diff --git a/renovate.json b/renovate.json
index e8d174b76d..0c10ccbc3e 100644
--- a/renovate.json
+++ b/renovate.json
@@ -59,6 +59,16 @@
       ],
       "allowedVersions": "<5"
     },
+    {
+      "groupName": "allowed lxml versions",
+      "matchManagers": [
+        "setup-cfg"
+      ],
+      "matchPackageNames": [
+        "lxml"
+      ],
+      "allowedVersions": "<5"
+    },
     {
       "groupName": "allowed pytest versions",
       "matchManagers": [
diff --git a/src/backend/setup.cfg b/src/backend/setup.cfg
index 655a431385..8e63bb0986 100644
--- a/src/backend/setup.cfg
+++ b/src/backend/setup.cfg
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ install_requires =
     drf-spectacular==0.27.1
     gunicorn==21.2.0
     logging-ldp==0.0.7
+    lxml<5
     oauthlib==3.2.2
     Pillow==10.2.0
     psycopg[binary]==3.1.17