diff --git a/asciidoctorj-pdf/build.gradle b/asciidoctorj-pdf/build.gradle
index d92f092..a50309e 100644
--- a/asciidoctorj-pdf/build.gradle
+++ b/asciidoctorj-pdf/build.gradle
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ dependencies {
   gems "rubygems:text-hyphen:$textHyphenVersion"
   gems "rubygems:ttfunk:$ttfunkGemVersion"
   gems "rubygems:css_parser:$cssParserGemVersion"
-  gems "rubygems:rexml:$rexmlGemVersion"
 
   testImplementation "org.apache.pdfbox:pdfbox:$pdfboxVersion"
 }
diff --git a/asciidoctorj-pdf/gradle.properties b/asciidoctorj-pdf/gradle.properties
index 4e36b77..62a2327 100644
--- a/asciidoctorj-pdf/gradle.properties
+++ b/asciidoctorj-pdf/gradle.properties
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 properName=AsciidoctorJ PDF
 description=AsciidoctorJ PDF bundles the Asciidoctor PDF RubyGem (asciidoctor-pdf) so it can be loaded into the JVM using JRuby.
-version=2.3.17
+version=2.3.18
 gem_name=asciidoctor-pdf
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 1c80d66..0c7b8bb 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ ext {
 
   // gem versions
   asciidoctorJVersion = project.hasProperty('asciidoctorJVersion') ? project.asciidoctorJVersion : '2.5.7'
-  asciidoctorPdfGemVersion = project.hasProperty('asciidoctorPdfGemVersion') ? project.asciidoctorPdfGemVersion : '2.3.17'
+  asciidoctorPdfGemVersion = project.hasProperty('asciidoctorPdfGemVersion') ? project.asciidoctorPdfGemVersion : '2.3.18'
 
   addressableVersion = '2.8.0'
   concurrentRubyVersion = '1.1.7'
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ ext {
   prawnGemVersion=project.hasProperty('prawnGemVersion') ? project.prawnGemVersion : '2.4.0'
   prawnSvgGemVersion = "0.34.1"
   rghostGemVersion = '0.9.7'
-  rexmlGemVersion = '3.2.6'
   threadSafeGemVersion = '0.3.6'
   ttfunkGemVersion = '1.7.0'
   cssParserGemVersion = '1.12.0'
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index fd0f77b..1c321af 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-version=2.3.17
+version=2.3.18
 sourceCompatibility=1.8
 targetCompatibility=1.8