File upload to firebase storage fails, java security exception, permission denied

Question

I am trying to write a simple function to register a user to firebase and upload his profile picture to firebase storage.

The code I currently have:

public static void createNewUser(String email, String username, String password, @Nullable Uri profileImage) {
        auth.createUserWithEmailAndPassword(email, password).addOnCompleteListener(authTask -> {
            if (authTask.isSuccessful()) {
                assert auth.getCurrentUser() != null;
                String uid = auth.getCurrentUser().getUid();

                StorageReference storageReference = storage.getReference("profileImages/" + uid);
                if (profileImage != null)
                    storageReference.putFile(profileImage);
            }
            else throw new RuntimeException("Error creating user!");
        });
    }

The Uri is retrieved with the following code:(The Uri is a path to a image in device storage)

ActivityResultLauncher<String> contentGetter = registerForActivityResult(new ActivityResultContracts.GetContent(), uri -> {
            profileImage.setImageURI(uri);
            this.profileImageUri = uri;
        });
contentGetter.launch("image/*");

NOTE: the error is thrown from "storageReference.putFile(profileImage);"

When I run this code I get the following error:

java.lang.SecurityException: Permission Denial: opening provider com.android.providers.media.MediaDocumentsProvider from ProcessRecord{fcb00f2 10396:com.mediamania/u0a146} (pid=10396, uid=10146) requires that you obtain access using ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT or related APIs

My current premissions:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

Any idea what causes this?