diff --git a/src/java.base/share/native/libjava/ClassLoader.c b/src/java.base/share/native/libjava/ClassLoader.c
index bbdff87b0b3..da34a7b438b 100644
--- a/src/java.base/share/native/libjava/ClassLoader.c
+++ b/src/java.base/share/native/libjava/ClassLoader.c
@@ -99,7 +99,12 @@ Java_java_lang_ClassLoader_defineClass1(JNIEnv *env,
         return 0;
     }
 
+    // On AIX malloc(0) returns NULL which looks like an out-of-memory condition; so adjust it to malloc(1)
+    #ifdef _AIX
+    body = (jbyte *)malloc(length == 0 ? 1 : length);
+    #else
     body = (jbyte *)malloc(length);
+    #endif
 
     if (body == 0) {
         JNU_ThrowOutOfMemoryError(env, 0);
@@ -239,7 +244,13 @@ Java_java_lang_ClassLoader_defineClass0(JNIEnv *env,
         return 0;
     }
 
+    // On AIX malloc(0) returns NULL which looks like an out-of-memory condition; so adjust it to malloc(1)
+    #ifdef _AIX
+    body = (jbyte *)malloc(length == 0 ? 1 : length);
+    #else
     body = (jbyte *)malloc(length);
+    #endif
+
     if (body == 0) {
         JNU_ThrowOutOfMemoryError(env, 0);
         return 0;