoredDependency>log4j:log4j</ignoredDependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
@@ -223,6 +225,8 @@ limitations under the License.
                 <targetDependency>org.apache.hbase:hbase-shaded-client</targetDependency>
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <ignoredDependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</ignoredDependency>
                 <ignoredDependency>log4j:log4j</ignoredDependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
diff --git a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x/pom.xml b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x/pom.xml
index 87dbf20b24..019ffa12a1 100644
--- a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x/pom.xml
+++ b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-1.x/pom.xml
@@ -128,6 +128,8 @@ limitations under the License.
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
                 <!-- forcefully replaced with reload4j -->
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>log4j:log4j</dependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
diff --git a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-hadoop/pom.xml b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-hadoop/pom.xml
index 2c8973fe19..c082346e2c 100644
--- a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-hadoop/pom.xml
+++ b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-hadoop/pom.xml
@@ -201,6 +201,8 @@ limitations under the License.
                 we are using that version -->
                 <ignoredDependency>commons-logging:commons-logging</ignoredDependency>
 
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <ignoredDependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</ignoredDependency>
                 <ignoredDependency>log4j:log4j</ignoredDependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
diff --git a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-shaded/pom.xml b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-shaded/pom.xml
index 9ebe41cb78..8c0c81f30b 100644
--- a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-shaded/pom.xml
+++ b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-shaded/pom.xml
@@ -198,6 +198,10 @@ limitations under the License.
               <targetDependencies>
                 <targetDependency>org.apache.hbase:hbase-shaded-client</targetDependency>
               </targetDependencies>
+              <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <ignoredDependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</ignoredDependency>
+              </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
           </execution>
         </executions>
diff --git a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x/pom.xml b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x/pom.xml
index f49e6d61cd..b7cceea38a 100644
--- a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x/pom.xml
+++ b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-2.x/pom.xml
@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@ limitations under the License.
                 <targetDependency>org.apache.hbase:hbase-shaded-client</targetDependency>
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
           </execution>
diff --git a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-core/pom.xml b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-core/pom.xml
index 3a95302509..45e8bc7054 100644
--- a/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-core/pom.xml
+++ b/hbase-migration-tools/mirroring-client/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-core-parent/bigtable-hbase-mirroring-client-core/pom.xml
@@ -146,6 +146,8 @@ limitations under the License.
               </targetDependencies>
               <ignoredDependencies>
                 <!-- forcefully replaced with reload4j -->
+                <!-- veneer requires slf4j-api 2.x while hbase ships 1.7.x -->
+                <dependency>org.slf4j:slf4j-api</dependency>
                 <dependency>log4j:log4j</dependency>
               </ignoredDependencies>
             </configuration>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index e8a180da60..9f55dd5dbb 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -55,12 +55,17 @@ limitations under the License.
     <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
 
     <!-- core dependency versions -->
-    <bigtable.version>2.77.0</bigtable.version>
-    <google-cloud-bigtable-emulator.version>0.214.0</google-cloud-bigtable-emulator.version>
+    <bigtable.version>2.81.0</bigtable.version>
+    <google-cloud-bigtable-emulator.version>0.218.0</google-cloud-bigtable-emulator.version>
     <bigtable-metrics-api.version>1.29.2</bigtable-metrics-api.version>
     <!-- Optional dep for bigtable-metrics-api used for tests -->
     <dropwizard-metrics.version>4.2.22</dropwizard-metrics.version>
 
+    <!-- shared library versions pulled in by the bigtable veneer; pinned to satisfy
+         RequireUpperBoundDeps (slf4j) and to match the google-cloud-bigtable deps-bom (conscrypt) -->
+    <slf4j.version>2.0.16</slf4j.version>
+    <conscrypt.version>2.6.0</conscrypt.version>
+
     <!--  keeping at this version to align with hbase-->
     <reload4j.version>1.2.24</reload4j.version>
 
@@ -93,6 +98,19 @@ limitations under the License.
     <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
   </properties>
 
+  <dependencyManagement>
+    <dependencies>
+      <!-- google-cloud-bigtable 2.81.0 pulls in slf4j-api 2.0.x, while hbase brings the
+           older 1.7.x. Pin to the higher version so the inherited RequireUpperBoundDeps
+           enforcer (from google-cloud-shared-config) is satisfied. -->
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+        <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+        <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
+      </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
+  </dependencyManagement>
+
   <scm>
     <connection>
       scm:git:git@github.com:googleapis/java-bigtable-hbase.git
@@ -173,8 +191,12 @@ limitations under the License.
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
           <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
-          <!-- MSHADE-419: 3.3.0 Shade plugin causes pom to be created without compile dependencies -->
-          <version>3.2.4</version>
+          <!-- 3.6.0+ bundles ASM 9, which can process the Java 17 multi-release classes that
+               google-cloud-bigtable now pulls in transitively (jackson-core 2.18.x). 3.2.4's
+               older ASM fails on those with "Unsupported class file major version 61". The
+               MSHADE-419 regression (reduced pom dropping compile deps) seen in 3.3.0 no longer
+               applies; the generated dependency-reduced-pom is verified to keep compile deps. -->
+          <version>3.6.0</version>
         </plugin>
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>