diff --git a/controllers/common.go b/controllers/common.go
index 9cdeb90b5..da1067ad8 100644
--- a/controllers/common.go
+++ b/controllers/common.go
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ func getSecretPrefix(o objWithSecret) string {
 // userConfigurationToAPI converts user config into a map
 func userConfigurationToAPI(c any, groups ...string) (map[string]any, error) {
 	if c == nil || (reflect.ValueOf(c).Kind() == reflect.Ptr && reflect.ValueOf(c).IsNil()) {
-		return nil, nil
+		return map[string]any{}, nil
 	}
 
 	o := &sheriff.Options{
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ func userConfigurationToAPI(c any, groups ...string) (map[string]any, error) {
 	if !ok {
 		// It is an empty pointer
 		// sheriff just returned the very same object
-		return nil, nil
+		return map[string]any{}, nil
 	}
 
 	return m, nil
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 228e9891e..b73d9646b 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 module github.com/aiven/aiven-operator
 
-go 1.18
+go 1.21
+
+toolchain go1.21.1
 
 require (
 	github.com/aiven/aiven-go-client/v2 v2.2.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 36d3985aa..7c2d3e38b 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ github.com/envoyproxy/go-control-plane v0.9.9-0.20210512163311-63b5d3c536b0/go.m
 github.com/envoyproxy/protoc-gen-validate v0.1.0/go.mod h1:iSmxcyjqTsJpI2R4NaDN7+kN2VEUnK/pcBlmesArF7c=
 github.com/evanphx/json-patch v0.5.2/go.mod h1:ZWS5hhDbVDyob71nXKNL0+PWn6ToqBHMikGIFbs31qQ=
 github.com/evanphx/json-patch v4.12.0+incompatible h1:4onqiflcdA9EOZ4RxV643DvftH5pOlLGNtQ5lPWQu84=
+github.com/evanphx/json-patch v4.12.0+incompatible/go.mod h1:50XU6AFN0ol/bzJsmQLiYLvXMP4fmwYFNcr97nuDLSk=
 github.com/evanphx/json-patch/v5 v5.6.0 h1:b91NhWfaz02IuVxO9faSllyAtNXHMPkC5J8sJCLunww=
 github.com/evanphx/json-patch/v5 v5.6.0/go.mod h1:G79N1coSVB93tBe7j6PhzjmR3/2VvlbKOFpnXhI9Bw4=
 github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify v1.6.0 h1:n+5WquG0fcWoWp6xPWfHdbskMCQaFnG6PfBrh1Ky4HY=
@@ -298,7 +299,9 @@ github.com/mwitkow/go-conntrack v0.0.0-20190716064945-2f068394615f/go.mod h1:qRW
 github.com/niemeyer/pretty v0.0.0-20200227124842-a10e7caefd8e h1:fD57ERR4JtEqsWbfPhv4DMiApHyliiK5xCTNVSPiaAs=
 github.com/niemeyer/pretty v0.0.0-20200227124842-a10e7caefd8e/go.mod h1:zD1mROLANZcx1PVRCS0qkT7pwLkGfwJo4zjcN/Tysno=
 github.com/nxadm/tail v1.4.8 h1:nPr65rt6Y5JFSKQO7qToXr7pePgD6Gwiw05lkbyAQTE=
+github.com/nxadm/tail v1.4.8/go.mod h1:+ncqLTQzXmGhMZNUePPaPqPvBxHAIsmXswZKocGu+AU=
