diff --git a/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-ant-based/pom.xml b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-ant-based/pom.xml
index ad31dcc9e7..83f021b9e2 100644
--- a/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-ant-based/pom.xml
+++ b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-ant-based/pom.xml
@@ -90,6 +90,10 @@ under the License.
             <version>2.4.2</version>
           </dependency>
         </dependencies>
+        <configuration>
+          <!-- NOTE: We use a hand-written descriptor to decouple from MPLUGIN-136/MNG-3741 so dump the generated one -->
+          <outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}</outputDirectory>
+        </configuration>
       </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </build>
diff --git a/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-ant-based/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/plugin.xml b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-ant-based/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/plugin.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..292988c9e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-support/core-it-plugins/maven-it-plugin-ant-based/src/main/resources/META-INF/maven/plugin.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!-- NOTE: Using hand-written descriptor to decouple from MPLUGIN-136/MNG-3741 -->
+<plugin>
+  <description>A test plugin whose mojos are implemented via Ant scripts.</description>
+  <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
+  <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-ant-based</artifactId>
+  <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <goalPrefix>itant-based</goalPrefix>
+  <isolatedRealm>false</isolatedRealm>
+  <inheritedByDefault>true</inheritedByDefault>
+  <mojos>
+    <mojo>
+      <goal>touch</goal>
+      <description>Creates a touch file.</description>
+      <requiresDirectInvocation>false</requiresDirectInvocation>
+      <requiresProject>true</requiresProject>
+      <requiresReports>false</requiresReports>
+      <aggregator>false</aggregator>
+      <requiresOnline>false</requiresOnline>
+      <inheritedByDefault>false</inheritedByDefault>
+      <implementation>/touch.build.xml:touch</implementation>
+      <language>ant-mojo</language>
+      <configurator>map-oriented</configurator>
+      <composer>map-oriented</composer>
+      <instantiationStrategy>per-lookup</instantiationStrategy>
+      <executionStrategy>once-per-session</executionStrategy>
+      <parameters>
+        <parameter>
+          <name>outputFile</name>
+          <type>java.io.File</type>
+          <required>false</required>
+          <editable>true</editable>
+          <description>The path to the touch file.</description>
+        </parameter>
+        <parameter>
+          <name>basedir</name>
+          <alias>ant.basedir</alias>
+          <type>java.io.File</type>
+          <required>true</required>
+          <editable>true</editable>
+          <description>The base directory from which to execute the Ant script.</description>
+        </parameter>
+        <parameter>
+          <name>messageLevel</name>
+          <alias>ant.messageLevel</alias>
+          <type>java.lang.String</type>
+          <required>false</required>
+          <editable>true</editable>
+          <description>The message-level used to tune the verbosity of Ant logging.</description>
+        </parameter>
+      </parameters>
+      <configuration>
+        <outputFile implementation="java.io.File" default-value="target/touch.txt"/>
+        <basedir implementation="java.io.File" default-value="${basedir}">${antBasedir}</basedir>
+        <messageLevel implementation="java.lang.String" default-value="info">${antMessageLevel}</messageLevel>
+      </configuration>
+    </mojo>
+  </mojos>
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven-script-ant</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <version>2.0.6</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven-plugin-api</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <version>2.0.6</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>plexus-ant-factory</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <version>1.0-alpha-2</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>plexus-utils</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <version>1.0.5</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>classworlds</groupId>
+      <artifactId>classworlds</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <version>1.1-alpha-2</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>plexus-container-default</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <version>1.0-alpha-9-stable-1</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>junit</groupId>
+      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <version>3.8.1</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.ant</groupId>
+      <artifactId>ant</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <version>1.7.1</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.ant</groupId>
+      <artifactId>ant-launcher</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <version>1.7.1</version>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+</plugin>