If a project configures surefire to timeout after a reasonable time using  -Dsurefire.exitTimeout=180 -Dsurefire.timeout=180 and the tests time out you'll see

[ERROR] There was a timeout or other error in the fork
[JENKINS] Recording test results

However Jenkins decides that the tests succeeded and completes the build and all success actions.

[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

This condition can be simulated by setting an artificially low surefire timeout.