diff --git a/docs/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/docs/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index aa6f0516e..23fc633a3 100644
--- a/docs/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/docs/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ If above conditions are met, it is strongly advised to upgrade the MongoDB Kuber
 - Bug fixes
   - Fixed ignoring changes to existing volumes in the StatefulSet, i.e. changes of the volumes' underlying secret. This could cause that TLS enabled MongoDB deployment was not able to locate TLS certificates when upgrading the operator to versions 0.7.3 or 0.7.4.   
 
+- Security fixes
+  - The operator, readiness and versionhook binaries are now built with 1.18.5 which addresses security issues.
 
 # MongoDB Kubernetes Operator 0.7.4
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index b1a9f784c..b4ad820e9 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 module github.com/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-operator
 
-go 1.17
+go 1.18
 
 require (
 	github.com/blang/semver v3.5.1+incompatible
diff --git a/scripts/dev/templates/readiness/Dockerfile.builder b/scripts/dev/templates/readiness/Dockerfile.builder
index 52cb51c4c..193767d8b 100644
--- a/scripts/dev/templates/readiness/Dockerfile.builder
+++ b/scripts/dev/templates/readiness/Dockerfile.builder
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM golang:1.18.4-alpine as builder
+FROM golang:1.18.5-alpine as builder
 
 COPY ./cmd/readiness /build/
 COPY ./pkg /build/pkg
diff --git a/scripts/dev/templates/versionhook/Dockerfile.builder b/scripts/dev/templates/versionhook/Dockerfile.builder
index 85e94bf56..80257d8d0 100644
--- a/scripts/dev/templates/versionhook/Dockerfile.builder
+++ b/scripts/dev/templates/versionhook/Dockerfile.builder
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM golang:1.17.6 as builder
+FROM golang:1.18.5 as builder
 
 ENV GO111MODULE=on
 ENV GOFLAGS="-mod=vendor"