--- a/src/share/vm/classfile/javaClasses.cpp	Tue Aug 25 13:08:40 2009 -0700
+++ b/src/share/vm/classfile/javaClasses.cpp	Thu Aug 27 06:17:23 2009 -0700
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ symbolHandle java_lang_String::as_symbol
   typeArrayOop value  = java_lang_String::value(obj);
   int          offset = java_lang_String::offset(obj);
   int          length = java_lang_String::length(obj);
-  jchar* base = value->char_at_addr(offset);
+  jchar* base = (length == 0) ? NULL : value->char_at_addr(offset);
   symbolOop sym = SymbolTable::lookup_unicode(base, length, THREAD);
   return symbolHandle(THREAD, sym);
 }
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ symbolOop java_lang_String::as_symbol_or
   typeArrayOop value  = java_lang_String::value(java_string);
   int          offset = java_lang_String::offset(java_string);
   int          length = java_lang_String::length(java_string);
-  jchar* base = value->char_at_addr(offset);
+  jchar* base = (length == 0) ? NULL : value->char_at_addr(offset);
   return SymbolTable::probe_unicode(base, length);
 }