私の知る限り、<haltOnFailure>要素がtrueに設定されていて、指定されたチェックのいずれかが失敗した場合、Coberturaはビルドを失敗させます。これはあなたが求めているものです。ただし、実際には、この要素をtrue指定しない場合、この要素はデフォルトで設定されるため、構成チェックに追加する必要はありません。カバレッジしきい値を下回るビルドの失敗は、デフォルトの動作です（または少なくともそうあるべきです）。
編集：私はさらにいくつかのテストを行いhaltOnFailure、私の環境で期待どおりに機能しているようです（Maven 2.2.1。およびプラグインのバージョン2.3、2.2、2.1、つまりLinux上のcoberturaのバージョン1.9.2、1.9、1.8）。私はこの答えを以下の結果で更新しています。
実際、私は<execution>自分のpomに要素を追加しました。cobertura：checkのドキュメントの「デフォルトでライフサイクルフェーズにバインドするverify」という部分を誤解している可能性がありますが、<execution>要素がないと、ビルドの検証フェーズ中にcobertura：checkがトリガーされませんでした。cobertura-maven-pluginに使用したセットアップの下：
<project>
...
<build>
...
<plugins>
...
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>cobertura-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.3</version>
<configuration>
<check>
<!--<haltOnFailure>true</haltOnFailure>--><!-- optional -->
<!-- Per-class thresholds -->
<lineRate>80</lineRate>
<branchRate>80</branchRate>
<!-- Project-wide thresholds -->
<totalLineRate>90</totalLineRate>
<totalBranchRate>90</totalBranchRate>
</check>
</configuration>
<executions>
<execution>
<phase>verify</phase>
<goals>
<!--<goal>clean</goal>--><!-- works if uncommented -->
<goal>check</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
上記のプラグイン構成でパッチを適用したmvn clean install、新しく生成されたMavenプロジェクト（を使用）で実行すると、次の結果が得られます。mvn archetype:create
$ mvn archetype:create -DgroupId=com.mycompany.samples -DartifactId=cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase
...
$ mvn clean install
[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase
[INFO] task-segment: [clean, install]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] [clean:clean {execution: default-clean}]
[INFO] Deleting directory /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/target
[INFO] [resources:resources {execution: default-resources}]
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/src/main/resources
[INFO] [compiler:compile {execution: default-compile}]
[INFO] Compiling 1 source file to /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/target/classes
[INFO] [resources:testResources {execution: default-testResources}]
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/src/test/resources
[INFO] [compiler:testCompile {execution: default-testCompile}]
[INFO] Compiling 1 source file to /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/target/test-classes
[INFO] [surefire:test {execution: default-test}]
[INFO] Surefire report directory: /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/target/surefire-reports
-------------------------------------------------------
T E S T S
-------------------------------------------------------
Running com.mycompany.samples.AppTest
Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.09 sec
Results :
Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO] [jar:jar {execution: default-jar}]
[INFO] Building jar: /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/target/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar
[INFO] Preparing cobertura:check
[WARNING] Removing: check from forked lifecycle, to prevent recursive invocation.
[INFO] [resources:resources {execution: default-resources}]
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/src/main/resources
[INFO] [compiler:compile {execution: default-compile}]
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO] [cobertura:instrument {execution: default}]
[INFO] Cobertura 1.9.2 - GNU GPL License (NO WARRANTY) - See COPYRIGHT file
Instrumenting 1 file to /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/target/generated-classes/cobertura
Cobertura: Saved information on 1 classes.
Instrument time: 337ms
[INFO] Instrumentation was successful.
[INFO] [resources:testResources {execution: default-testResources}]
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/src/test/resources
[INFO] [compiler:testCompile {execution: default-testCompile}]
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO] [surefire:test {execution: default-test}]
[INFO] Surefire report directory: /home/pascal/Projects/cobertura-haltonfailure-testcase/target/surefire-reports
-------------------------------------------------------
T E S T S
-------------------------------------------------------
Running com.mycompany.samples.AppTest
Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 0.098 sec
Results :
Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
[INFO] [cobertura:check {execution: default}]
[INFO] Cobertura 1.9.2 - GNU GPL License (NO WARRANTY) - See COPYRIGHT file
Cobertura: Loaded information on 1 classes.
[ERROR] com.mycompany.samples.App failed check. Line coverage rate of 0.0% is below 80.0%
Project failed check. Total line coverage rate of 0.0% is below 90.0%
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD ERROR
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Coverage check failed. See messages above.
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] For more information, run Maven with the -e switch
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 18 seconds
[INFO] Finished at: Sat Oct 24 21:00:39 CEST 2009
[INFO] Final Memory: 17M/70M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
$
私はmaven2.0.9でテストしませんでしたが、私のマシンでhaltOnFailureは、ビルドエラーが生成され、ビルドが停止します。プラグインの構成に違いは見られません。説明した動作を再現できません。