This error appears mostly when Maven could not find the web.xml file. If you are following the default maven structure, make sure the webapp folder is named correctly – like not webapps or something like that.
Once you make sure, you can try by explicitly telling maven where the web.xml file is using
<plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId> <version>2.0</version> <configuration> <webXml>src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml</webXml> </configuration> </plugin>