diff --git a/independent-projects/bootstrap/bom/pom.xml b/independent-projects/bootstrap/bom/pom.xml
index 10504e6d084e3..5db6112b194ad 100644
--- a/independent-projects/bootstrap/bom/pom.xml
+++ b/independent-projects/bootstrap/bom/pom.xml
@@ -481,11 +481,6 @@
                     </exclusion>
                 </exclusions>
             </dependency>
-            <dependency>
-                <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-model-helper</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven-model-helper.version}</version>
-            </dependency>
             <!-- Smallrye Common dependencies, imported as a BOM -->
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>io.smallrye.common</groupId>
diff --git a/independent-projects/bootstrap/maven-resolver/pom.xml b/independent-projects/bootstrap/maven-resolver/pom.xml
index b6c21737f4c89..97ce31340034c 100644
--- a/independent-projects/bootstrap/maven-resolver/pom.xml
+++ b/independent-projects/bootstrap/maven-resolver/pom.xml
@@ -125,10 +125,6 @@
                 </exclusion>
             </exclusions>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
-            <artifactId>maven-model-helper</artifactId>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
             <artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
diff --git a/independent-projects/bootstrap/maven-resolver/src/main/java/io/quarkus/bootstrap/resolver/maven/workspace/ModelUtils.java b/independent-projects/bootstrap/maven-resolver/src/main/java/io/quarkus/bootstrap/resolver/maven/workspace/ModelUtils.java
index 9786fbb004fc0..97f6c8f1456d4 100644
--- a/independent-projects/bootstrap/maven-resolver/src/main/java/io/quarkus/bootstrap/resolver/maven/workspace/ModelUtils.java
+++ b/independent-projects/bootstrap/maven-resolver/src/main/java/io/quarkus/bootstrap/resolver/maven/workspace/ModelUtils.java
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 package io.quarkus.bootstrap.resolver.maven.workspace;
 
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.BufferedWriter;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.io.UncheckedIOException;
 import java.nio.file.DirectoryStream;
 import java.nio.file.FileSystem;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
@@ -16,9 +16,10 @@
 
 import org.apache.maven.model.Model;
 import org.apache.maven.model.Parent;
+import org.apache.maven.model.io.xpp3.MavenXpp3Reader;
+import org.apache.maven.model.io.xpp3.MavenXpp3Writer;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.pull.XmlPullParserException;
 
-import io.fabric8.maven.Maven;
-import io.fabric8.maven.XMLFormat;
 import io.quarkus.bootstrap.util.PropertyUtils;
 import io.quarkus.fs.util.ZipUtils;
 import io.quarkus.maven.dependency.ArtifactCoords;
@@ -231,30 +232,21 @@ private static Properties loadPomProps(Path appJar, Path artifactIdPath) throws
     }
 
     public static Model readModel(final Path pomXml) throws IOException {
-        try {
-            return Maven.readModel(pomXml);
-        } catch (UncheckedIOException e) {
-            throw e.getCause();
-        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
-            throw new IOException("Failed to read model", e.getCause());
-        }
+        return readModel(Files.newInputStream(pomXml));
     }
 
     public static Model readModel(InputStream stream) throws IOException {
         try (InputStream is = stream) {
-            return Maven.readModel(is);
-        } catch (UncheckedIOException e) {
-            throw e.getCause();
-        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
-            throw new IOException("Failed to read model", e.getCause());
+            return new MavenXpp3Reader().read(stream);
+        } catch (XmlPullParserException e) {
+            throw new IOException("Failed to parse POM", e);
         }
     }
 
     public static void persistModel(Path pomFile, Model model) throws IOException {
-        try {
-            Maven.writeModel(model, pomFile, XMLFormat.builder().indent("    ").insertLineBreakBetweenMajorSections().build());
-        } catch (UncheckedIOException e) {
-            throw e.getCause();
+        final MavenXpp3Writer xpp3Writer = new MavenXpp3Writer();
+        try (BufferedWriter pomFileWriter = Files.newBufferedWriter(pomFile)) {
+            xpp3Writer.write(pomFileWriter, model);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/independent-projects/bootstrap/pom.xml b/independent-projects/bootstrap/pom.xml
index e6c49f43ba8c4..87bd3e65cc0fb 100644
--- a/independent-projects/bootstrap/pom.xml
+++ b/independent-projects/bootstrap/pom.xml
@@ -80,7 +80,6 @@
         <org-crac.version>0.1.3</org-crac.version>
         <formatter-maven-plugin.version>2.23.0</formatter-maven-plugin.version>
         <impsort-maven-plugin.version>1.9.0</impsort-maven-plugin.version>
-        <maven-model-helper.version>36</maven-model-helper.version>
     </properties>
     <modules>
         <module>bom</module>