diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d515baf3f..112313611 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 		<springdata.commons>3.5.4-SNAPSHOT</springdata.commons>
 
 		<!-- version of the ElasticsearchClient	-->
-		<elasticsearch-java>8.18.5</elasticsearch-java>
+		<elasticsearch-java>8.18.6</elasticsearch-java>
 
 		<hoverfly>0.19.0</hoverfly>
 		<log4j>2.23.1</log4j>
diff --git a/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/versions.adoc b/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/versions.adoc
index 9bac49717..eec3240f1 100644
--- a/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/versions.adoc
+++ b/src/main/antora/modules/ROOT/pages/elasticsearch/versions.adoc
@@ -6,7 +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
-| 2025.0 | 5.5.x | 8.18.5 | 6.2.x
+| 2025.0 | 5.5.x | 8.18.6 | 6.2.x
 | 2024.1 | 5.4.x | 8.15.5 | 6.1.x
 | 2024.0 | 5.3.xfootnote:oom[Out of maintenance] | 8.13.4 | 6.1.x
 | 2023.1 (Vaughan) | 5.2.xfootnote:oom[] | 8.11.1 | 6.1.x
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/elc/RequestConverter.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/elc/RequestConverter.java
index 6eba731cf..b6f8e77b0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/elc/RequestConverter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/elc/RequestConverter.java
@@ -1036,18 +1036,7 @@ class RequestConverter extends AbstractQueryProcessor {
 				List<SortOptions> sortOptions = getSortOptions(query.getSort(), persistentEntity);
 
 				if (!sortOptions.isEmpty()) {
-					dqb.sort(
-							sortOptions.stream()
-									.map(sortOption -> {
-										String order = "asc";
-										var sortField = sortOption.field();
-										if (sortField.order() != null) {
-											order = sortField.order().jsonValue();
-										}
-
-										return sortField.field() + ':' + order;
-									})
-									.collect(Collectors.toList()));
+					dqb.sort(sortOptions);
 				}
 			}
 			if (query.getRefresh() != null) {
diff --git a/src/test/resources/testcontainers-elasticsearch.properties b/src/test/resources/testcontainers-elasticsearch.properties
index 22b0e1478..62721e89d 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=8.18.5
+sde.testcontainers.image-version=8.18.6
 #
 #
 # 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