diff --git a/.github/dependabot.yml b/.github/dependabot.yml
index 44894de590e..bcf185fd1cd 100644
--- a/.github/dependabot.yml
+++ b/.github/dependabot.yml
@@ -8,4 +8,9 @@ updates:
       # ignore because it does not work with java 8
       - dependency-name: "org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-site-plugin"
       - dependency-name: "com.puppycrawl.tools:checkstyle"
-        versions: ["10.x"]
\ No newline at end of file
+        versions: ["10.x"]
+
+      # ignore because changing the logger configuration at runtime
+      # does not work any longer - have to investigate this
+      - dependency-name: "org.apache.logging.log4j:*"
+        versions: ["2.21.0"]
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 808921a9e58..b4a6bb2b24c 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 
         <httpcomponents.version>4.5.14</httpcomponents.version>
         <jetty.version>9.4.53.v20231009</jetty.version>
-        <log4j.version>2.21.0</log4j.version>
+        <log4j.version>2.20.0</log4j.version>
 
         <!-- As a property, as it is included in Checkstyle build -->
         <checkstyle.version>9.3</checkstyle.version>