diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f25e70472a2cabb3812cbd6112d974630ebb781c..97d12bae79a84ecc0c81b89e54437522c5f1cc93 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -354,20 +354,11 @@ THE SOFTWARE.
           <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
           <version>2.13</version> <!-- ignoring ${maven-surefire-plugin.version} -->
           <configuration>
-            <systemProperties>
-              <property>
-                <name>java.io.tmpdir</name>
-                <value>${project.build.directory}</value>
-              </property>
-              <property>
-                <name>java.awt.headless</name>
-                <value>true</value>
-              </property>
-              <property>
-                <name>forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds</name>
-                <value>3600</value>
-              </property>
-            </systemProperties>
+            <systemPropertyVariables>
+              <java.io.tmpdir>${project.build.directory}</java.io.tmpdir>
+              <forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds>3600</forkedProcessTimeoutInSeconds>
+              <java.awt.headless>true</java.awt.headless>
+            </systemPropertyVariables>
           </configuration>
         </plugin>
         <plugin>
diff --git a/test/pom.xml b/test/pom.xml
index 5262f092624d606d10e661c3571058f3c0129efe..4c3dad0890b9583456b6bd06679962b4421e51c5 100644
--- a/test/pom.xml
+++ b/test/pom.xml
@@ -186,21 +186,12 @@ THE SOFTWARE.
         <!-- version specified in grandparent pom -->
         <configuration>
           <argLine>-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -XX:MaxPermSize=128m</argLine>
-          <systemProperties>
-            <property>
+          <systemPropertyVariables>
               <!-- use AntClassLoader that supports predictable file handle release -->
-              <name>hudson.ClassicPluginStrategy.useAntClassLoader</name>
-              <value>true</value>
-            </property>
-            <property>
-              <name>hudson.maven.debug</name>
-              <value>${mavenDebug}</value>
-            </property>
-            <property>
-              <name>buildDirectory</name>
-              <value>${project.build.directory}</value>
-            </property>
-          </systemProperties>
+              <hudson.ClassicPluginStrategy.useAntClassLoader>true</hudson.ClassicPluginStrategy.useAntClassLoader>
+              <hudson.maven.debug>${mavenDebug}</hudson.maven.debug>
+              <buildDirectory>${project.build.directory}</buildDirectory>
+          </systemPropertyVariables>
           <forkMode>perthread</forkMode> <!-- XXX https://jira.codehaus.org/browse/SUREFIRE-946 so use kill -9 to stop -->
           <reuseForks>true</reuseForks> <!-- https://jira.codehaus.org/browse/SUREFIRE-751 -->
           <threadCount>4</threadCount> <!-- XXX https://jira.codehaus.org/browse/SUREFIRE-947 -->