diff --git a/gradle/dependencies.gradle b/gradle/dependencies.gradle
index 9ae3679927..d089c4d73d 100644
--- a/gradle/dependencies.gradle
+++ b/gradle/dependencies.gradle
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ libraries.errorproneTestApi = "com.google.errorprone:error_prone_test_helpers:${
 
 libraries.autoservice = "com.google.auto.service:auto-service:1.0-rc5"
 
-libraries.objenesis = 'org.objenesis:objenesis:3.1'
+// objenesis 3.x with full Java 11 support requires Java 8, bump version when Java 7 support is dropped
+libraries.objenesis = 'org.objenesis:objenesis:2.6'
 
 libraries.asm = 'org.ow2.asm:asm:7.0'
 
diff --git a/gradle/mockito-core/osgi.gradle b/gradle/mockito-core/osgi.gradle
index a18942589d..41f1902b45 100644
--- a/gradle/mockito-core/osgi.gradle
+++ b/gradle/mockito-core/osgi.gradle
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ jar {
                 'junit.*;resolution:=optional',
                 'org.junit.*;resolution:=optional',
                 'org.hamcrest;resolution:=optional',
-                'org.objenesis;version="[3.1,4.0)"',
+                'org.objenesis;version="[2.5,3.0)"',
                 'org.opentest4j.*;resolution:=optional',
                 'org.mockito.*'
         ].join(','),