diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 608191649..4e8524420 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -100,20 +100,23 @@
     <dependencyManagement>
         <dependencies>
             <!--
-              Pin json-smart to 2.4.8. The 17.104 framework line pulls json-path 2.9.0 -> json-smart
+              Pin json-smart to 2.5.2. The 17.104 framework line pulls json-path 2.9.0 -> json-smart
               2.4.9 transitively (compile scope in listing-event-processor, test scope elsewhere via
-              RestPoller). json-smart 2.4.9 added an over-aggressive "Malicious payload, having non
-              natural depths" guard that wrongly rejects large-but-legitimate JSON (~64KB+), throwing
-              InvalidJsonException. This breaks any JsonPath evaluation over a >64KB document — e.g.
+              RestPoller). json-smart 2.4.9 has a regression in its depth guard: the nesting counter
+              is not decremented correctly, so the hardcoded MAX_DEPTH=400 effectively caps the total
+              number of objects/arrays in a document rather than actual nesting depth. Legitimate
+              large payloads (~64KB+) then fail with "Malicious payload, having non natural depths"
+              (InvalidJsonException), breaking any JsonPath evaluation over a big document — e.g.
               RangeSearchQueryForCourtCalendarIT, whose court-centre verify response exceeds 64KB once
-              it holds 5 hearings — and is a latent production risk in the event processor. 2.4.8 has
-              no such guard and is compatible with json-path 2.9.0 (verified). Revisit when a fixed
-              json-smart (2.5.2+) is available.
+              it holds 5 hearings — and a latent production risk in the event processor. 2.5.x fixes
+              the counter (correct depth accounting) while keeping the guard. 2.5.2 verified against
+              the failing payload and compatible with json-path 2.9.0.
+              https://github.com/aws-solutions/distributed-load-testing-on-aws/issues/146
             -->
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>net.minidev</groupId>
                 <artifactId>json-smart</artifactId>
-                <version>2.4.8</version>
+                <version>2.5.2</version>
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>uk.gov.justice.services</groupId>