diff --git a/tests/WORKSPACE b/tests/WORKSPACE
index 0b119b04..af5f1500 100644
--- a/tests/WORKSPACE
+++ b/tests/WORKSPACE
@@ -336,8 +336,8 @@ protobuf_deps()
 
 http_archive(
     name = "rules_java",
-    sha256 = "f79a6e10cdd213ceded45884914bb8c68f0c8d41144e74ec89ebb74984c409ac",
-    urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_java/releases/download/8.8.0/rules_java-8.8.0.tar.gz"],
+    sha256 = "1b30698d89dccd9dc01b1a4ad7e9e5c6e669cdf1918dbb050334e365b40a1b5e",
+    urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_java/releases/download/8.16.1/rules_java-8.16.1.tar.gz"],
 )
 
 load("@rules_java//java:rules_java_deps.bzl", "rules_java_dependencies")