diff --git a/.ci/build.sh b/.ci/build.sh
index 0f5d26a996..31eadbebdd 100755
--- a/.ci/build.sh
+++ b/.ci/build.sh
@@ -87,15 +87,15 @@ function build() {
     if pmd_ci_maven_isSnapshotBuild; then
     if [ "${PMD_CI_MAVEN_PROJECT_VERSION}" != "7.0.0-SNAPSHOT" ]; then
         pmd_ci_log_group_start "Executing PMD dogfood test with ${PMD_CI_MAVEN_PROJECT_VERSION}"
-            ./mvnw versions:set -DnewVersion=${PMD_CI_MAVEN_PROJECT_VERSION}-dogfood -DgenerateBackupPoms=false
+            ./mvnw versions:set -DnewVersion="${PMD_CI_MAVEN_PROJECT_VERSION}-dogfood" -DgenerateBackupPoms=false
+            sed -i 's/<version>[0-9]\{1,\}\.[0-9]\{1,\}\.[0-9]\{1,\}.*<\/version>\( *<!-- pmd.dogfood.version -->\)/<version>'"${PMD_CI_MAVEN_PROJECT_VERSION}"'<\/version>\1/' pom.xml
             ./mvnw verify --show-version --errors --batch-mode --no-transfer-progress "${PMD_MAVEN_EXTRA_OPTS[@]}" \
                 -DskipTests \
                 -Dmaven.javadoc.skip=true \
                 -Dmaven.source.skip=true \
-                -Dcheckstyle.skip=true \
-                -Ppmd-dogfood \
-                -Dpmd.dogfood.version=${PMD_CI_MAVEN_PROJECT_VERSION}
-            ./mvnw versions:set -DnewVersion=${PMD_CI_MAVEN_PROJECT_VERSION} -DgenerateBackupPoms=false
+                -Dcheckstyle.skip=true
+            ./mvnw versions:set -DnewVersion="${PMD_CI_MAVEN_PROJECT_VERSION}" -DgenerateBackupPoms=false
+            git checkout -- pom.xml
         pmd_ci_log_group_end
     else
         # current maven-pmd-plugin is not compatible with PMD 7 yet.
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 462fc1eb3b..e1c71b0c32 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -402,15 +402,16 @@
                     </configuration>
                     <dependencies>
                         <!-- Note: we can't use a property for the version here due to https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MRELEASE-932 -->
+                        <!-- We use the comment "pmd.dogfood.version" as a marker and manually change the version - see .ci/build.sh -->
                         <dependency>
                             <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
                             <artifactId>pmd-core</artifactId>
-                            <version>6.37.0</version>
+                            <version>6.37.0</version> <!-- pmd.dogfood.version -->
                         </dependency>
                         <dependency>
                             <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
                             <artifactId>pmd-java</artifactId>
-                            <version>6.37.0</version>
+                            <version>6.37.0</version> <!-- pmd.dogfood.version -->
                         </dependency>
                         <!-- This contains the dogfood ruleset -->
                         <dependency>
@@ -1054,33 +1055,6 @@
                 </plugins>
             </build>
         </profile>
-
-        <profile>
-            <id>pmd-dogfood</id>
-            <properties>
-                <pmd.dogfood.version>${project.version}</pmd.dogfood.version>
-            </properties>
-            <build>
-                <plugins>
-                    <plugin>
-                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>maven-pmd-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <dependencies>
-                            <dependency>
-                                <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
-                                <artifactId>pmd-core</artifactId>
-                                <version>${pmd.dogfood.version}</version>
-                            </dependency>
-                            <dependency>
-                                <groupId>net.sourceforge.pmd</groupId>
-                                <artifactId>pmd-java</artifactId>
-                                <version>${pmd.dogfood.version}</version>
-                            </dependency>
-                        </dependencies>
-                    </plugin>
-                </plugins>
-            </build>
-        </profile>
     </profiles>
 
     <modules>