diff --git a/CHANGELOG.adoc b/CHANGELOG.adoc
index b9f41efd9..a754e1526 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.adoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.adoc
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ For a detailed view of what has changed, refer to the {url-repo}/commits/main[co
 
 == Unreleased
 
-_No changes since previous release._
+Compliance::
+
+* lock version of rexml (pulled in by asciidoctor-diagram and prawn-svg) to fix incompatibility
 
 == 2.3.15 (2024-03-12) - @mojavelinux
 
diff --git a/asciidoctor-pdf.gemspec b/asciidoctor-pdf.gemspec
index 997e260e3..e9ae29e47 100644
--- a/asciidoctor-pdf.gemspec
+++ b/asciidoctor-pdf.gemspec
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_runtime_dependency 'prawn-svg', '~> 0.34.0'
   s.add_runtime_dependency 'prawn-icon', '~> 3.0.0'
   s.add_runtime_dependency 'concurrent-ruby', '~> 1.1'
+  s.add_runtime_dependency 'rexml', '3.2.6' # lock rexml to 3.2.6 since 3.2.7 and up breaks Ruby
   s.add_runtime_dependency 'treetop', '~> 1.6.0'
 
   s.add_development_dependency 'rake', '~> 13.0.0'