diff --git a/gateway-ha/src/main/java/io/trino/gateway/proxyserver/MultiReadHttpServletRequest.java b/gateway-ha/src/main/java/io/trino/gateway/proxyserver/MultiReadHttpServletRequest.java
index 35d8e6249..f706bf0e4 100644
--- a/gateway-ha/src/main/java/io/trino/gateway/proxyserver/MultiReadHttpServletRequest.java
+++ b/gateway-ha/src/main/java/io/trino/gateway/proxyserver/MultiReadHttpServletRequest.java
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.StringReader;
+import java.io.Reader;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 public class MultiReadHttpServletRequest
@@ -87,6 +87,6 @@ public int read(byte[] b)
     public BufferedReader getReader()
             throws IOException
     {
-        return new BufferedReader(new StringReader(new String(content, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)));
+        return new BufferedReader(Reader.of(new String(content, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)));
     }
 }
diff --git a/gateway-ha/src/test/java/io/trino/gateway/ha/router/TestRoutingGroupSelector.java b/gateway-ha/src/test/java/io/trino/gateway/ha/router/TestRoutingGroupSelector.java
index 0e2f47c1d..e1a92726b 100644
--- a/gateway-ha/src/test/java/io/trino/gateway/ha/router/TestRoutingGroupSelector.java
+++ b/gateway-ha/src/test/java/io/trino/gateway/ha/router/TestRoutingGroupSelector.java
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 import java.io.BufferedWriter;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.StringReader;
+import java.io.Reader;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -526,7 +526,7 @@ uno as (SELECT c1 FROM dos)
         TrinoQueryProperties trinoQueryPropertiesWithDefaults = getTrinoQueryProps(mockRequestNoDefaults);
         Set<QualifiedName> tablesWithDefaults = trinoQueryPropertiesWithDefaults.getTables();
         assertThat(tablesWithDefaults).containsExactly(QualifiedName.of("cat", "schem", "tbl1"));
-        when(mockRequestNoDefaults.getReader()).thenReturn(new BufferedReader(new StringReader(query)));
+        when(mockRequestNoDefaults.getReader()).thenReturn(new BufferedReader(Reader.of(query)));
 
         TrinoQueryProperties trinoQueryPropertiesNoDefaults = (TrinoQueryProperties) mockRequestNoDefaults.getAttribute(TRINO_QUERY_PROPERTIES);
         Set<QualifiedName> tablesNoDefaults = trinoQueryPropertiesNoDefaults.getTables();
diff --git a/gateway-ha/src/test/java/io/trino/gateway/ha/util/QueryRequestMock.java b/gateway-ha/src/test/java/io/trino/gateway/ha/util/QueryRequestMock.java
index 3cc4a9231..f2bd14b9a 100644
--- a/gateway-ha/src/test/java/io/trino/gateway/ha/util/QueryRequestMock.java
+++ b/gateway-ha/src/test/java/io/trino/gateway/ha/util/QueryRequestMock.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.io.StringReader;
+import java.io.Reader;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ public int read()
             }
         });
 
-        when(mockRequest.getReader()).thenReturn(new BufferedReader(new StringReader(query)));
+        when(mockRequest.getReader()).thenReturn(new BufferedReader(Reader.of(query)));
         when(mockRequest.getQueryString()).thenReturn("");
         return this;
     }
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 71dae8075..504ec4fc0 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
         <air.java.version>25.0.0</air.java.version>
         <air.check.skip-spotbugs>true</air.check.skip-spotbugs>
         <air.check.skip-pmd>true</air.check.skip-pmd>
-        <air.modernizer.java-version>8</air.modernizer.java-version>
+        <air.modernizer.java-version>25</air.modernizer.java-version>
         <air.release.preparation-goals>clean verify -DskipTests</air.release.preparation-goals>
     </properties>
 
@@ -101,6 +101,17 @@
 
     <build>
         <plugins>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.gaul</groupId>
+                <artifactId>modernizer-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                <configuration>
+                    <exclusions>
+                        <!-- Modernizer emits false-positive warnings even when presence is guaranteed -->
+                        <exclusion>java/util/Optional.get:()Ljava/lang/Object;</exclusion>
+                    </exclusions>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
+
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>