diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/language/maven_artifact.py b/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/language/maven_artifact.py
index 1d8d6f8c070..8782f7d7108 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/language/maven_artifact.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/packaging/language/maven_artifact.py
@@ -434,6 +434,14 @@ class MavenDownloader:
                     return "Cannot retrieve a valid md5 from %s: %s" % (remote_url, to_native(e))
                 if(not remote_md5):
                     return "Cannot find md5 from " + remote_url
+            try:
+                # Check if remote md5 only contains md5 or md5 + filename
+                _remote_md5 = remote_md5.split(None)[0]
+                remote_md5 = _remote_md5
+                # remote_md5 is empty so we continue and keep original md5 string
+                # This should not happen since we check for remote_md5 before
+            except IndexError as e:
+                pass
             if local_md5 == remote_md5:
                 return None
             else: