diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 9a554fd4a62..708cece3d3e 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1434,7 +1434,7 @@
     <it.test.jar>hbase-it-${project.version}-tests.jar</it.test.jar>
     <annotations.test.jar>hbase-annotations-${project.version}-tests.jar</annotations.test.jar>
     <rsgroup.test.jar>hbase-rsgroup-${project.version}-tests.jar</rsgroup.test.jar>
-    <surefire.version>2.20</surefire.version>
+    <surefire.version>2.19.1</surefire.version>
     <surefire.provider>surefire-junit47</surefire.provider>
     <!-- default: run small & medium, medium with 2 threads -->
     <surefire.skipFirstPart>false</surefire.skipFirstPart>