diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/pom.xml b/its/core-it-suite/pom.xml
index 536a5b90fd29..6bb0069a2791 100644
--- a/its/core-it-suite/pom.xml
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/pom.xml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ under the License.
   <parent>
     <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
     <artifactId>core-its</artifactId>
-    <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>4.0.0-rc-4-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>core-it-suite</artifactId>
@@ -36,12 +36,22 @@ under the License.
 
     mvn clean test -Prun-its
 
-  This will subject the Maven version running the build to the integration tests. If you would like to test a different
-  Maven distribution, you can use the system property "mavenHome" to specify the path of the Maven distribution to test:
+  This will test the Maven distribution generated by the current build (apache-maven/target/apache-maven-xxx.zip).
+
+  If you would like to test the Maven version running the build instead, use the "maven-from-build" profile:
+
+    mvn clean test -Prun-its,maven-from-build
+
+  The "maven-from-build" profile restores the old default behavior where the integration tests run against the
+  Maven installation that is executing the build (i.e., the value of ${maven.home}). This is useful when you want
+  to test against a specific Maven installation without having to build the distribution first.
+
+  You can also specify the path of a specific Maven distribution to test using the "mavenHome" property (this
+  automatically activates the "maven-from-build" profile):
 
     mvn clean test -Prun-its -DmavenHome=<maven-under-test>
 
-  Alternatively, you can just specify the version of a previously installed/deployed Maven distribution which will be
+  Alternatively, you can specify the version of a previously installed/deployed Maven distribution which will be
   downloaded, unpacked and tested:
 
     mvn clean test -Prun-its -DmavenVersion=2.2.1
@@ -62,8 +72,8 @@ under the License.
   -->
 
   <properties>
-    <!-- The original Maven distribution to test. -->
-    <mavenHome>${maven.home}</mavenHome>
+    <!-- The original Maven distribution to test. By default, use the distribution built by the current build. -->
+    <mavenHome>${project.build.directory}/apache-maven</mavenHome>
     <!-- The (possibly instrumented copy of the) Maven distribution we actually
       use for the tests. -->
     <preparedMavenHome>${mavenHome}</preparedMavenHome>
@@ -80,6 +90,8 @@ under the License.
     <jetty9Version>9.4.57.v20241219</jetty9Version>
 
