*** old/src/hotspot/share/classfile/classLoader.cpp	Mon Jul  9 09:52:28 2018
--- new/src/hotspot/share/classfile/classLoader.cpp	Mon Jul  9 09:52:27 2018

*** 547,556 ****
--- 547,559 ----
    }
  }
  
  void ClassLoader::setup_bootstrap_search_path() {
    const char* sys_class_path = Arguments::get_sysclasspath();
+   if (sys_class_path == NULL) {
+     vm_exit_during_initialization("System boot class path should not be NULL", NULL);
+   }
    if (PrintSharedArchiveAndExit) {
      // Don't print sys_class_path - this is the bootcp of this current VM process, not necessarily
      // the same as the bootcp of the shared archive.
    } else {
      trace_class_path("bootstrap loader class path=", sys_class_path);