Solution of JENKINS-18403 implements a JDK switch for maven builds using a JDK1.6 or older. The javadocExecutable variable should also be set, to use the javadoc of the 'older' JDK. (https://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/javadoc-mojo.html#javadocExecutable)

Since the strict parser rules with the newer javadoc versions this likely leads to build errors. (http://blog.joda.org/2014/02/turning-off-doclint-in-jdk-8-javadoc.html)

As a workaround, setting:

<properties>
    ...
    <javadocExecutable>${JAVA_HOME}/bin/javadoc</javadocExecutable>
</properties>

in the pom helps. But again requires manual adjustment in every build.