diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng3288SystemScopeDirTest.java b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng3288SystemScopeDirTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..949e2f861d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng3288SystemScopeDirTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package org.apache.maven.it;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import org.apache.maven.it.Verifier;
+import org.apache.maven.it.VerificationException;
+import org.apache.maven.it.util.ResourceExtractor;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * This is a test for <a href="http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG-3288">MNG-3288</a>.
+ * 
+ * @author Benjamin Bentmann
+ */
+public class MavenITmng3288SystemScopeDirTest
+    extends AbstractMavenIntegrationTestCase
+{
+
+    /**
+     * Test the use of a system scoped dependency to a directory instead of a JAR which should fail early.
+     */
+    public void testitMNG3288()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        File testDir = ResourceExtractor.simpleExtractResources( getClass(), "/mng-3288" );
+
+        Verifier verifier = new Verifier( testDir.getAbsolutePath() );
+        verifier.setAutoclean( false );
+        try
+        {
+            verifier.executeGoal( "org.apache.maven.its.plugins:maven-it-plugin-dependency-resolution::compile" );
+            fail( "Usage of directory instead of file for system-scoped dependency did not fail dependency resolution" );
+        }
+        catch ( VerificationException e )
+        {
+            // expected, <systemPath> of a system-scoped dependency should be a file, not a directory
+        }
+        verifier.resetStreams();
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3288/lib/test.jar b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3288/lib/test.jar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d643551990
Binary files /dev/null and b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3288/lib/test.jar differ
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3288/pom.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3288/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6ccc54f250
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3288/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<!--
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+specific language governing permissions and limitations
+under the License.
+-->
+
+<project>
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.mng3288</groupId>
+  <artifactId>mng-3288</artifactId>
+  <version>1.0</version>
+  <packaging>jar</packaging>
+
+  <name>Maven Integration Test :: MNG-3288</name> 
+  <description>
+    Test the use of a system scoped dependency to a directory instead of a JAR which should fail early.
+  </description>
+
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>it</groupId>
+      <artifactId>it</artifactId>
+      <version>1.0</version>
+      <scope>system</scope>
+      <systemPath>${basedir}/lib</systemPath>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+</project>