diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/LineReader.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/LineReader.java
index 97410c4..d3259f3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/LineReader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/LineReader.java
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
 @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;
@@ -168,6 +172,8 @@ public void close() throws IOException {
      */
     public int readLine(Text str, int maxLineLength,
                         int maxBytesToConsume) throws IOException {
+        maxLineLength = Math.min(maxLineLength, MAX_ARRAY_SIZE);
+        maxBytesToConsume = Math.min(maxBytesToConsume, MAX_ARRAY_SIZE);
         if (this.recordDelimiterBytes != null) {
             return readCustomLine(str, maxLineLength, maxBytesToConsume);
         } else {
@@ -240,12 +246,19 @@ 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);
 
         if (bytesConsumed > Integer.MAX_VALUE) {
+
             throw new IOException("Too many bytes before newline: " + bytesConsumed);
         }
         return (int)bytesConsumed;
@@ -342,8 +355,14 @@ 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) {