diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 4cbe7d6f06..15fc7ef2cc 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -299,6 +299,12 @@
         <artifactId>plexus-utils</artifactId>
         <version>4.0.0</version>
       </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
+        <artifactId>plexus-xml</artifactId>
+        <!-- To keep Maven 3.x compatibility - use only 3.x versions -->
+        <version>3.0.0</version>
+      </dependency>
 
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.junit</groupId>
diff --git a/versions-model-report/pom.xml b/versions-model-report/pom.xml
index 91e1c72f9e..72f9bd4d4c 100644
--- a/versions-model-report/pom.xml
+++ b/versions-model-report/pom.xml
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
       <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
       <artifactId>plexus-utils</artifactId>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>plexus-xml</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
   <build>
diff --git a/versions-model/pom.xml b/versions-model/pom.xml
index 7dc1ffea08..1be2f7a262 100644
--- a/versions-model/pom.xml
+++ b/versions-model/pom.xml
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
       <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
       <artifactId>plexus-utils</artifactId>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>plexus-xml</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
   <build>