diff --git a/misc/distroless_tools/Dockerfile b/misc/distroless_tools/Dockerfile
index 241934aa74..cabbf8ebac 100644
--- a/misc/distroless_tools/Dockerfile
+++ b/misc/distroless_tools/Dockerfile
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-FROM openjdk:17-jdk-slim AS build-env
+FROM gradle:jdk21 AS build-env
 COPY . /app/
 WORKDIR /app
+RUN cd validator && gradle wrapper
 RUN /app/validator/bin/build
 
-FROM gcr.io/distroless/java17-debian12
+FROM gcr.io/distroless/java21-debian12
 WORKDIR /app
 COPY --from=build-env /app/validator/build/libs/ /app/
 COPY gencode/java/udmi/schema /app/schema