diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/JavadocReportTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/JavadocReportTest.java
index f80cdf64d..f78f94c4b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/JavadocReportTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/JavadocReportTest.java
@@ -1294,4 +1294,22 @@ public void testHelpfile() throws Exception {
         assertTrue(optionsContent.contains("-helpfile"));
         assertTrue(optionsContent.contains("'" + help.toFile().getAbsolutePath().replaceAll("\\\\", "/") + "'"));
     }
+
+    /** It should include only single class in javadoc. */
+    public void testSubpackagesExcludePackages() throws Exception {
+        Path testPom = unit.resolve("subpackages-exclude-packages-test/pom.xml");
+
+        JavadocReport mojo = lookupMojo(testPom);
+
+        mojo.execute();
+
+        Path apidocs = new File(getBasedir(), "target/test/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/target/site/apidocs").toPath();
+
+        // check if the classes in the specified subpackages were included
+        assertThat(apidocs.resolve("org/apache/project/IncludeClass.html")).exists();
+
+        // check the excluded packages
+        assertThat(apidocs.resolve("org/apache/internal")).doesNotExist();
+        assertThat(apidocs.resolve("io")).doesNotExist();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/stubs/SubpackagesExcludePackagesTestMavenProjectStub.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/stubs/SubpackagesExcludePackagesTestMavenProjectStub.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6ac012777
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/stubs/SubpackagesExcludePackagesTestMavenProjectStub.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.maven.plugins.javadoc.stubs;
+
+import org.apache.maven.model.Build;
+import org.apache.maven.plugin.testing.stubs.MavenProjectStub;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/** */
+public class SubpackagesExcludePackagesTestMavenProjectStub extends MavenProjectStub {
+    public SubpackagesExcludePackagesTestMavenProjectStub() {
+        readModel(new File(getBasedir(), "pom.xml"));
+
+        setGroupId(getModel().getGroupId());
+        setArtifactId(getModel().getArtifactId());
+        setVersion(getModel().getVersion());
+
+        setName(getModel().getName());
+        setUrl(getModel().getUrl());
+        setPackaging(getModel().getPackaging());
+
+        Build build = new Build();
+        build.setFinalName(getName());
+        build.setDirectory(super.getBasedir() + "/target/test/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/target");
+        setBuild(build);
+
+        List<String> compileSourceRoots = new ArrayList<>();
+        compileSourceRoots.add(getBasedir() + "/src/main/java");
+        setCompileSourceRoots(compileSourceRoots);
+    }
+
+    /** {@inheritDoc} */
+    @Override
+    public File getBasedir() {
+        return new File(super.getBasedir() + "/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/pom.xml b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cfeff581f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+<!--
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+specific language governing permissions and limitations
+under the License.
+-->
+
+<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>org.apache.maven.plugins.maven-javadoc-plugin.unit</groupId>
+  <artifactId>subpackages-exclude-packages-test</artifactId>
+  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <packaging>jar</packaging>
+
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
+
+        <configuration>
+          <project implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.javadoc.stubs.SubpackagesExcludePackagesTestMavenProjectStub"/>
+
+          <outputDirectory>${basedir}/target/test/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/target/site/apidocs</outputDirectory>
+          <javadocOptionsDir>${basedir}/target/test/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/target/javadoc-bundle-options</javadocOptionsDir>
+
+          <!-- Comment the next line, and javadoc will skip all subpackages under "internal" package -->
+          <subpackages>org.apache</subpackages>
+
+          <excludePackageNames>
+            org.apache.internal
+            :org.apache.internal.*
+          </excludePackageNames>
+
+          <debug>true</debug>
+
+          <reactorProjects>
+            <project implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.javadoc.stubs.SubpackagesExcludePackagesTestMavenProjectStub"/>
+          </reactorProjects>
+
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+</project>
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/io/ExcludeIoClass.java b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/io/ExcludeIoClass.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..83f8c53fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/io/ExcludeIoClass.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package io;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Class to be excluded.
+ */
+public class ExcludeIoClass
+{
+    /**
+     * Sample method that prints out the parameter string.
+     *
+     * @param str   The string value to be printed.
+     */
+    public void sampleMethod( String str )
+    {
+        System.out.println( str );
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/internal/ExcludeInternalClass.java b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/internal/ExcludeInternalClass.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..62ecf4e7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/internal/ExcludeInternalClass.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+package org.apache.internal;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/**
+ * Class to be excluded.
+ */
+public class ExcludeInternalClass
+{
+    /**
+     * Sample method that prints out the parameter string.
+     *
+     * @param str   The string value to be printed.
+     */
+    public void sampleMethod( String str )
+    {
+        System.out.println( str );
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/internal/subpackage/ExcludeInternalSubClass.java b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/internal/subpackage/ExcludeInternalSubClass.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cf218ce6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/internal/subpackage/ExcludeInternalSubClass.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package org.apache.internal.subpackage;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Class to be excluded.
+ */
+public class ExcludeInternalSubClass
+{
+    /**
+     * Sample method that prints out the parameter string.
+     *
+     * @param str   The string value to be printed.
+     */
+    public void sampleMethod( String str )
+    {
+        System.out.println( str );
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/internal/subpackage/subsubpackage/ExcludeInternalSubSubClass.java b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/internal/subpackage/subsubpackage/ExcludeInternalSubSubClass.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..53f7c25ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/internal/subpackage/subsubpackage/ExcludeInternalSubSubClass.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package org.apache.internal.subpackage.subsubpackage;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Class to be excluded.
+ */
+public class ExcludeInternalSubSubClass
+{
+    /**
+     * Sample method that prints out the parameter string.
+     *
+     * @param str   The string value to be printed.
+     */
+    public void sampleMethod( String str )
+    {
+        System.out.println( str );
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/project/IncludeClass.java b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/project/IncludeClass.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6aadb6e85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/subpackages-exclude-packages-test/src/main/java/org/apache/project/IncludeClass.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package org.apache.project;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Class to be included.
+ */
+public class IncludeClass
+{
+    /**
+     * Sample method that prints out the parameter string.
+     *
+     * @param str   The string value to be printed.
+     */
+    public void sampleMethod( String str )
+    {
+        System.out.println( str );
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file