XmlPullParserException while parsing XML with encoded entities within attributes

Problems parsing encoded XML entities within XML attributes.

Example: Plugin with following configuration leads to following Exception

<configuration>
<tasks>
<filter token="CLIENT-LOCALE-START" value="<!--" />
</tasks>
</configuration>

Exception:

java.io.IOException: org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.pull.XmlPullParserException: markup not allowed inside attribute value - illegal < (position: TEXT seen ...<filter value="<... @15:17) :

<project>
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>test</groupId>
<artifactId>Parent</artifactId>
<packaging>pom</packaging>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<executions>
<execution>
<configuration>
<tasks>
<filter value="<!--" token="CLIENT-LOCALE-START" ></filter></tasks></configuration>
<phase>package</phase>
<goals>
<goal>run</goal></goals>
<id>filter-jnlp-file</id></execution></executions>
<version>1.1</version>
<artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId></plugin></plugins>
<sourceDirectory>C:\DOKUME~1\imm0136\LOKALE~1\Temp\src\main\java</sourceDirectory>
<scriptSourceDirectory>src\main\scripts</scriptSourceDirectory>
<testSourceDirectory>C:\DOKUME~1\imm0136\LOKALE~1\Temp\src\test\java</testSourceDirectory>
<outputDirectory>C:\DOKUME~1\imm0136\LOKALE~1\Temp\target\classes</outputDirectory>
<testOutputDirectory>C:\DOKUME~1\imm0136\LOKALE~1\Temp\target\test-classes</testOutputDirectory>
<resources>
<resource>
<directory>C:\DOKUME~1\imm0136\LOKALE~1\Temp\src\main\resources</directory></resource></resources>
<testResources>
<testResource>
<directory>C:\DOKUME~1\imm0136\LOKALE~1\Temp\src\test\resources</directory></testResource></testResources>
<directory>C:\DOKUME~1\imm0136\LOKALE~1\Temp\target</directory>
<finalName>Parent-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</finalName>
<pluginManagement>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.1</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2-beta-1</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.2</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.3</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-ear-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.3.1</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-ejb-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.1</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-install-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-plugin-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4.2</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-rar-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0-beta-7</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-site-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0-beta-7</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.4</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4.3</version></plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.1-alpha-1</version></plugin></plugins></pluginManagement></build>
<repositories>
<repository>
<snapshots>
<enabled>false</enabled></snapshots>
<id>central</id>
<name>Maven Repository Switchboard</name>
<url>http://repo1.maven.org/maven2</url></repository></repositories>
<pluginRepositories>
<pluginRepository>
<releases>
<updatePolicy>never</updatePolicy></releases>
<snapshots>
<enabled>false</enabled></snapshots>
<id>central</id>
<name>Maven Plugin Repository</name>
<url>http://repo1.maven.org/maven2</url></pluginRepository></pluginRepositories>
<reporting>
<outputDirectory>C:\DOKUME~1\imm0136\LOKALE~1\Temp\target\site</outputDirectory></reporting></project>
at org.apache.maven.project.builder.PomClassicDomainModelFactory.createDomainModel(PomClassicDomainModelFactory.java:26)
at org.apache.maven.project.builder.PomTransformer.transformToDomainModel(PomTransformer.java:458)
at org.apache.maven.shared.model.ModelTransformerContext.transform(ModelTransformerContext.java:287)
at org.apache.maven.project.builder.impl.DefaultProjectBuilder.buildModel(DefaultProjectBuilder.java:162)
at org.apache.maven.project.builder.impl.DefaultProjectBuilder.buildFromLocalPath(DefaultProjectBuilder.java:182)
at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.readModelFromLocalPath(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:397)
at org.apache.maven.project.DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.build(DefaultMavenProjectBuilder.java:130)
at org.apache.maven.embedder.MavenEmbedder.readProject(MavenEmbedder.java:347)
at org.apache.maven.embedder.MavenEmbedder.readProject(MavenEmbedder.java:339)
at de.visualrules.artifact.core.ModelReaderTest.testRead(ModelReaderTest.java:43)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at junit.framework.TestCase.runTest(TestCase.java:164)
at junit.framework.TestCase.runBare(TestCase.java:130)
at junit.framework.TestResult$1.protect(TestResult.java:106)
at junit.framework.TestResult.runProtected(TestResult.java:124)
at junit.framework.TestResult.run(TestResult.java:109)
at junit.framework.TestCase.run(TestCase.java:120)
at junit.framework.TestSuite.runTest(TestSuite.java:230)
at junit.framework.TestSuite.run(TestSuite.java:225)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.junit3.JUnit3TestReference.run(JUnit3TestReference.java:130)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:460)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:673)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:386)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:196)