diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/LineReader.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/LineReader.java
index a1cf7099ada32..c516a30bf797a 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/LineReader.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/LineReader.java
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@
 @InterfaceAudience.LimitedPrivate({"MapReduce"})
 @InterfaceStability.Unstable
 public class LineReader implements Closeable {
+  // Limitation for array size is VM specific. Current HotSpot VM limitation
+  // for array size is Integer.MAX_VALUE - 5 (2^31 - 1 - 5).
+  // Integer.MAX_VALUE - 8 should be safe enough.
+  private static final int MAX_ARRAY_SIZE = Integer.MAX_VALUE - 9;
   private static final int DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE = 64 * 1024;
   private int bufferSize = DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE;
   private InputStream in;
@@ -242,8 +246,14 @@ private int readDefaultLine(Text str, int maxLineLength, int maxBytesToConsume)
         appendLength = maxLineLength - txtLength;
       }
       if (appendLength > 0) {
+        int newTxtLength = txtLength + appendLength;
+        if (str.getBytes().length < newTxtLength && Math.max(newTxtLength, txtLength << 1) > MAX_ARRAY_SIZE) {
+          // If str need to be resized but the target capacity is over VM limit, it will trigger OOM.
+          // In such case we will throw an IOException so the caller can deal with it.
+          throw new IOException("Too many bytes before newline:  " + newTxtLength);
+        }
         str.append(buffer, startPosn, appendLength);
-        txtLength += appendLength;
+        txtLength = newTxtLength;
       }
     } while (newlineLength == 0 && bytesConsumed < maxBytesToConsume);
 
@@ -344,8 +354,14 @@ private int readCustomLine(Text str, int maxLineLength, int maxBytesToConsume)
         unsetNeedAdditionalRecordAfterSplit();
       }
       if (appendLength > 0) {
+        int newTxtLength = txtLength + appendLength;
+        if (str.getBytes().length < newTxtLength && Math.max(newTxtLength, txtLength << 1) > MAX_ARRAY_SIZE) {
+          // If str need to be resized but the target capacity is over VM limit, it will trigger OOM.
+          // In such case we will throw an IOException so the caller can deal with it.
+          throw new IOException("Too many bytes before newline:  " + newTxtLength);
+        }
         str.append(buffer, startPosn, appendLength);
-        txtLength += appendLength;
+        txtLength = newTxtLength;
       }
       if (bufferPosn >= bufferLength) {
         if (delPosn > 0 && delPosn < recordDelimiterBytes.length) {