diff --git a/src/share/classes/com/sun/jndi/ldap/BasicControl.java b/src/share/classes/com/sun/jndi/ldap/BasicControl.java
index ebe745d49452ae02fd1a8fcdf8098dfbc38e1874..d068704142a2d588a9fa3879e1e2715176e47837 100644
--- a/src/share/classes/com/sun/jndi/ldap/BasicControl.java
+++ b/src/share/classes/com/sun/jndi/ldap/BasicControl.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1999, 2002, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1999, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -113,6 +113,6 @@ public class BasicControl implements Control {
       *         ASN.1 BER encoded value.
       */
     public byte[] getEncodedValue() {
-        return value;
+        return value == null ? null : value.clone();
     }
 }