Merge branch '3.4.x'

Closes gh-45211

Author: wilkinsona

Diff for: spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/json/JsonValueWriter.java

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.UncheckedIOException;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.ArrayDeque;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Deque;
@@ -114,6 +115,9 @@ else if (value instanceof WritableJson writableJson) {
 				throw new UncheckedIOException(ex);
 			}
 		}
+		else if (value instanceof Path p) {
+			writeString(p.toString());
+		}
 		else if (value instanceof Iterable<?> iterable) {
 			writeArray(iterable::forEach);
 		}

Diff for: spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/json/JsonValueWriterTests.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2012-2024 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2012-2025 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 package org.springframework.boot.json;
 
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -240,6 +241,16 @@ void endWhenNotStartedThrowsException() {
 			.isThrownBy(() -> valueWriter.end(Series.ARRAY)));
 	}
 
+	@Test // gh-44502
+	void writeJavaNioPathWhenSingleElementShouldBeSerializedAsString() {
+		assertThat(doWrite((valueWriter) -> valueWriter.write(Path.of("a")))).isEqualTo(quoted("a"));
+	}
+
+	@Test // gh-44502
+	void writeJavaNioPathShouldBeSerializedAsString() {
+		assertThat(doWrite((valueWriter) -> valueWriter.write(Path.of("a/b/c")))).isEqualTo(quoted("a\\/b\\/c"));
+	}
+
 	private <V> String write(V value) {
 		return doWrite((valueWriter) -> valueWriter.write(value));
 	}