diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java
index 413e31b6c1..cc69a8f9ba 100644
--- a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ public class IntegrationTestSuite
         // suite.addTestSuite( MavenIT0108SnapshotUpdateTest.class ); -- MNG-3137
 
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng4955LocalVsRemoteSnapshotResolutionTest.class );
+        suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng4952MetadataReleaseInfoUpdateTest.class );
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng4936EventSpyTest.class );
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng4925ContainerLookupRealmDuringMojoExecTest.class );
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng4913UserPropertyVsDependencyPomPropertyTest.class );
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng4952MetadataReleaseInfoUpdateTest.java b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng4952MetadataReleaseInfoUpdateTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f6f99eee72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng4952MetadataReleaseInfoUpdateTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+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.util.FileUtils;
+import org.apache.maven.it.util.ResourceExtractor;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+/**
+ * This is a test set for <a href="http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG-4952">MNG-4952</a>.
+ * 
+ * @author Benjamin Bentmann
+ */
+public class MavenITmng4952MetadataReleaseInfoUpdateTest
+    extends AbstractMavenIntegrationTestCase
+{
+
+    public MavenITmng4952MetadataReleaseInfoUpdateTest()
+    {
+        super( "[2.0.3,3.0-alpha-1),[3.0.2,)" );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Verify that the metadata's RELEASE field gets updated upon deployment of a new version.
+     */
+    public void testit()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        File testDir = ResourceExtractor.simpleExtractResources( getClass(), "/mng-4952" );
+
+        Verifier verifier = newVerifier( testDir.getAbsolutePath() );
+        verifier.setAutoclean( false );
+        verifier.deleteDirectory( "target" );
+        verifier.deleteArtifacts( "org.apache.maven.its.mng4952" );
+
+        Properties props = verifier.newDefaultFilterProperties();
+
+        props.put( "@version@", "1.0" );
+        verifier.filterFile( "pom-template.xml", "pom.xml", "UTF-8", props );
+        verifier.setLogFileName( "log-1.txt" );
+        verifier.executeGoal( "validate" );
+        verifier.verifyErrorFreeLog();
+
+        props.put( "@version@", "2.0" );
+        verifier.filterFile( "pom-template.xml", "pom.xml", "UTF-8", props );
+        verifier.setLogFileName( "log-2.txt" );
+        verifier.executeGoal( "validate" );
+        verifier.verifyErrorFreeLog();
+
+        verifier.resetStreams();
+
+        File metadataFile = new File( testDir, "target/repo/org/apache/maven/its/mng4952/test/maven-metadata.xml" );
+        String xml = FileUtils.fileRead( metadataFile, "UTF-8" );
+        assertTrue( xml, xml.matches( "(?s).*<release>2\\.0</release>.*" ) );
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4952/pom-template.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4952/pom-template.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9fbc407873
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-4952/pom-template.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+<?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.mng4952</groupId>
+  <artifactId>test</artifactId>
+  <version>@version@</version>
+  <packaging>jar</packaging>
+
+  <name>Maven Integration Test :: MNG-4952</name> 
+  <description>
+    Verify that the metadata's RELEASE field gets updated upon deployment of a new version.
+  </description>
+
+  <distributionManagement>
+    <repository>
+      <id>maven-core-it</id>
+      <url>file:///${basedir}/target/repo</url>
+    </repository>
+  </distributionManagement>
+
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-artifact</artifactId>
+        <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <configuration>
+          <mainFile>pom.xml</mainFile>
+        </configuration>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>test</id>
+            <phase>validate</phase>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>set</goal>
+              <goal>release</goal>
+              <goal>install</goal>
+              <goal>deploy</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+</project>