diff -r ce4b5303a813 -r 00aa934a1a20 hotspot/src/share/vm/classfile/classFileParser.cpp
--- a/hotspot/src/share/vm/classfile/classFileParser.cpp	Wed Dec 23 13:12:15 2015 +0300
+++ b/hotspot/src/share/vm/classfile/classFileParser.cpp	Wed Dec 23 13:02:15 2015 -0500
@@ -567,6 +567,9 @@
           const int name_index = cp->name_ref_index_at(index);
           const Symbol* const name = cp->symbol_at(name_index);
           const Symbol* const sig = cp->symbol_at(sig_index);
+          guarantee_property(sig->utf8_length() != 0,
+            "Illegal zero length constant pool entry at %d in class %s",
+            sig_index, CHECK);
           if (sig->byte_at(0) == JVM_SIGNATURE_FUNC) {
             verify_legal_method_signature(name, sig, CHECK);
           } else {
@@ -593,8 +596,9 @@
           verify_legal_field_name(name, CHECK);
           if (_need_verify && _major_version >= JAVA_7_VERSION) {
             // Signature is verified above, when iterating NameAndType_info.
-            // Need only to be sure it's the right type.
-            if (signature->byte_at(0) == JVM_SIGNATURE_FUNC) {
+            // Need only to be sure it's non-zero length and the right type.
+            if (signature->utf8_length() == 0 ||
+                signature->byte_at(0) == JVM_SIGNATURE_FUNC) {
               throwIllegalSignature(
                 "Field", name, signature, CHECK);
             }
@@ -605,8 +609,9 @@
           verify_legal_method_name(name, CHECK);
           if (_need_verify && _major_version >= JAVA_7_VERSION) {
             // Signature is verified above, when iterating NameAndType_info.
-            // Need only to be sure it's the right type.
-            if (signature->byte_at(0) != JVM_SIGNATURE_FUNC) {
+            // Need only to be sure it's non-zero length and the right type.
+            if (signature->utf8_length() == 0 ||
+                signature->byte_at(0) != JVM_SIGNATURE_FUNC) {
               throwIllegalSignature(
                 "Method", name, signature, CHECK);
             }
@@ -617,8 +622,7 @@
             // 4509014: If a class method name begins with '<', it must be "<init>".
             assert(name != NULL, "method name in constant pool is null");
             const unsigned int name_len = name->utf8_length();
-            assert(name_len > 0, "bad method name");  // already verified as legal name
-            if (name->byte_at(0) == '<') {
+            if (name_len != 0 && name->byte_at(0) == '<') {
               if (name != vmSymbols::object_initializer_name()) {
                 classfile_parse_error(
                   "Bad method name at constant pool index %u in class file %s",