diff --git a/lib/manager/maven/update.js b/lib/manager/maven/update.js
index dc21a32afa4662ee7c6e96920b6b74e08bb7a87e..6ee592ac612407158c5aaeb86b24cd3aaa876e0d 100644
--- a/lib/manager/maven/update.js
+++ b/lib/manager/maven/update.js
@@ -3,9 +3,10 @@ module.exports = {
 };
 
 function updateDependency(fileContent, upgrade) {
+  const offset = fileContent.indexOf('<');
   const { currentValue, newValue, fileReplacePosition } = upgrade;
-  const leftPart = fileContent.slice(0, fileReplacePosition);
-  const rightPart = fileContent.slice(fileReplacePosition);
+  const leftPart = fileContent.slice(0, offset + fileReplacePosition);
+  const rightPart = fileContent.slice(offset + fileReplacePosition);
   const versionClosePosition = rightPart.indexOf('</');
   const restPart = rightPart.slice(versionClosePosition);
   const versionPart = rightPart.slice(0, versionClosePosition);