diff --git a/BUILDING.md b/BUILDING.md
index 8654ec8953..6579e3ca2e 100644
--- a/BUILDING.md
+++ b/BUILDING.md
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ This will create the zip files in the directory `pmd-dist/target`:
 
 That's all !
 
-**Note:** While Java 11 is required for building, running PMD only requires Java 7 (or Java 8 for Apex and the Designer).
+**Note:** While Java 11 is required for building, running PMD only requires Java 7
+(or Java 8 for Apex, JavaScript, Scala, Visualforce, and the Designer).
 
 **Note:** With PMD 6.24.0, we are creating [Reproducible Builds](https://reproducible-builds.org/). Since we use
 [Maven](https://maven.apache.org/guides/mini/guide-reproducible-builds.html) for building, the following
diff --git a/docs/pages/pmd/devdocs/building.md b/docs/pages/pmd/devdocs/building.md
index d9a7bcbc11..97196f2179 100644
--- a/docs/pages/pmd/devdocs/building.md
+++ b/docs/pages/pmd/devdocs/building.md
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ author: Tom Copeland, Xavier Le Vourch <xlv@users.sourceforge.net>
 
 *   JDK 11 or higher
 
-{% include note.html content="While Java 11 is required for building, running PMD only requires Java 7 (or Java 8 for Apex, Scala, Visualforce, and the Designer)." %}
+{% include note.html content="While Java 11 is required for building, running PMD only requires Java 7
+(or Java 8 for Apex, JavaScript, Scala, Visualforce, and the Designer)." %}
 
 You’ll need to either check out the source code or download the latest source release. Assuming you’ve got the latest source release, unzip it to a directory:
 
diff --git a/docs/pages/pmd/userdocs/installation.md b/docs/pages/pmd/userdocs/installation.md
index 7339d1b986..264b3dbdc0 100644
--- a/docs/pages/pmd/userdocs/installation.md
+++ b/docs/pages/pmd/userdocs/installation.md
@@ -11,7 +11,13 @@ sidebar: pmd_sidebar
 
 ### Requirements
 
-*   [Java JRE](http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html) 1.7 or higher
+*   [Java JRE](http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html),
+    OpenJDK from [Azul](https://www.azul.com/downloads/zulu-community/)
+    or [AdoptOpenJDK](https://adoptopenjdk.net/) 1.7 or higher.
+    
+    **Note:** For analyzing Apex, JavaScript, Scala or VisualForce or running the [Designer](pmd_userdocs_extending_designer_reference.html)
+    at least Java 8 is required.
+    
 *   A zip archiver, e.g.:
     
     * For Windows: [Winzip](http://winzip.com) or the free [7-zip](http://www.7-zip.org/)
diff --git a/docs/pages/release_notes.md b/docs/pages/release_notes.md
index b8f8783555..3dce1681cf 100644
--- a/docs/pages/release_notes.md
+++ b/docs/pages/release_notes.md
@@ -14,8 +14,19 @@ This is a {{ site.pmd.release_type }} release.
 
 ### New and noteworthy
 
+#### Javascript module now requires at least Java 8
+
+The latest version of [Rhino](https://github.com/mozilla/rhino), the implementation of JavaScript we use
+for parsing JavaScript code, requires at least Java 8. Therefore we decided to upgrade the pmd-javascript
+module to Java 8 as well. This means, that from now on, a Java 8 or later runtime is required in order
+to analyze JavaScript code. Note, that PMD core still stays the at Java 7.
+
 ### Fixed Issues
 
+*   pmd-javascript
+    *   [#699](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/699): \[javascript] Update Rhino library to 1.7.13
+    *   [#2081](https://github.com/pmd/pmd/issues/2081): \[javascript] Failing with OutOfMemoryError parsing a Javascript file
+
 ### API Changes
 
