diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index db3bc5965..e4b5e441f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -181,10 +181,11 @@
           <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
           <version>2.2</version>
         </plugin>
+        <!-- 2.7.1 fails due in the webapp-tests (SUREFIRE-679) -->
         <plugin>
           <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
           <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-          <version>2.7.1</version>
+          <version>2.5</version>
           <configuration>
             <redirectTestOutputToFile>true</redirectTestOutputToFile>
           </configuration>