diff --git a/build_tools/services.rb b/build_tools/services.rb
index 5469693679c..80de0cdc460 100644
--- a/build_tools/services.rb
+++ b/build_tools/services.rb
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ class ServiceEnumerator
     MANIFEST_PATH = File.expand_path('../../services.json', __FILE__)
 
     # Minimum `aws-sdk-core` version for new gem builds
-    MINIMUM_CORE_VERSION = "3.255.0"
+    MINIMUM_CORE_VERSION = "3.254.0"
 
     # Minimum `aws-sdk-core` version for new S3 gem builds
-    MINIMUM_CORE_VERSION_S3 = "3.255.0"
+    MINIMUM_CORE_VERSION_S3 = "3.254.1"
 
     EVENTSTREAM_PLUGIN = "Aws::Plugins::EventStreamConfiguration"
 
diff --git a/gems/aws-sdk-core/CHANGELOG.md b/gems/aws-sdk-core/CHANGELOG.md
index 3a831bd9cf3..aa020723443 100644
--- a/gems/aws-sdk-core/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/gems/aws-sdk-core/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 Unreleased Changes
 ------------------
 
-* Feature - Add `rexml` as a dependency.
-
 3.254.1 (2026-08-06)
 ------------------
-
 * Issue - Fix a double space appearing in the frameworks section of the User-Agent header.
 
 3.254.0 (2026-07-09)
diff --git a/gems/aws-sdk-core/aws-sdk-core.gemspec b/gems/aws-sdk-core/aws-sdk-core.gemspec
index 739ea0f6d49..fdd3f496e58 100644
--- a/gems/aws-sdk-core/aws-sdk-core.gemspec
+++ b/gems/aws-sdk-core/aws-sdk-core.gemspec
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
   spec.add_dependency('bigdecimal')
   spec.add_dependency('jmespath', '~> 1', '>= 1.6.1') # necessary for secure jmespath JSON parsing
   spec.add_dependency('logger')
-  spec.add_dependency('rexml', '~> 3.4', '>= 3.4.2') # bundled gem since Ruby 3.0; floor clears all known CVEs
 
   spec.metadata = {
     'source_code_uri' => 'https://github.com/aws/aws-sdk-ruby/tree/version-3/gems/aws-sdk-core',