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The neutron-capture reaction 140 Ce(n, γ ) is a key input for s -process nucleosynthesis due to its low capture probability, and has been discussed as a possible origin of the discrepancy between predicted and observed stellar cerium abundances. This discrepancy motivated a recent activation measurement at kT ≈ 34 keV and a time-of-flight (TOF) measurement, which reported conflicting Maxwellian-averaged cross sections (MACS), leading to large differences at the astrophysically relevant temperature of kT ≈ 8 keV. In this work, the 140 Ce(n, γ ) and 142 Ce(n, γ ) cross sections were measured using an activation technique with a quasi-Maxwellian neutron source at kT ≈ 11 keV, produced via the 18 O(p,n) reaction. A nat Ce sample was irradiated at the PTB Ion Accelerator Facility, and the induced activities were measured by an ultra-low-background HPGe detector at the Felsenkeller underground laboratory. Cross sections were determined relative to the 197 Au(n, γ ) standard and used to derive MACS values. The resulting MACS of 22.2(1.2) mb at k T = 10 keV is higher than the value previously adopted in stellar models, indicating that the observed 140 Ce abundance discrepancy is unlikely to originate from an overestimated neutron-capture cross section. The present result also provides a direct test of the widely used MACS extrapolation procedure from ∼ 30 keV to ∼ 8 keV and offers a unique insight into its reliability and potential limitations.