diff --git a/deps/deps.json b/deps/deps.json
index 7e36f6b..b5805b5 100644
--- a/deps/deps.json
+++ b/deps/deps.json
@@ -273,6 +273,7 @@
     "typesafe-config": "mvn:com.typesafe:config:1.3.2",
     "validation-api": "mvn:javax.validation:validation-api:2.0.1.Final",
     "checkstyle": "mvn:com.puppycrawl.tools:checkstyle:8.10",
+    // N.B. WHEN UPDATING KARAF: check the kafka-clients library version. Chain of dependencies: karaf->pax-logging-log4j2->log4j2-core->kafka-clients
     "apache-karaf": "https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/onosproject/apache-karaf-offline/4.2.8-offline-20200131/apache-karaf-4.2.8-offline-20200131.tar.gz",
     "bndlib": "mvn:biz.aQute.bnd:biz.aQute.bndlib:jar:4.1.0",
     "bndexe": "mvn:biz.aQute.bnd:biz.aQute.bnd:4.1.0",
@@ -331,7 +332,7 @@
     "bcprov-jdk15on": "mvn:org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on:1.59",
     "hamcrest-optional": "mvn:com.spotify:hamcrest-optional:1.1.0",
     "swagger-annotations": "mvn:io.swagger:swagger-annotations:1.5.16",
-    "kafka-clients": "mvn:org.apache.servicemix.bundles:org.apache.servicemix.bundles.kafka-clients:0.8.2.2_1",
+    "kafka-clients": "mvn:org.apache.servicemix.bundles:org.apache.servicemix.bundles.kafka-clients:1.1.1_1",
     "tinder-xmpp": "mvn:org.igniterealtime:tinder:1.3.0",
     "aalto-xml": "mvn:com.fasterxml:aalto-xml:1.0.0",
     "stax2-api": "mvn:org.codehaus.woodstox:stax2-api:4.0.0",