     <stubPluginVersion>0.1-stub-SNAPSHOT</stubPluginVersion>
+    <!-- Support artifacts version - kept separate from Maven version -->
+    <core-it-support-version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</core-it-support-version>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
@@ -125,37 +137,37 @@ under the License.
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-bootstrap</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
       <artifactId>core-it-component</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
       <artifactId>core-it-toolchain</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
       <artifactId>core-it-wagon</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-helper</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
       <artifactId>core-it-extension</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
       <artifactId>core-it-javaagent</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
@@ -235,227 +247,227 @@ under the License.
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-active-collection</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-artifact</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-class-loader</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-configuration</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-context-passing</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-dependency-collection</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-dependency-resolution</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-expression</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-error</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-extension-consumer</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-extension-provider</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-fork</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-invalid-descriptor</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-log-file</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-model-interpolation</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-no-default-comp</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-no-project</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-online</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-optional-mojos</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-packaging</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-plugin-dependency</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-project</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-project-interpolation</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-setter</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-singleton-component</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-site</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-toolchain</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-touch</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-uses-properties</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-uses-wagon</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-all</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-plexus-utils-11</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-plexus-utils-new</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-plexus-component-api</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-log4j</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-extension1</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-extension2</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-plexus-lifecycle</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-settings</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>mng-5805-pkg-type-mojo-configuration-extension</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>mng-5805-pkg-type-mojo-configuration-extension2</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>mng-5805-pkg-type-mojo-configuration-plugin</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>mng-5805-pkg-type-mojo-configuration-plugin-dep</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>mng-5958-pkg-type-extension</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.its.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>mng-6759-resolves-project-dependencies-plugin</artifactId>
-      <version>${project.version}</version>
+      <version>${core-it-support-version}</version>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
@@ -539,9 +551,59 @@ under the License.
           </execution>
         </executions>
       </plugin>
+      <!-- Default behavior: extract and use the Maven distribution built by the current build -->
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>unpack-built-maven-distro</id>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>run</goal>
+            </goals>
+            <phase>process-test-resources</phase>
+            <configuration>
+              <target>
+                <delete dir="${mavenHome}" />
+                <unzip dest="${mavenHome}" src="${session.rootDirectory}/apache-maven/target/apache-maven-${project.version}-bin.zip">
+                  <regexpmapper from="^([^/]+)/(.*)$" handledirsep="true" to="\2" />
+                </unzip>
+                <chmod dir="${mavenHome}/bin" includes="mvn,mvnDebug,mvnenc" perm="ugo+rx" />
+              </target>
+            </configuration>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </build>
   <profiles>
+    <profile>
+      <id>maven-from-build</id>
+      <activation>
+        <property>
+          <name>mavenHome</name>
+        </property>
+      </activation>
+      <properties>
+        <!-- Use the Maven installation running the build (old default behavior) -->
+        <mavenHome>${maven.home}</mavenHome>
+      </properties>
+      <build>
+        <plugins>
+          <!-- Disable the default distribution extraction when using mavenHome -->
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+            <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
+            <executions>
+              <execution>
+                <id>unpack-built-maven-distro</id>
+                <phase>none</phase>
+              </execution>
+            </executions>
+          </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+      </build>
+    </profile>
     <profile>
       <id>mimir</id>
       <build>
@@ -590,7 +652,7 @@ under the License.
         <dependency>
           <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
           <artifactId>apache-maven</artifactId>
-          <version>${maven-version}</version>
+          <version>${project.version}</version>
           <classifier>bin</classifier>
           <type>zip</type>
         </dependency>
@@ -710,6 +772,11 @@ under the License.
             <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
             <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
             <executions>
+              <!-- Disable the default distribution extraction -->
+              <execution>
+                <id>unpack-built-maven-distro</id>
+                <phase>none</phase>
+              </execution>
               <execution>
                 <id>unpack-maven-distro</id>
                 <goals>
@@ -753,6 +820,11 @@ under the License.
             <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
             <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
             <executions>
+              <!-- Disable the default distribution extraction -->
+              <execution>
+                <id>unpack-built-maven-distro</id>
+                <phase>none</phase>
+              </execution>
               <execution>
                 <id>unpack-maven-distro</id>
                 <goals>
diff --git a/its/core-it-support/maven-it-helper/pom.xml b/its/core-it-support/maven-it-helper/pom.xml
index eb11a34c386b..ae2d88e65cb4 100644
--- a/its/core-it-support/maven-it-helper/pom.xml
+++ b/its/core-it-support/maven-it-helper/pom.xml
@@ -34,14 +34,14 @@ under the License.
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-executor</artifactId>
-      <version>${maven-version}</version>
+      <!-- Version inherited from parent dependency management -->
     </dependency>
 
     <!-- needed for VersionRange and Version -->
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-artifact</artifactId>
-      <version>3.6.3</version>
+      <!-- Version inherited from parent dependency management -->
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
diff --git a/its/core-it-support/pom.xml b/its/core-it-support/pom.xml
index 8f536ad61e27..f1a990ecba32 100644
--- a/its/core-it-support/pom.xml
+++ b/its/core-it-support/pom.xml
@@ -23,10 +23,11 @@ under the License.
   <parent>
     <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
     <artifactId>core-its</artifactId>
-    <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>4.0.0-rc-4-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>core-it-support</artifactId>
+  <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
   <name>Maven Core IT Support</name>
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ under the License.
 
   <dependencyManagement>
     <dependencies>
+      <!-- Plugin tools -->
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugin-tools</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-plugin-annotations</artifactId>
diff --git a/its/pom.xml b/its/pom.xml
index 2b442de3c393..6aca5ef151ba 100644
--- a/its/pom.xml
+++ b/its/pom.xml
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ under the License.
 
   <groupId>org.apache.maven.its</groupId>
   <artifactId>core-its</artifactId>
-  <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
   <name>Maven Core ITs</name>
@@ -73,8 +72,11 @@ under the License.
     <!--    <maven.compiler.source>8</maven.compiler.source>-->
     <!--    <maven.compiler.target>8</maven.compiler.target>-->
 
-    <maven-version>4.0.0-rc-4-SNAPSHOT</maven-version>
     <maven-plugin-tools-version>3.15.1</maven-plugin-tools-version>
+    <!-- Maven version being tested - must match the parent project version -->
+    <maven-version>4.0.0-rc-4-SNAPSHOT</maven-version>
+    <!-- Support artifacts version - kept separate from Maven version -->
+    <core-it-support-version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</core-it-support-version>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencyManagement>
@@ -239,6 +241,11 @@ under the License.
         <artifactId>maven-compat</artifactId>
         <version>${maven-version}</version>
       </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-executor</artifactId>
+        <version>${maven-version}</version>
+      </dependency>
 
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.shared</groupId>