Salesforce Composite Connector error Unexpected character ('<' (code 60)): expected a valid value (JSON String, Number, Array, Object or token 'null', 'true' or 'false') when trying to create connection

The issue is caused by connectivity testing failures for the Salesforce Composite Connector configuration, with errors indicating a missconfiguration and potential compatibility issues with the Salesforce Composite Rest API version.

Error observed:

Caused by: org.mule.runtime.api.lifecycle.LifecycleException: Could not perform connectivity testing for config 'Salesforce_Composite_Config'
Caused by: org.mule.runtime.api.exception.DefaultMuleException: Could not perform connectivity testing for config 'Salesforce_Composite_Config'
Caused by: org.mule.runtime.core.api.retry.policy.RetryPolicyExhaustedException: Connectivity test failed for config 'Salesforce_Composite_Config'
Caused by: org.mule.runtime.api.connection.ConnectionException: Connectivity test failed for config 'Salesforce_Composite_Config'
Caused by: org.mule.runtime.api.connection.ConnectionException: Invalid content. The given input stream does not contain a valid JSON.
Caused by: org.mule.runtime.extension.api.exception.ModuleException: Invalid content. The given input stream does not contain a valid JSON.
Caused by: com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException: Unexpected character ('<' (code 60)): expected a valid value (JSON String, Number, Array, Object or token 'null', 'true' or 'false')
at [Source: REDACTED (`StreamReadFeature.INCLUDE_SOURCE_IN_LOCATION` disabled); line: 4, column: 1]