diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index c1221edaa1..efd8a6c791 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ group(:test) do
   gem "rspec", "~> 3.1", require: false
   gem "rspec-expectations", ["~> 3.9", "!= 3.9.3"]
   gem "rspec-its", "~> 1.1", require: false
+  gem 'rspec-mocks', '< 3.13.3', require: false # breaking change afterwards: https://github.com/rspec/rspec-mocks/pull/1596
   gem 'vcr', '~> 5.0', require: false
   gem 'webmock', '~> 3.0', require: false
   gem 'webrick', '~> 1.7', require: false if RUBY_VERSION.to_f >= 3.0
diff --git a/lib/puppet/face/facts.rb b/lib/puppet/face/facts.rb
index 1c16905ac4..20eda733b4 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/face/facts.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/face/facts.rb
@@ -164,7 +164,15 @@
 
       case result
       when Array, Hash
-        Puppet::Util::Json.dump(result, :pretty => true)
+        # JSON < 2.8.0 would pretty print empty arrays and hashes with newlines
+        # Maintain that behavior for our users for now
+        if result.is_a?(Array) && result.empty?
+          "[\n\n]"
+        elsif result.is_a?(Hash) && result.empty?
+          "{\n}"
+        else
+          Puppet::Util::Json.dump(result, :pretty => true)
+        end
       else # one of VALID_TYPES above
         result
       end
diff --git a/puppet.gemspec b/puppet.gemspec
index ed9817807a..9047db7cbe 100644
--- a/puppet.gemspec
+++ b/puppet.gemspec
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
   spec.add_runtime_dependency(%q<concurrent-ruby>, "~> 1.0")
   spec.add_runtime_dependency(%q<deep_merge>, "~> 1.0")
   spec.add_runtime_dependency(%q<scanf>, "~> 1.0")
+  spec.add_runtime_dependency(%q<json>, "< 2.9") # last known good version is 2.8.2
 
   # For building platform specific puppet gems...the --platform flag is only supported in newer Ruby versions
   platform = spec.platform.to_s
diff --git a/spec/unit/application/facts_spec.rb b/spec/unit/application/facts_spec.rb
index 24d08c59a2..c3aecd0425 100644
--- a/spec/unit/application/facts_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/application/facts_spec.rb
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@
 
     {
       "type_hash" => [{'a' => 2}, "{\n  \"a\": 2\n}"],
+      "type_empty_hash" => [{}, "{\n}"],
       "type_array" => [[], "[\n\n]"],
       "type_string" => ["str", "str"],
       "type_int" => [1, "1"],
diff --git a/spec/unit/provider/package/puppetserver_gem_spec.rb b/spec/unit/provider/package/puppetserver_gem_spec.rb
index 170877b8a7..37b32cf1b3 100644
--- a/spec/unit/provider/package/puppetserver_gem_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/provider/package/puppetserver_gem_spec.rb
@@ -77,7 +77,13 @@
 
       it "raises if given an invalid URI" do
         resource[:source] = 'h;ttp://rubygems.com'
-        expect { provider.install }.to raise_error(Puppet::Error, /Invalid source '': bad URI\(is not URI\?\)/)
+        # Older versions of URI don't have a space before the opening
+        # parenthesis in the error message, newer versions do
+        if Gem::Version.new(RUBY_VERSION.dup) < Gem::Version.new('3.0.0')
+          expect { provider.install }.to raise_error(Puppet::Error, /Invalid source '': bad URI\(is not URI\?\)/)
+        else
+          expect { provider.install }.to raise_error(Puppet::Error, /Invalid source '': bad URI \(is not URI\?\)/)
+        end
       end
     end
   end