diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
index a09ce2b3ec15..233c8999bd85 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
@@ -681,6 +681,7 @@ class BeamModulePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
         antlr_runtime                               : "org.antlr:antlr4-runtime:4.7",
         args4j                                      : "args4j:args4j:2.33",
         auto_value_annotations                      : "com.google.auto.value:auto-value-annotations:$autovalue_version",
+        // TODO: https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/34993 after stopping supporting Java 8
         avro                                        : "org.apache.avro:avro:1.11.4",
         avro_tests                                  : "org.apache.avro:avro:1.11.3:tests",
         aws_java_sdk2_apache_client                 : "software.amazon.awssdk:apache-client:$aws_java_sdk2_version",
diff --git a/sdks/java/extensions/schemaio-expansion-service/build.gradle b/sdks/java/extensions/schemaio-expansion-service/build.gradle
index b534af38cd42..45d75cc92d39 100644
--- a/sdks/java/extensions/schemaio-expansion-service/build.gradle
+++ b/sdks/java/extensions/schemaio-expansion-service/build.gradle
@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@ applyJavaNature(
         }
 )
 
+configurations.runtimeClasspath {
+  // Pin avro to 1.11.4 due to https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/34968
+  // cannot upgrade this to the latest version due to https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/34993
+  resolutionStrategy.force 'org.apache.avro:avro:1.11.4'
+}
+
 dependencies {
     implementation project(path: ":sdks:java:expansion-service")
     permitUnusedDeclared project(path: ":sdks:java:expansion-service") // BEAM-11761
diff --git a/sdks/java/extensions/sql/expansion-service/build.gradle b/sdks/java/extensions/sql/expansion-service/build.gradle
index 024041e40b36..efa8b8650dcd 100644
--- a/sdks/java/extensions/sql/expansion-service/build.gradle
+++ b/sdks/java/extensions/sql/expansion-service/build.gradle
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ applyJavaNature(
   }
 )
 
+configurations.runtimeClasspath {
+  // Pin avro to 1.11.4 due to https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/34968
+  // cannot upgrade this to the latest version due to https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/34993
+  resolutionStrategy.force 'org.apache.avro:avro:1.11.4'
+}
+
 description = "Apache Beam :: SDKs :: Java :: SQL :: Expansion Service"
 ext.summary = """Contains code to run a SQL Expansion Service."""
 
@@ -52,4 +58,4 @@ shadowJar {
     attributes(["Multi-Release": true])
   }
   outputs.upToDateWhen { false }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/sdks/java/io/expansion-service/build.gradle b/sdks/java/io/expansion-service/build.gradle
index 66a68a1e593b..a7f6ddca8247 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/expansion-service/build.gradle
+++ b/sdks/java/io/expansion-service/build.gradle
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ applyJavaNature(
 configurations.runtimeClasspath {
   // Pin kafka-clients version due to <3.4.0 missing auth callback classes.
   resolutionStrategy.force 'org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients:3.9.0'
+  // Pin avro to 1.11.4 due to https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/34968
+  // cannot upgrade this to the latest version due to https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/34993
+  resolutionStrategy.force 'org.apache.avro:avro:1.11.4'
 }
 
 shadowJar {
diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/expansion-service/build.gradle b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/expansion-service/build.gradle
index b5ce11853f6c..d1f65c88bdc5 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/expansion-service/build.gradle
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/expansion-service/build.gradle
@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ applyJavaNature(
         shadowClosure: {},
 )
 
+configurations.runtimeClasspath {
+  // Pin avro to 1.11.4 due to https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/34968
+  // cannot upgrade this to the latest version due to https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/34993
+  resolutionStrategy.force 'org.apache.avro:avro:1.11.4'
+}
+
 description = "Apache Beam :: SDKs :: Java :: IO :: Google Cloud Platform :: Expansion Service"
 ext.summary = "Expansion service serving GCP Java IOs"
 
@@ -53,4 +59,4 @@ shadowJar {
         attributes(["Multi-Release": true])
     }
   outputs.upToDateWhen { false }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}