diff --git a/core-plugins/pom.xml b/core-plugins/pom.xml
index d18e00dff..b3176b7bc 100644
--- a/core-plugins/pom.xml
+++ b/core-plugins/pom.xml
@@ -186,12 +186,12 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
       <artifactId>poi</artifactId>
-      <version>5.2.4</version>
+      <version>5.2.5</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
       <artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId>
-      <version>5.2.4</version>
+      <version>5.2.5</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.github.pjfanning</groupId>
diff --git a/core-plugins/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/batch/source/ExcelInputFormat.java b/core-plugins/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/batch/source/ExcelInputFormat.java
index d5f0ef5d1..a7e46a30f 100644
--- a/core-plugins/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/batch/source/ExcelInputFormat.java
+++ b/core-plugins/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/batch/source/ExcelInputFormat.java
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Workbook;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.WorkbookFactory;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.util.CellReference;
+import org.apache.poi.util.IOUtils;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
@@ -66,6 +67,8 @@ public class ExcelInputFormat extends TextInputFormat {
   public static final String FILE_PATTERN = "filePattern";
   public static final String SHEET = "sheet";
   public static final String SHEET_VALUE = "sheetValue";
+  public static final String EXCEL_BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE = "excel.byteArrayMaxOverride";
+  public static final int EXCEL_BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE_DEFAULT = Integer.MAX_VALUE / 2;
 
   @Override
   public RecordReader<LongWritable, Text> createRecordReader(InputSplit split, TaskAttemptContext context) {
@@ -80,7 +83,7 @@ public boolean isSplitable(JobContext context, Path file) {
   public static void setConfigurations(Job job, String filePattern, String sheet, boolean reprocess,
                                        String sheetValue, String columnList, boolean skipFirstRow,
                                        String terminateIfEmptyRow, String rowLimit, String ifErrorRecord,
-                                       String processedFiles) {
+                                       String processedFiles, int byteArrayMaxOverride) {
 
     Configuration configuration = job.getConfiguration();
     configuration.set(FILE_PATTERN, filePattern);
@@ -100,6 +103,7 @@ public static void setConfigurations(Job job, String filePattern, String sheet,
 
     configuration.set(IF_ERROR_RECORD, ifErrorRecord);
     configuration.set(PROCESSED_FILES, processedFiles);
+    configuration.set(EXCEL_BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE, String.valueOf(byteArrayMaxOverride));
   }
 
 
@@ -175,6 +179,9 @@ public void initialize(InputSplit genericSplit, TaskAttemptContext context) thro
             isStreaming = true;
             break;
           case OLE2:
+            // workaround for large files
+            IOUtils.setByteArrayMaxOverride(job.getInt(EXCEL_BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE,
+                                                       ExcelInputFormat.EXCEL_BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE_DEFAULT));
             workbook = WorkbookFactory.create(is);
             break;
           default:
diff --git a/core-plugins/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/batch/source/ExcelInputReader.java b/core-plugins/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/batch/source/ExcelInputReader.java
index e6e549bf0..38157d85e 100644
--- a/core-plugins/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/batch/source/ExcelInputReader.java
+++ b/core-plugins/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/batch/source/ExcelInputReader.java
@@ -318,11 +318,16 @@ public void prepareRun(BatchSourceContext batchSourceContext) throws Exception {
       processFiles = GSON.toJson(getAllProcessedFiles(batchSourceContext), ARRAYLIST_PREPROCESSED_FILES);
     }
 
+    Map<String, String> arguments = new HashMap<>(batchSourceContext.getArguments().asMap());
+    int byteArrayMaxOverride = arguments.containsKey(ExcelInputFormat.EXCEL_BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE) ?
+      Integer.parseInt(arguments.get(ExcelInputFormat.EXCEL_BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE)) :
+      ExcelInputFormat.EXCEL_BYTE_ARRAY_MAX_OVERRIDE_DEFAULT;
+
     ExcelInputFormat.setConfigurations(job, excelInputreaderConfig.filePattern, excelInputreaderConfig.sheet,
                                        excelInputreaderConfig.reprocess, excelInputreaderConfig.sheetValue,
                                        excelInputreaderConfig.columnList, excelInputreaderConfig.skipFirstRow,
                                        excelInputreaderConfig.terminateIfEmptyRow, excelInputreaderConfig.rowsLimit,
-                                       excelInputreaderConfig.ifErrorRecord, processFiles);
+                                       excelInputreaderConfig.ifErrorRecord, processFiles, byteArrayMaxOverride);
 
     // Sets the input path(s).
     ExcelInputFormat.addInputPaths(job, excelInputreaderConfig.filePath);