NoClassDefFoundError while running unit tests with Roboelectric 3.8

My Android project has several modules (one application and multiple libraries) and when I try to run all the unit tests (Robolectric 3.8) from the command line

./gradlew testDebugUnitTest

I get the following error (not when I run the same task from Android Studio)

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: android/content/Context at java.base/java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructors0(Native Method) at java.base/java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredConstructors(Class.java:3110) at java.base/java.lang.Class.getConstructor0(Class.java:3315) at java.base/java.lang.Class.getConstructor(Class.java:2108) at org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner.getHooksInterface(RobolectricTestRunner.java:473) at org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner.beforeTest(RobolectricTestRunner.java:308) at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner$2.evaluate(SandboxTestRunner.java:241) at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner.runChild(SandboxTestRunner.java:123) at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner.runChild(SandboxTestRunner.java:42) at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:290) at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:71) at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:288) at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:58) at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:268) at org.robolectric.internal.SandboxTestRunner$1.evaluate(SandboxTestRunner.java:77) at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363) at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junit.JUnitTestClassExecuter.runTestClass(JUnitTestClassExecuter.java:114) at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junit.JUnitTestClassExecuter.execute(JUnitTestClassExecuter.java:57) at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junit.JUnitTestClassProcessor.processTestClass(JUnitTestClassProcessor.java:66) at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.SuiteTestClassProcessor.processTestClass(SuiteTestClassProcessor.java:51) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:564) at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:35) at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:24) at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ContextClassLoaderDispatch.dispatch(ContextClassLoaderDispatch.java:32) at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ProxyDispatchAdapter$DispatchingInvocationHandler.invoke(ProxyDispatchAdapter.java:93) at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy1.processTestClass(Unknown Source) at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.worker.TestWorker.processTestClass(TestWorker.java:108) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:564) at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:35) at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:24) at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHubBackedObjectConnection$DispatchWrapper.dispatch(MessageHubBackedObjectConnection.java:146) at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHubBackedObjectConnection$DispatchWrapper.dispatch(MessageHubBackedObjectConnection.java:128) at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHub$Handler.run(MessageHub.java:404) at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ExecutorPolicy$CatchAndRecordFailures.onExecute(ExecutorPolicy.java:63) at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ManagedExecutorImpl$1.run(ManagedExecutorImpl.java:46) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1167) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:641) at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ThreadFactoryImpl$ManagedThreadRunnable.run(ThreadFactoryImpl.java:55) at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:844) Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: couldn't load android.content.Context at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader.maybeInstrumentClass(SandboxClassLoader.java:174) at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader.lambda$findClass$0(SandboxClassLoader.java:133) at org.robolectric.util.PerfStatsCollector.measure(PerfStatsCollector.java:50) at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader.findClass(SandboxClassLoader.java:132) at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:563) at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:496) ... 45 more Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException at org.objectweb.asm.ClassReader.(Unknown Source) at org.objectweb.asm.ClassReader.(Unknown Source) at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader$ClassInstrumentor.isOverridingFinalMethod(SandboxClassLoader.java:502) at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader$ClassInstrumentor.instrumentInheritedObjectMethod(SandboxClassLoader.java:523) at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader$ClassInstrumentor.instrument(SandboxClassLoader.java:395) at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader$InvokeDynamicClassInstrumentor.instrument(SandboxClassLoader.java:1274) at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader.getInstrumentedBytes(SandboxClassLoader.java:271) at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader.lambda$maybeInstrumentClass$1(SandboxClassLoader.java:166) at org.robolectric.util.PerfStatsCollector.measure(PerfStatsCollector.java:50) at org.robolectric.internal.bytecode.SandboxClassLoader.maybeInstrumentClass(SandboxClassLoader.java:165) ... 50 more

The build.gradle file on each module contains the following configuration

testOptions {
    unitTests {
        returnDefaultValues true
    }
}

The application module defines a couple of flavours all running in the same dimension

flavorDimensions 'default'

Any idea?

from NoClassDefFoundError while running unit tests with Roboelectric 3.8