 ### External Contributions
diff --git a/pmd-dist/pom.xml b/pmd-dist/pom.xml
index 44c0ed3eb7..39a4eec1ff 100644
--- a/pmd-dist/pom.xml
+++ b/pmd-dist/pom.xml
@@ -138,11 +138,6 @@
             <artifactId>pmd-java</artifactId>
             <version>${project.version}</version>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
-            <artifactId>pmd-javascript</artifactId>
-            <version>${project.version}</version>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
             <artifactId>pmd-jsp</artifactId>
@@ -249,6 +244,11 @@
                     <artifactId>pmd-apex</artifactId>
                     <version>${project.version}</version>
                 </dependency>
+                <dependency>
+                    <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>pmd-javascript</artifactId>
+                    <version>${project.version}</version>
+                </dependency>
                 <dependency>
                     <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
                     <artifactId>pmd-scala_2.13</artifactId>
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistributionIT.java b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistributionIT.java
index d5bff3f134..f95dc88391 100644
--- a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistributionIT.java
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistributionIT.java
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ public class BinaryDistributionIT extends AbstractBinaryDistributionTest {
     private static final String SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES_PMD;
 
     static {
-        // note: apex, visualforce, and scala require java8
+        // note: apex, javascript, visualforce, and scala require java8
         if (PMDExecutor.isJava7Test()) {
-            SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES_CPD = "Supported languages: [cpp, cs, dart, ecmascript, fortran, go, groovy, java, jsp, kotlin, lua, matlab, modelica, objectivec, perl, php, plsql, python, ruby, swift, xml]";
-            SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES_PMD = "ecmascript, java, jsp, modelica, plsql, pom, vm, wsdl, xml, xsl";
+            SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES_CPD = "Supported languages: [cpp, cs, dart, fortran, go, groovy, java, jsp, kotlin, lua, matlab, modelica, objectivec, perl, php, plsql, python, ruby, swift, xml]";
+            SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES_PMD = "java, jsp, modelica, plsql, pom, vm, wsdl, xml, xsl";
         } else {
             SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES_CPD = "Supported languages: [apex, cpp, cs, dart, ecmascript, fortran, go, groovy, java, jsp, kotlin, lua, matlab, modelica, objectivec, perl, php, plsql, python, ruby, scala, swift, vf, xml]";
             SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES_PMD = "apex, ecmascript, java, jsp, modelica, plsql, pom, scala, vf, vm, wsdl, xml, xsl";
diff --git a/pmd-javascript/pom.xml b/pmd-javascript/pom.xml
index 589a819970..534a496f49 100644
--- a/pmd-javascript/pom.xml
+++ b/pmd-javascript/pom.xml
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@
         <relativePath>../</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
+    <properties>
+        <java.version>8</java.version>
+    </properties>
+
     <build>
         <resources>
             <resource>
@@ -78,6 +82,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.mozilla</groupId>
             <artifactId>rhino</artifactId>
+            <version>1.7.13</version>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
diff --git a/pmd-javascript/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ecmascript/ast/EcmascriptParserTest.java b/pmd-javascript/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ecmascript/ast/EcmascriptParserTest.java
index b4ee5913cf..f6fe15ce3f 100644
--- a/pmd-javascript/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ecmascript/ast/EcmascriptParserTest.java
+++ b/pmd-javascript/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ecmascript/ast/EcmascriptParserTest.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ecmascript.ast;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.Reader;
@@ -181,4 +182,13 @@ public class EcmascriptParserTest extends EcmascriptParserTestBase {
         ASTAssignment infix = rootNode.getFirstDescendantOfType(ASTAssignment.class);
         assertEquals("^=", infix.getImage());
     }
+
+    /**
+     * [javascript] Failing with OutOfMemoryError parsing a Javascript file #2081
+     */
+    @Test(timeout = 5000L)
+    public void shouldNotFailWithOutOfMemory() {
+        ASTAstRoot rootNode = js.parse("(``\n);");
+        assertNotNull(rootNode);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 068c80b77c..c03411d3e2 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -687,11 +687,6 @@
                 <version>9.1.0.8</version>
                 <classifier>dom</classifier>
             </dependency>
-            <dependency>
-                <groupId>org.mozilla</groupId>
-                <artifactId>rhino</artifactId>
-                <version>1.7.7.2</version>
-            </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>net.java.dev.javacc</groupId>
                 <artifactId>javacc</artifactId>
@@ -1066,7 +1061,6 @@
         <module>pmd-groovy</module>
         <module>pmd-lua</module>
         <module>pmd-java</module>
-        <module>pmd-javascript</module>
         <module>pmd-jsp</module>
         <module>pmd-kotlin</module>
         <module>pmd-matlab</module>
@@ -1086,6 +1080,7 @@
         <module>pmd-apex-jorje</module>
         <module>pmd-apex</module>
         <module>pmd-java8</module>
+        <module>pmd-javascript</module>
         <module>pmd-doc</module>
         <module>pmd-lang-test</module>
         <module>pmd-scala</module> <!-- deprecated -->