diff a/src/hotspot/share/memory/allocation.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/memory/allocation.cpp
--- a/src/hotspot/share/memory/allocation.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/memory/allocation.cpp
@@ -62,10 +62,11 @@
     vm_exit_out_of_memory(size, OOM_MALLOC_ERROR, "ReallocateHeap");
   }
   return p;
 }
 
+// handles NULL pointers
 void FreeHeap(void* p) {
   os::free(p);
 }
 
 void* MetaspaceObj::_shared_metaspace_base = NULL;