diff --git a/src/share/vm/memory/allocation.cpp b/src/share/vm/memory/allocation.cpp
index abba20bcd3a5bf450944aaa7c725e3b730702ea6..5bc2bc163a0f57ca02970b85a4707a1d6b6c645b 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/memory/allocation.cpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/memory/allocation.cpp
@@ -561,6 +561,7 @@ void* Arena::grow(size_t x, AllocFailType alloc_failmode) {
   _chunk = new (alloc_failmode, len) Chunk(len);
 
   if (_chunk == NULL) {
+    _chunk = k;                 // restore the previous value of _chunk
     return NULL;
   }
   if (k) k->set_next(_chunk);   // Append new chunk to end of linked list