This page summarizes currently known problems when running with java8, latest beta (1.8.0-ea-b119).
see also MNG-5551 for compilations issues
maven-verifier
embedded mode does not work due to sun bug 9009028 - System.setProperties(null) corrupts java.home, turned into JDK-8030781. This affects at least maven-core and surefire.
maven-shade-plugin
Believed to have substantial problems due to ASM 5 being required. ASM5 has a tentative release date in march, with a current beta version and possibly another beta later.
maven-surefire-plugin
Running forkMode=never was fixed in 2.17 (unreleased as of yet). Building surefire on jdk8 requires using the -Dverifier.forkMode=once option (due to maven-verifier embedded mode issue).