diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/resolver.go b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/resolver.go
index 710600ae2..ffc406b35 100644
--- a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/resolver.go
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/resolver.go
@@ -135,9 +135,14 @@ func (r *Resolver) resolveProperty(ctx context.Context, resolutionContext []*Pro
 		return value, nil
 	}
 
+	var resolvingParents []*Project
 	for _, pom := range resolutionContext {
 		current := pom
 		for parentDepth := 0; current != nil; parentDepth++ {
+			if slices.Contains(resolvingParents, current) {
+				log.WithFields("property", propertyExpression, "mavenID", r.resolveID(ctx, resolvingProperties, resolvingParents...)).Error("got circular reference while resolving property")
+				break // some sort of circular reference -- we've already seen this project
+			}
 			if r.cfg.MaxParentRecursiveDepth > 0 && parentDepth > r.cfg.MaxParentRecursiveDepth {
 				return "", fmt.Errorf("maximum parent recursive depth (%v) reached resolving property: %v", r.cfg.MaxParentRecursiveDepth, propertyExpression)
 			}
@@ -146,6 +151,7 @@ func (r *Resolver) resolveProperty(ctx context.Context, resolutionContext []*Pro
 					return r.resolveExpression(ctx, resolutionContext, value, resolvingProperties) // property values can contain expressions
 				}
 			}
+			resolvingParents = append(resolvingParents, current)
 			current, err = r.resolveParent(ctx, current, resolvingProperties...)
 			if err != nil {
 				return "", err
@@ -271,13 +277,12 @@ func (r *Resolver) resolveID(ctx context.Context, resolvingProperties []string,
 	artifactID := r.resolvePropertyValue(ctx, pom.ArtifactID, resolvingProperties, resolutionContext...)
 	version := r.resolvePropertyValue(ctx, pom.Version, resolvingProperties, resolutionContext...)
 	if pom.Parent != nil {
-		if groupID == "" {
+		// groupId and version are able to be inherited from the parent, but importantly: not artifactId. see:
+		// https://maven.apache.org/guides/introduction/introduction-to-the-pom.html#the-solution
+		if groupID == "" && deref(pom.GroupID) == "" {
 			groupID = r.resolvePropertyValue(ctx, pom.Parent.GroupID, resolvingProperties, resolutionContext...)
 		}
-		if artifactID == "" {
-			artifactID = r.resolvePropertyValue(ctx, pom.Parent.ArtifactID, resolvingProperties, resolutionContext...)
-		}
-		if version == "" {
+		if version == "" && deref(pom.Version) == "" {
 			version = r.resolvePropertyValue(ctx, pom.Parent.Version, resolvingProperties, resolutionContext...)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/resolver_test.go b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/resolver_test.go
index f8c7e3d65..34042593a 100644
--- a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/resolver_test.go
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/resolver_test.go
@@ -243,6 +243,13 @@ func Test_mavenResolverRemote(t *testing.T) {
 			expression: "${project.one}",
 			expected:   "1",
 		},
+		{
+			groupID:    "my.org", // this particular package has a circular reference
+			artifactID: "circular",
+			version:    "1.2.3",
+			expression: "${unresolved}",
+			expected:   "",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
@@ -312,6 +319,27 @@ func Test_relativePathParent(t *testing.T) {
 				require.Equal(t, "", id.Version)
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "circular resolving ID variables",
+			pom:  "circular-1/pom.xml",
+			validate: func(t *testing.T, r *Resolver, pom *Project) {
+				require.NotNil(t, pom)
+				id := r.ResolveID(ctx, pom)
+				// version should be resolved, but not artifactId
+				require.Equal(t, "1.2.3", id.Version)
+				require.Equal(t, "", id.ArtifactID)
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "circular parent only",
+			pom:  "circular-2/pom.xml",
+			validate: func(t *testing.T, r *Resolver, pom *Project) {
+				require.NotNil(t, pom)
+				id := r.ResolveID(ctx, pom)
+				require.Equal(t, "", id.Version)
+				require.Equal(t, "something", id.ArtifactID)
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/test-fixtures/local/circular-1/pom.xml b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/test-fixtures/local/circular-1/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2bfb3e73b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/test-fixtures/local/circular-1/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <groupId>${groupId}</groupId>
+  <artifactId>${artifactId}</artifactId>
+
+  <parent>
+    <groupId>my.org</groupId>
+    <artifactId>circular</artifactId>
+    <version>1.2.3</version>
+  </parent>
+</project>
diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/test-fixtures/local/circular-2/pom.xml b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/test-fixtures/local/circular-2/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..da5da368b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/test-fixtures/local/circular-2/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <artifactId>something</artifactId>
+  <version>${unresolvable}</version>
+
+  <parent>
+    <groupId>my.org</groupId>
+    <artifactId>circular</artifactId>
+    <version>1.2.3</version>
+  </parent>
+</project>
diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/test-fixtures/maven-repo/my/org/circular/1.2.3/circular-1.2.3.pom b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/test-fixtures/maven-repo/my/org/circular/1.2.3/circular-1.2.3.pom
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6d5d88eba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/internal/maven/test-fixtures/maven-repo/my/org/circular/1.2.3/circular-1.2.3.pom
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <artifactId>circular</artifactId>
+  <version>1.2.3</version>
+
+  <parent>
+    <groupId>my.org</groupId>
+    <artifactId>circular</artifactId>
+    <version>1.2.3</version>
+  </parent>
+</project>