diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 33b7781..1c7933f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -209,6 +209,18 @@ under the License.
       <version>4.12</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.jenkins-ci</groupId>
+      <artifactId>test-annotations</artifactId>
+      <version>1.2</version>
+      <scope>test</scope>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.google.code.findbugs</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jsr305</artifactId>
+      <version>3.0.2</version>
+      <scope>provided</scope>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
   
   <build>
diff --git a/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenEmbedderCallable.java b/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenEmbedderCallable.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87508d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenEmbedderCallable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017 Oleg Nenashev.
+ *
+ * Licensed 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.
+ */
+package hudson.maven;
+
+/**
+ * Callable interface for the Maven Embedder logic.
+ * 
+ * Used primarily for testing purposes.
+ * @author Oleg Nenashev
+ */
+/*package*/ interface MavenEmbedderCallable {
+    
+    public void call() throws MavenEmbedderException;
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenEmbedderUtils.java b/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenEmbedderUtils.java
index 1bc5036..46ab9fd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenEmbedderUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenEmbedderUtils.java
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.jar.JarEntry;
 import java.util.jar.JarFile;
+import javax.annotation.CheckForNull;
+import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
 
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.ComparableVersion;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.AntClassLoader;
@@ -179,14 +181,17 @@ private static PlexusContainer buildPlexusContainer(MavenRequest mavenRequest,Co
         }
     }
         
-    
-    
     /**
-     * @param mavenHome
+     * @param mavenHome Maven Home directory
      * @return the maven version 
-     * @throws MavenEmbedderException
+     * @throws MavenEmbedderException Operation failure
      */
-    public static MavenInformation getMavenVersion(File mavenHome) throws MavenEmbedderException {
+    public static MavenInformation getMavenVersion(@Nonnull File mavenHome) throws MavenEmbedderException {
+        return getMavenVersion(mavenHome, null);
+    }
+    
+    /*package*/ static MavenInformation getMavenVersion(@Nonnull File mavenHome, 
+            @CheckForNull MavenEmbedderCallable preopertiesPreloadHook) throws MavenEmbedderException {
         
         ClassRealm realm = buildClassRealm( mavenHome, null, null );
         if (debug) {
@@ -213,6 +218,9 @@ public static MavenInformation getMavenVersion(File mavenHome) throws MavenEmbed
                     final JarEntry entry = (entryName != null && jarFile != null) ? jarFile.getJarEntry(entryName) : null;
                     if (entry != null) {
                         inputStream = jarFile.getInputStream(entry);
+                        if (preopertiesPreloadHook != null) {
+                            preopertiesPreloadHook.call();
+                        }
                         Properties properties = new Properties();
                         properties.load( inputStream );
                         information = new MavenInformation( properties.getProperty( "version" ) , resource.toExternalForm() );
diff --git a/src/test/java/hudson/maven/TestMavenEmbedderUtils.java b/src/test/java/hudson/maven/TestMavenEmbedderUtils.java
index a2783c5..148cd11 100644
--- a/src/test/java/hudson/maven/TestMavenEmbedderUtils.java
+++ b/src/test/java/hudson/maven/TestMavenEmbedderUtils.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.ComparableVersion;
 
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
+import org.jvnet.hudson.test.Issue;
 
 /**
  * @author Olivier Lamy
@@ -48,5 +49,20 @@ public void testGetMavenVersionFromInvalidLocation() {
     public void testisAtLeastMavenVersion() throws Exception {
        assertTrue( MavenEmbedderUtils.isAtLeastMavenVersion( new File( System.getProperty( "maven.home" ) ), "3.0" ) );
        assertFalse( MavenEmbedderUtils.isAtLeastMavenVersion( new File( "src/test/maven-2.2.1" ), "3.0" ) );
-    }     
+    }
+    
+    @Issue("JENKINS-42549")
+    public void testIfFailsInTheCaseOfRaceConditions() throws Exception {
+        final File mvnHome = new File( System.getProperty( "maven.home" ));
+        final MavenEmbedderCallable nestedLoad = new MavenEmbedderCallable() {
+            @Override
+            public void call() throws MavenEmbedderException {
+                // Here we invoke the nested call in order to emulate the race condition
+                // between multiple threads.
+                MavenEmbedderUtils.getMavenVersion(mvnHome);
+            }
+        };
+         
+        MavenEmbedderUtils.getMavenVersion(mvnHome, nestedLoad); 
+    }
 }