diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 641e0c5ab56b..2f15bb43d080 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@
         <rxjava.version>2.2.21</rxjava.version>
         <commons-codec.verion>1.10</commons-codec.verion>
         <jmh.version>1.29</jmh.version>
-        <awscrt.version>0.13.2</awscrt.version>
+        <awscrt.version>0.13.5</awscrt.version>
 
         <!--Test dependencies -->
         <junit.version>4.13.1</junit.version>
diff --git a/services-custom/s3-transfer-manager/src/it/java/software/amazon/awssdk/transfer/s3/CrtExceptionTransformationIntegrationTest.java b/services-custom/s3-transfer-manager/src/it/java/software/amazon/awssdk/transfer/s3/CrtExceptionTransformationIntegrationTest.java
index 5bd8659ab848..f61714e4efc4 100644
--- a/services-custom/s3-transfer-manager/src/it/java/software/amazon/awssdk/transfer/s3/CrtExceptionTransformationIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/services-custom/s3-transfer-manager/src/it/java/software/amazon/awssdk/transfer/s3/CrtExceptionTransformationIntegrationTest.java
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 package software.amazon.awssdk.transfer.s3;
 
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
-import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import software.amazon.awssdk.services.s3.model.GetObjectRequest;
@@ -41,33 +40,30 @@ public class CrtExceptionTransformationIntegrationTest extends S3IntegrationTest
 
     private static final int OBJ_SIZE = 8 * 1024;
     private static RandomTempFile testFile;
-    private S3TransferManager transferManager;
-    private S3CrtAsyncClient s3Crt;
+    private static S3TransferManager transferManager;
+    private static S3CrtAsyncClient s3Crt;
 
     @BeforeClass
-    public static void setupFixture() {
+    public static void setupFixture() throws IOException {
         createBucket(BUCKET);
+        testFile = new RandomTempFile(BUCKET, OBJ_SIZE);
+        s3Crt = S3CrtAsyncClient.builder()
+                                .credentialsProvider(CREDENTIALS_PROVIDER_CHAIN)
+                                .region(S3IntegrationTestBase.DEFAULT_REGION)
+                                .build();
+        transferManager =
+            S3TransferManager.builder()
+                             .s3ClientConfiguration(b -> b.credentialsProvider(CREDENTIALS_PROVIDER_CHAIN)
+                                                          .region(S3IntegrationTestBase.DEFAULT_REGION))
+                             .build();
     }
 
     @AfterClass
     public static void tearDownFixture() {
         deleteBucketAndAllContents(BUCKET);
-    }
-
-    @Before
-    public void methodSetup() throws IOException {
-        testFile = new RandomTempFile(BUCKET, OBJ_SIZE);
-        s3Crt = S3CrtAsyncClient.builder()
-                .credentialsProvider(CREDENTIALS_PROVIDER_CHAIN)
-                .region(S3IntegrationTestBase.DEFAULT_REGION)
-                .build();
-        transferManager =
-                S3TransferManager.builder()
-                        .s3ClientConfiguration(b -> b.credentialsProvider(CREDENTIALS_PROVIDER_CHAIN)
-                                .region(S3IntegrationTestBase.DEFAULT_REGION)
-                                .targetThroughputInGbps(20.0)
-                                .minimumPartSizeInBytes(1000L))
-                        .build();
+        s3Crt.close();
+        transferManager.close();
+        testFile.delete();
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/services-custom/s3-transfer-manager/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/transfer/s3/internal/CrtCredentialsProviderAdapter.java b/services-custom/s3-transfer-manager/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/transfer/s3/internal/CrtCredentialsProviderAdapter.java
index 4a0b74aa9093..60b1ddd7bd16 100644
--- a/services-custom/s3-transfer-manager/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/transfer/s3/internal/CrtCredentialsProviderAdapter.java
+++ b/services-custom/s3-transfer-manager/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/transfer/s3/internal/CrtCredentialsProviderAdapter.java
@@ -42,8 +42,7 @@ public CrtCredentialsProviderAdapter(AwsCredentialsProvider credentialsProvider)
                 byte[] accessKey = sdkCredentials.accessKeyId().getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
                 byte[] secreteKey = sdkCredentials.secretAccessKey().getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
 
-                // TODO: confirm with CRT if set empty means null. Currently setting null causes the crash
-                byte[] sessionTokens = new byte[0];
+                byte[] sessionTokens = null;
                 if (sdkCredentials instanceof AwsSessionCredentials) {
                     sessionTokens =
                         ((AwsSessionCredentials) sdkCredentials).sessionToken().getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);