diff --git a/lib/versioning/maven/compare.ts b/lib/versioning/maven/compare.ts
index 7b49ffc2ee716d601fa1fc48046202b27ef8655e..775d4b210227c5eb36168e1c13628c7b05c3d761 100644
--- a/lib/versioning/maven/compare.ts
+++ b/lib/versioning/maven/compare.ts
@@ -285,6 +285,9 @@ function isVersion(version: string): boolean {
   if (/[.-]$/.test(version)) {
     return false;
   }
+  if (['latest', 'release'].includes(version.toLowerCase())) {
+    return false;
+  }
   const tokens = tokenize(version);
   return !!tokens.length;
 }
diff --git a/lib/versioning/maven/index.spec.ts b/lib/versioning/maven/index.spec.ts
index e10acd65474444dddd928c02fb43db641c6d929c..a08d7778dc7462a30ce410744fb288020c28d69d 100644
--- a/lib/versioning/maven/index.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/versioning/maven/index.spec.ts
@@ -307,6 +307,11 @@ describe('versioning/maven/index', () => {
     expect(isVersion('-1')).toBe(false);
     expect(isVersion('1-')).toBe(false);
     expect(isVersion('[1.12.6,1.18.6]')).toBe(false);
+    expect(isVersion('RELEASE')).toBe(false);
+    expect(isVersion('release')).toBe(false);
+    expect(isVersion('LATEST')).toBe(false);
+    expect(isVersion('latest')).toBe(false);
+    expect(isVersion('foobar')).toBe(true);
   });
   it('checks if version is stable', () => {
     expect(isStable('')).toBeNull();