diff --git a/modules/common/src/main/java/com/ibm/cloud/cloudant/internal/ErrorTransformInterceptor.java b/modules/common/src/main/java/com/ibm/cloud/cloudant/internal/ErrorTransformInterceptor.java
index 2ec87a3bf..49ebe2dce 100644
--- a/modules/common/src/main/java/com/ibm/cloud/cloudant/internal/ErrorTransformInterceptor.java
+++ b/modules/common/src/main/java/com/ibm/cloud/cloudant/internal/ErrorTransformInterceptor.java
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public Response intercept(Chain chain) throws IOException {
         // Don't modify the request, but get the response
         Response response = chain.proceed(chain.request());
         if (!response.isSuccessful() // skip successful responses
-            && response.body() != null // skip cases with no body
+            && response.body() != null && !ResponseBody.EMPTY.equals(response.body()) // skip cases with no body
             && response.body().contentType() != null // skip cases with no content type
             && "application".equals(response.body().contentType().type())
             && "json".equals(response.body().contentType().subtype()) // we only want to work with application/json
diff --git a/modules/common/src/test/java/com/ibm/cloud/cloudant/internal/ErrorTransformInterceptorTest.java b/modules/common/src/test/java/com/ibm/cloud/cloudant/internal/ErrorTransformInterceptorTest.java
index 0bfbd1ad8..f20023570 100644
--- a/modules/common/src/test/java/com/ibm/cloud/cloudant/internal/ErrorTransformInterceptorTest.java
+++ b/modules/common/src/test/java/com/ibm/cloud/cloudant/internal/ErrorTransformInterceptorTest.java
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
 import com.ibm.cloud.sdk.core.security.NoAuthAuthenticator;
 import com.ibm.cloud.sdk.core.util.GsonSingleton;
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertTrue;
@@ -340,7 +339,7 @@ void runTest(Interceptor interceptor) throws IOException {
         } else {
           // If we aren't asserting a specific part of augment check the body is unchanged
           if ("HEAD" == r.request().method()) {
-            assertNull(r.body());
+            assertEquals(r.body(), ResponseBody.EMPTY);
           } else {
             assertEquals(r.body().string(), responseBody); 
           }
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a927812a8..edf8307fd 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@
     <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
     <properties>
-        <sdk-core-version>9.24.3</sdk-core-version>
+        <sdk-core-version>9.25.0</sdk-core-version>
 
         <git-repository-name>cloudant-java-sdk</git-repository-name>
 
         <testng-version>7.7.1</testng-version>
-        <okhttp3-version>4.12.0</okhttp3-version>
+        <okhttp3-version>5.3.2</okhttp3-version>
         <surefire-version>3.5.4</surefire-version>
         <jacoco-plugin-version>0.8.14</jacoco-plugin-version>
         <maven-deploy-plugin-version>3.1.4</maven-deploy-plugin-version>