java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty

maven used to work fine with this simple project until just recently (~2 weeks ago),

$ ls
pom.xml src
$ cat src/main/java/com/canonical/testapp/App.java
package com.canonical.testapp;

/**
 * Hello world!
 *
 */
public class App
{
    public static void main( String[] args )
    {
        System.out.println( "Hello World!" );
    }
}
ubuntu@snapcraft-bionic-dev:~/t/my-app$ cat src/test/java/com/canonical/testapp/AppTest.java
package com.canonical.testapp;

import junit.framework.Test;
import junit.framework.TestCase;
import junit.framework.TestSuite;

/**
 * Unit test for simple App.
 */
public class AppTest
    extends TestCase
{
    /**
     * Create the test case
     *
     * @param testName name of the test case
     */
    public AppTest( String testName )
    {
        super( testName );
    }

    /**
     * @return the suite of tests being tested
     */
    public static Test suite()
    {
        return new TestSuite( AppTest.class );
    }

    /**
     * Rigorous Test :-)
     */
    public void testApp()
    {
        assertTrue( false );
    }
}
$ cat pom.xml
<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/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.canonical.testapp</groupId>
  <artifactId>my-app</artifactId>
  <packaging>jar</packaging>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <name>my-app</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>3.8.1</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

Now it fails,
$ mvn package
WARNING: An illegal reflective access operation has occurred
WARNING: Illegal reflective access by com.google.inject.internal.cglib.core.$ReflectUtils$1 (file:/usr/share/maven/lib/guice.jar) to method java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(java.lang.String,byte[],int,int,java.security.ProtectionDomain)
WARNING: Please consider reporting this to the maintainers of com.google.inject.internal.cglib.core.$ReflectUtils$1
WARNING: Use --illegal-access=warn to enable warnings of further illegal reflective access operations
WARNING: All illegal access operations will be denied in a future release
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building my-app 1.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Downloading from central: https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/maven/plugins/maven-resources-plugin/2.6/maven-resources-plugin-2.6.pom
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 1.315 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2018-04-16T13:20:58Z
[INFO] Final Memory: 7M/34M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Plugin org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:2.6 or one of its dependencies could not be resolved: Failed to read artifact descriptor for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:jar:2.6: Could not transfer artifact org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:pom:2.6 from/to central (https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected error: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trustAnchors parameter must be non-empty -> [Help 1]
[ERROR]
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR]
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/PluginResolutionException

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: maven 3.5.2-2
ProcVersionSignature: User Name 4.15.0-10.11+surface-generic 4.15.2
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-10-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Apr 16 13:17:30 2018
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=C.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: maven
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)