 github.com/onsi/ginkgo v1.16.5 h1:8xi0RTUf59SOSfEtZMvwTvXYMzG4gV23XVHOZiXNtnE=
+github.com/onsi/ginkgo v1.16.5/go.mod h1:+E8gABHa3K6zRBolWtd+ROzc/U5bkGt0FwiG042wbpU=
 github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 v2.3.1 h1:8SbseP7qM32WcvE6VaN6vfXxv698izmsJ1UQX9ve7T8=
 github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 v2.3.1/go.mod h1:Sv4yQXwG5VmF7tm3Q5Z+RWUpPo24LF1mpnz2crUb8Ys=
 github.com/onsi/gomega v1.22.1 h1:pY8O4lBfsHKZHM/6nrxkhVPUznOlIu3quZcKP/M20KI=
@@ -306,6 +309,7 @@ github.com/onsi/gomega v1.22.1/go.mod h1:x6n7VNe4hw0vkyYUM4mjIXx3JbLiPaBPNgB7PRQ
 github.com/otiai10/copy v1.14.0 h1:dCI/t1iTdYGtkvCuBG2BgR6KZa83PTclw4U5n2wAllU=
 github.com/otiai10/copy v1.14.0/go.mod h1:ECfuL02W+/FkTWZWgQqXPWZgW9oeKCSQ5qVfSc4qc4w=
 github.com/otiai10/mint v1.5.1 h1:XaPLeE+9vGbuyEHem1JNk3bYc7KKqyI/na0/mLd/Kks=
+github.com/otiai10/mint v1.5.1/go.mod h1:MJm72SBthJjz8qhefc4z1PYEieWmy8Bku7CjcAqyUSM=
 github.com/pkg/errors v0.8.0/go.mod h1:bwawxfHBFNV+L2hUp1rHADufV3IMtnDRdf1r5NINEl0=
 github.com/pkg/errors v0.8.1/go.mod h1:bwawxfHBFNV+L2hUp1rHADufV3IMtnDRdf1r5NINEl0=
 github.com/pkg/errors v0.9.1 h1:FEBLx1zS214owpjy7qsBeixbURkuhQAwrK5UwLGTwt4=
@@ -387,6 +391,7 @@ go.uber.org/atomic v1.7.0 h1:ADUqmZGgLDDfbSL9ZmPxKTybcoEYHgpYfELNoN+7hsw=
 go.uber.org/atomic v1.7.0/go.mod h1:fEN4uk6kAWBTFdckzkM89CLk9XfWZrxpCo0nPH17wJc=
 go.uber.org/goleak v1.1.10/go.mod h1:8a7PlsEVH3e/a/GLqe5IIrQx6GzcnRmZEufDUTk4A7A=
 go.uber.org/goleak v1.2.0 h1:xqgm/S+aQvhWFTtR0XK3Jvg7z8kGV8P4X14IzwN3Eqk=
+go.uber.org/goleak v1.2.0/go.mod h1:XJYK+MuIchqpmGmUSAzotztawfKvYLUIgg7guXrwVUo=
 go.uber.org/multierr v1.6.0 h1:y6IPFStTAIT5Ytl7/XYmHvzXQ7S3g/IeZW9hyZ5thw4=
 go.uber.org/multierr v1.6.0/go.mod h1:cdWPpRnG4AhwMwsgIHip0KRBQjJy5kYEpYjJxpXp9iU=
 go.uber.org/zap v1.19.0/go.mod h1:xg/QME4nWcxGxrpdeYfq7UvYrLh66cuVKdrbD1XF/NI=
@@ -798,6 +803,7 @@ gopkg.in/errgo.v2 v2.1.0/go.mod h1:hNsd1EY+bozCKY1Ytp96fpM3vjJbqLJn88ws8XvfDNI=
 gopkg.in/inf.v0 v0.9.1 h1:73M5CoZyi3ZLMOyDlQh031Cx6N9NDJ2Vvfl76EDAgDc=
 gopkg.in/inf.v0 v0.9.1/go.mod h1:cWUDdTG/fYaXco+Dcufb5Vnc6Gp2YChqWtbxRZE0mXw=
 gopkg.in/tomb.v1 v1.0.0-20141024135613-dd632973f1e7 h1:uRGJdciOHaEIrze2W8Q3AKkepLTh2hOroT7a+7czfdQ=
+gopkg.in/tomb.v1 v1.0.0-20141024135613-dd632973f1e7/go.mod h1:dt/ZhP58zS4L8KSrWDmTeBkI65Dw0HsyUHuEVlX15mw=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.1/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.2/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.3/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=