diff --git a/src/java.base/share/native/libjava/jni_util.c b/src/java.base/share/native/libjava/jni_util.c
index d6e3176c14d..c20d7484a92 100644
--- a/src/java.base/share/native/libjava/jni_util.c
+++ b/src/java.base/share/native/libjava/jni_util.c
@@ -35,8 +35,13 @@
  * such as "z:" need to be appended with a "." so we
  * must allocate at least 4 bytes to allow room for
  * this expansion. See 4235353 for details.
+ * This macro returns NULL if the requested size is
+ * negative, or the size is INT_MAX as the macro adds 1
+ * that overflows into negative value.
  */
-#define MALLOC_MIN4(len) ((char *)malloc((len) + 1 < 4 ? 4 : (len) + 1))
+#define MALLOC_MIN4(len) ((unsigned)(len) >= INT_MAX ? \
+    NULL : \
+    ((char *)malloc((len) + 1 < 4 ? 4 : (len) + 1)))
 
 /**
  * Throw a Java exception by name. Similar to SignalError.
@@ -861,17 +866,10 @@ getStringUTF8(JNIEnv *env, jstring jstr)
         }
     }
 
-    // Check `jint` overflow
-    if (rlen < 0) {
-        (*env)->ReleasePrimitiveArrayCritical(env, value, str, 0);
-        JNU_ThrowOutOfMemoryError(env, "requested array size exceeds VM limit");
-        return NULL;
-    }
-
     result = MALLOC_MIN4(rlen);
     if (result == NULL) {
         (*env)->ReleasePrimitiveArrayCritical(env, value, str, 0);
-        JNU_ThrowOutOfMemoryError(env, 0);
+        JNU_ThrowOutOfMemoryError(env, "requested array size exceeds VM limit");
         return NULL;
     }