diff -r dfd5196652dd -r 9a0a5e70eeb2 src/hotspot/share/runtime/thread.cpp
--- a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/thread.cpp	Thu Nov 07 03:01:52 2019 +0100
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/thread.cpp	Wed Nov 06 21:18:42 2019 -0500
@@ -1741,6 +1741,16 @@
 
 bool JavaThread::is_interrupted(bool clear_interrupted) {
   debug_only(check_for_dangling_thread_pointer(this);)
+
+  if (threadObj() == NULL) {
+    // If there is no j.l.Thread then it is impossible to have
+    // been interrupted. We can find NULL during VM initialization
+    // or when a JNI thread is still in the process of attaching.
+    // In such cases this must be the current thread.
+    assert(this == Thread::current(), "invariant");
+    return false;
+  }
+
   bool interrupted = java_lang_Thread::interrupted(threadObj());
 
   // NOTE that since there is no "lock" around the interrupt and
@@ -1759,6 +1769,7 @@
   // state if we are going to report that we were interrupted; otherwise
   // an interrupt that happens just after we read the field would be lost.
   if (interrupted && clear_interrupted) {
+    assert(this == Thread::current(), "only the current thread can clear");
     java_lang_Thread::set_interrupted(threadObj(), false);
     osthread()->set_interrupted(false);
   }