diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index e13a601..6d16971 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -369,7 +369,13 @@
                     <plugin>
                         <groupId>org.sonatype.central</groupId>
                         <artifactId>central-publishing-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <version>0.10.0</version>
+                        <!--
+                          0.12.0 (Oct 2026): fixes a multi-module bundling regression in 0.10.0 where the
+                          "Pre Bundling" cleanup could leave stray group-level maven-metadata-central-staging.xml
+                          entries in central-bundle.zip, causing the Central Portal to reject the deployment with
+                          "Bundle has content that does NOT have a .pom file". See RLAB-617.
+                        -->
+                        <version>0.12.0</version>
                         <extensions>true</extensions>
                         <configuration>
                             <publishingServerId>ossrh</publishingServerId>