diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index bb27dd2f5..0c259c45b 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@
 		<springdata.commons>4.2.0-SNAPSHOT</springdata.commons>
 
 		<!-- version of the ElasticsearchClient	-->
-		<elasticsearch-java>9.4.2</elasticsearch-java>
-		<elasticsearch-rest-client>9.4.2</elasticsearch-rest-client>
+		<elasticsearch-java>9.4.3</elasticsearch-java>
+		<elasticsearch-rest-client>9.4.3</elasticsearch-rest-client>
 
 		<hoverfly>0.20.2</hoverfly>
 		<log4j>2.25.4</log4j>
diff --git a/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-new.adoc b/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-new.adoc
index 2d6170020..35c5e3a47 100644
--- a/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-new.adoc
+++ b/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-new.adoc
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 [[new-features]]
 = What's new
 
+[[new-features.6-2-0]]
+== New in Spring Data Elasticsearch 6.2
+
+* Upgrade to Elasticsearch 9.4.3
+
 [[new-features.6-1-0]]
 == New in Spring Data Elasticsearch 6.1
 
diff --git a/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/versions.adoc b/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/versions.adoc
index 76b310550..f63ff4420 100644
--- a/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/versions.adoc
+++ b/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/versions.adoc
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ The following table shows the Elasticsearch and Spring versions that are used by
 [cols="^,^,^,^",options="header"]
 |===
 | Spring Data Release Train | Spring Data Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch | Spring Framework
+| 2026.1 | 6.2.x | 9.4.3 | 7.0.x
 | 2026.0 | 6.1.x | 9.4.2 | 7.0.x
 | 2025.1 | 6.0.x | 9.2.2 | 7.0.x
 | 2025.0 | 5.5.xfootnote:oom[Out of maintenance] | 8.18.1 | 6.2.x
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/index/MappingBuilderIntegrationTests.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/index/MappingBuilderIntegrationTests.java
index 4662254a2..8abd5e484 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/index/MappingBuilderIntegrationTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/index/MappingBuilderIntegrationTests.java
@@ -280,6 +280,12 @@ public abstract class MappingBuilderIntegrationTests extends MappingContextBaseT
 		operations.indexOps(FieldAliasEntity.class).createWithMapping();
 	}
 
+	@Test // #3298
+	@DisplayName("should write index prefixes with default value")
+	void shouldWriteIndexPrefixesWithDefaultValue() {
+		operations.indexOps(TextIndexPrefixesEntity.class).createWithMapping();
+	}
+
 	// region Entities
 	@Document(indexName = "#{@indexNameProvider.indexName()}")
 	static class Book {
@@ -931,5 +937,14 @@ public abstract class MappingBuilderIntegrationTests extends MappingContextBaseT
 		@Field(type = Text) private String otherText;
 	}
 
+	@Document(indexName = "#{@indexNameProvider.indexName()}")
+	private static class TextIndexPrefixesEntity {
+		@Id
+		@Nullable private String id;
+		@Nullable
+		// the min value is set to the default
+		@Field(type = Text, indexPrefixes = @IndexPrefixes(maxChars = 10)) private String someText;
+	}
+
 	// endregion
 }
diff --git a/src/test/resources/testcontainers-elasticsearch.properties b/src/test/resources/testcontainers-elasticsearch.properties
index b3ccc12a9..fe904f17c 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/testcontainers-elasticsearch.properties
+++ b/src/test/resources/testcontainers-elasticsearch.properties
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #
 #
 sde.testcontainers.image-name=docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch
-sde.testcontainers.image-version=9.4.2
+sde.testcontainers.image-version=9.4.3
 #
 #
 # needed as we do a DELETE /* at the end of the tests, will be required from 8.0 on, produces a warning since 7.13