diff --git a/maven-plugin-plugin/src/it/plugin-report/src/main/java/org/MyMojo.java b/maven-plugin-plugin/src/it/plugin-report/src/main/java/org/MyMojo.java
index d48417e..eefc48a 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-plugin/src/it/plugin-report/src/main/java/org/MyMojo.java
+++ b/maven-plugin-plugin/src/it/plugin-report/src/main/java/org/MyMojo.java
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ public class MyMojo
     /**
      * This is a test.
      * 
-     * @parameter expression="${string}" default-value="${project.version}"
+     * @parameter expression="${string}" default-value="${project.version}/</markup-must-be-escaped>"
      * @deprecated Just testing.
      * @since 1.1
      */
diff --git a/maven-plugin-plugin/src/it/plugin-report/verify.bsh b/maven-plugin-plugin/src/it/plugin-report/verify.bsh
index 08a534b..7c14d82 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-plugin/src/it/plugin-report/verify.bsh
+++ b/maven-plugin-plugin/src/it/plugin-report/verify.bsh
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ try
     {
         File file = new File( siteDir, path );
         System.out.println( "Checking for existence of doc file: " + file );
-        if ( !file.isFile() )
+        if ( !file.isFile() || file.length() <= 0 )
         {
             System.out.println( "FAILED!" );
             return false;
diff --git a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginXdocGenerator.java b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginXdocGenerator.java
index 6a8f82c..d98c1df 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginXdocGenerator.java
+++ b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginXdocGenerator.java
@@ -563,7 +563,8 @@ public class PluginXdocGenerator
                 w.startElement( "ul" );
                 addedUl = true;
             }
-            writeDetail( getString( "pluginxdoc.mojodescriptor.parameter.default" ), parameter.getDefaultValue(), w );
+            writeDetail( getString( "pluginxdoc.mojodescriptor.parameter.default" ),
+                         escapeXml( parameter.getDefaultValue() ), w );
 
             if ( addedUl )
             {
@@ -696,7 +697,7 @@ public class PluginXdocGenerator
             if ( StringUtils.isNotEmpty( parameter.getDefaultValue() ) )
             {
                 w.writeMarkup( format( "pluginxdoc.mojodescriptor.parameter.defaultValue",
-                                       parameter.getDefaultValue() ) );
+                                       escapeXml( parameter.getDefaultValue() ) ) );
             }
             w.endElement(); //td
             w.endElement(); //tr
@@ -781,4 +782,22 @@ public class PluginXdocGenerator
 
         return messageFormat.format( args );
     }
+
+    /**
+     * @param text the string to escape
+     * @return A string escaped with XML entities
+     */
+    private String escapeXml( String text )
+    {
+        if ( text != null )
+        {
+            text = text.replaceAll( "&", "&amp;" );
+            text = text.replaceAll( "<", "&lt;" );
+            text = text.replaceAll( ">", "&gt;" );
+            text = text.replaceAll( "\"", "&quot;" );
+            text = text.replaceAll( "\'", "&apos;" );
+        }
+        return text;
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/AbstractGeneratorTestCase.java b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/AbstractGeneratorTestCase.java
index a2020f4..e987068 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/AbstractGeneratorTestCase.java
+++ b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/AbstractGeneratorTestCase.java
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractGeneratorTestCase
 
         Parameter param = new Parameter();
         param.setExpression( "${project.build.directory}" );
+        param.setDefaultValue( "</markup-must-be-escaped>" );
         param.setName( "dir" );
         param.setRequired( true );
         param.setType( "java.lang.String" );
diff --git a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginXdocGeneratorTest.java b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginXdocGeneratorTest.java
index f14b467..ac438af 100644
--- a/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginXdocGeneratorTest.java
+++ b/maven-plugin-tools-api/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/tools/plugin/generator/PluginXdocGeneratorTest.java
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ package org.apache.maven.tools.plugin.generator;
  * under the License.
  */
 
+import java.io.File;
+
+import org.codehaus.plexus.util.ReaderFactory;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.Xpp3DomBuilder;
+
 /**
  * @author <a href="mailto:jason@maven.org">Jason van Zyl </a>
  * @author <a href="mailto:vincent.siveton@gmail.com">Vincent Siveton</a>
@@ -27,5 +32,16 @@ package org.apache.maven.tools.plugin.generator;
 public class PluginXdocGeneratorTest
     extends AbstractGeneratorTestCase
 {
+
     // inherits tests from base class
+
+    protected void validate( File destinationDirectory )
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        File docFile = new File( destinationDirectory, "testGoal-mojo.xml" );
+
+        // sanity check: is the output well-formed?
+        Xpp3DomBuilder.build( ReaderFactory.newXmlReader( docFile ) );
+    }
+
 }