diff -r d73f2a3c0fdb -r 23e0d47c1f3e hotspot/src/share/vm/prims/unsafe.cpp
--- a/hotspot/src/share/vm/prims/unsafe.cpp	Thu Mar 24 10:40:23 2016 +0100
+++ b/hotspot/src/share/vm/prims/unsafe.cpp	Thu Mar 24 08:13:28 2016 -0400
@@ -905,7 +905,10 @@
   }
 
   const Klass* host_klass = java_lang_Class::as_Klass(JNIHandles::resolve_non_null(host_class));
-  assert(host_klass != NULL, "invariant");
+  // Primitive types have NULL Klass* fields in their java.lang.Class instances.
+  if (host_klass == NULL) {
+    THROW_0(vmSymbols::java_lang_IllegalArgumentException());
+  }
 
   const char* host_source = host_klass->external_name();
   Handle      host_loader(THREAD, host_klass->class_loader());