diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 39fd0ed..8aa3c26 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ You can also access the database cli shell as:
 sudo su -l                            # switch to the root user.
 systemctl stop nexus                  # make sure nexus is not running while you use the database.
 su -s /bin/bash nexus                 # switch to the nexus user.
-nexus_home=/opt/nexus/nexus-3.79.1-04 # make sure you have the correct version here.
+nexus_home=/opt/nexus/nexus-3.81.1-01 # make sure you have the correct version here.
 nexus_data="$(realpath $nexus_home/../sonatype-work/nexus3)"
 function h2-shell {
   java \
diff --git a/provision/provision-nexus.sh b/provision/provision-nexus.sh
index 74f33c6..558d1a2 100644
--- a/provision/provision-nexus.sh
+++ b/provision/provision-nexus.sh
@@ -35,17 +35,12 @@ pushd /opt/nexus
 # see https://help.sonatype.com/repomanager3/product-information/download/download-archives---repository-manager-3
 # see https://help.sonatype.com/repomanager3/product-information/release-notes
 # see https://help.sonatype.com/repomanager3
-nexus_version=3.79.1-04
+nexus_version=3.81.1-01
 nexus_home=/opt/nexus/nexus-$nexus_version
 nexus_tarball=nexus-$nexus_version-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
 nexus_download_url=https://download.sonatype.com/nexus/3/$nexus_tarball
-nexus_download_sha256='048b5b588fcb337576f47e1cf8e89fb59273406b6b0789e90eb8f58726754115'
 wget -q $nexus_download_url
-if [ "$(sha256sum $nexus_tarball | awk '{print $1}')" != "$nexus_download_sha256" ]; then
-    echo "downloaded $nexus_download_url failed the checksum verification"
-    exit 1
-fi
-tar xf $nexus_tarball # NB this creates the $nexus_home (e.g. nexus-3.79.1-04) and sonatype-work directories.
+tar xf $nexus_tarball # NB this creates the $nexus_home (e.g. nexus-3.81.1-01) and sonatype-work directories.
 rm $nexus_tarball
 install -d -o nexus -g nexus -m 700 .java # java preferences are saved here (the default java.util.prefs.userRoot preference).
 install -d -o nexus -g nexus -m 700 sonatype-work/nexus3/etc
diff --git a/provision/provision-nexus/Makefile b/provision/provision-nexus/Makefile
index 07544ad..e45b2de 100644
--- a/provision/provision-nexus/Makefile
+++ b/provision/provision-nexus/Makefile
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ binaries: binaries-download
 
 binaries-download:
 	mkdir -p binaries
-	wget -qO- https://download.sonatype.com/nexus/3/nexus-3.79.1-04-unix.tar.gz \
+	wget -qO- https://download.sonatype.com/nexus/3/nexus-3.81.1-01-unix.tar.gz \
 		| tar xzf - --strip-components 1 -C binaries
 
 clean:
diff --git a/provision/provision-nexus/pom.xml b/provision/provision-nexus/pom.xml
index 544beee..d6e4bd7 100644
--- a/provision/provision-nexus/pom.xml
+++ b/provision/provision-nexus/pom.xml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
   <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 
   <properties>
-    <nx-version>3.79.1-04</nx-version>
+    <nx-version>3.81.1-01</nx-version>
   </properties>
   <dependencies>
     <dependency>