diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index a4d81f37757..49a59ee5f11 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ variables:
   BUILD_JOB_NAME: "build"
   DEPENDENCY_CACHE_POLICY: pull
   BUILD_CACHE_POLICY: pull
-  GRADLE_VERSION: "9.6.1" # must match gradle-wrapper.properties
+  GRADLE_VERSION: "9.7.0" # must match gradle-wrapper.properties
   MASS_READ_URL: "https://mass-read.us1.ddbuild.io"
   MAVEN_REPOSITORY_PROXY: "https://depot-read-api-java.us1.ddbuild.io/magicmirror/magicmirror/@current/"
   GRADLE_PLUGIN_PROXY: "https://depot-read-api-java.us1.ddbuild.io/magicmirror/magicmirror/@current/"
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/datadog/gradle/plugin/muzzle/MuzzleAction.kt b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/datadog/gradle/plugin/muzzle/MuzzleAction.kt
index b01c9845054..59d391bad11 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/datadog/gradle/plugin/muzzle/MuzzleAction.kt
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/datadog/gradle/plugin/muzzle/MuzzleAction.kt
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@ abstract class MuzzleAction : WorkAction<MuzzleWorkParameters> {
         @Volatile
         private var lastBuildPathCount: Int = 0
 
-        fun createClassLoader(cp: FileCollection, parent: ClassLoader = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader()): ClassLoader {
+        // Keep Gradle's bundled libraries out while retaining platform JDK classes.
+        fun createClassLoader(
+          cp: FileCollection,
+          parent: ClassLoader? = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader().parent
+        ): ClassLoader {
             val urls = cp.map { it.toURI().toURL() }.toTypedArray()
             return URLClassLoader(urls, parent)
         }
diff --git a/dd-smoke-tests/gradle/src/test/resources/latest-tool-versions.properties b/dd-smoke-tests/gradle/src/test/resources/latest-tool-versions.properties
index 9493af4c3a7..0560b87f752 100644
--- a/dd-smoke-tests/gradle/src/test/resources/latest-tool-versions.properties
+++ b/dd-smoke-tests/gradle/src/test/resources/latest-tool-versions.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Pinned latest eligible stable versions (>=48h old) for CI Visibility Gradle smoke tests.
 # Updated automatically by the update-smoke-test-latest-versions workflow.
-gradle.latest=9.6.1
+gradle.latest=9.7.0
 # Latest eligible stable patch per Gradle major release. Used to resolve the "oldest" smoke-test
 # Gradle version (the latest patch of the oldest major the current TestKit supports).
 gradle.latest.3=3.5.1
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ gradle.latest.5=5.6.4
 gradle.latest.6=6.9.4
 gradle.latest.7=7.6.6
 gradle.latest.8=8.14.5
-gradle.latest.9=9.6.1
+gradle.latest.9=9.7.0
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
index b1b8ef56b44..eddabd2eef8 100644
Binary files a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar and b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar differ
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index dbe66e1d665..84c5a9c661a 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionSha256Sum=9c0f7faeeb306cb14e4279a3e084ca6b596894089a0638e68a07c945a32c9e14
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-9.6.1-bin.zip
+distributionSha256Sum=84fbba45c7f4c64abc77460e1c00f541e9f960e3c7ed2538f1ede19eacd873ae
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-9.7.0-bin.zip
 networkTimeout=10000
 retries=0
 retryBackOffMs=500