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 cb6fd22bd6..aec6e7aaf9 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
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ MavenITmng3415JunkRepositoryMetadataTest
 MavenITmng3645POMSyntaxErrorTest
 */
 
+        suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng3796Test.class );
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng3748BadSettingsXmlTest.class );
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng3747PrefixedPathExpressionTest.class );
         suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng3746POMPropertyOverrideTest.class );
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng3796Test.java b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng3796Test.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9340dbd5f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng3796Test.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+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.ResourceExtractor;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+/**
+ * This is a test set for <a href="http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG-3796">MNG-3796</a>.
+ * 
+ * @author Benjamin Bentmann
+ * @version $Id$
+ */
+public class MavenITmng3796Test
+    extends AbstractMavenIntegrationTestCase
+{
+
+    /**
+     * Verify that classes shared with the Maven core realm are properly imported into the plugin realm.
+     */
+    public void testitMNG3796()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        File testDir = ResourceExtractor.simpleExtractResources( getClass(), "/mng-3796" );
+        Verifier verifier = new Verifier( testDir.getAbsolutePath() );
+        verifier.setAutoclean( false );
+        verifier.deleteDirectory( "target" );
+        verifier.executeGoal( "validate" );
+        verifier.verifyErrorFreeLog();
+        verifier.resetStreams();
+
+        Properties pclProps = verifier.loadProperties( "target/pcl.properties" );
+        assertNotNull( pclProps.getProperty( "org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.Xpp3Dom" ) );
+
+        Properties tcclProps = verifier.loadProperties( "target/tccl.properties" );
+        assertEquals( pclProps, tcclProps );
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3796/pom.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3796/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1a088e3c9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-3796/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+<?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.mng3796</groupId>
+  <artifactId>project</artifactId>
+  <version>1.0</version>
+
+  <name>Maven Integration Test :: MNG-3796</name> 
+  <description>
+    Verify that classes shared with the Maven core realm are properly imported into the plugin realm.
+  </description>
+  
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-class-loader</artifactId>
+        <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>load</id>
+            <phase>validate</phase>
+            <configuration>
+              <classNames>org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.Xpp3Dom</classNames>
+              <pluginClassLoaderOutput>target/pcl.properties</pluginClassLoaderOutput>
+              <contextClassLoaderOutput>target/tccl.properties</contextClassLoaderOutput>
+            </configuration>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>load</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+</project>