diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 0f5502fde3e..ba542ea222f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1174,7 +1174,7 @@
     <procedure.test.jar>hbase-procedure-${project.version}-tests.jar</procedure.test.jar>
     <it.test.jar>hbase-it-${project.version}-tests.jar</it.test.jar>
     <annotations.test.jar>hbase-annotations-${project.version}-tests.jar</annotations.test.jar>
-    <surefire.version>2.19</surefire.version>
+    <surefire.version>2.18.1</surefire.version>
     <surefire.provider>surefire-junit47</surefire.provider>
     <!-- default: run small & medium, medium with 2 threads -->
     <surefire.skipFirstPart>false</surefire.skipFirstPart>