diff --git a/changelog.html b/changelog.html
index 1487f139cb0ac8d47a2a9269d71b049a8147b16d..e732f5ba65f9d47127080c68a57c91b4577e23bc 100644
--- a/changelog.html
+++ b/changelog.html
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ Upcoming changes</a>
 <div id="rc" style="display:none;"><!--=BEGIN=-->
 <h3><a name=v1.555>What's new in 1.555</a> <!--=DATE=--></h3>
 <ul class=image>
+  <li class=bug>
+    Jenkins should recover gracefully from a failure to process "remember me" cookie
+    (<a href="https://issues.jenkins-ci.org/browse/JENKINS-11643">issue 11643</a>)
   <li class=bug>
     Fixed Up link in matrix projects
     (<a href="https://issues.jenkins-ci.org/browse/JENKINS-21773">issue 21773</a>)
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/security/TokenBasedRememberMeServices2.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/security/TokenBasedRememberMeServices2.java
index 7234f9a88aba3f1e68e73fb9aafd791da93d31e1..7edf311e18c90d1e70d5571a38210a5017c489f5 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/security/TokenBasedRememberMeServices2.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/security/TokenBasedRememberMeServices2.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import java.util.Date;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
+import hudson.Functions;
 import jenkins.model.Jenkins;
 import jenkins.security.HMACConfidentialKey;
 import org.acegisecurity.ui.rememberme.TokenBasedRememberMeServices;
@@ -100,6 +101,16 @@ public class TokenBasedRememberMeServices2 extends TokenBasedRememberMeServices
 		}
 	}
 
+    @Override
+    public Authentication autoLogin(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
+        try {
+            return super.autoLogin(request, response);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            cancelCookie(request, response, "Failed to handle remember-me cookie: "+Functions.printThrowable(e));
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Used to compute the token signature securely.
      */
diff --git a/test/src/test/groovy/hudson/security/TokenBasedRememberMeServices2Test.groovy b/test/src/test/groovy/hudson/security/TokenBasedRememberMeServices2Test.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..13dacab83ee6dbd4998fdc40d1130f991d2e1168
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/src/test/groovy/hudson/security/TokenBasedRememberMeServices2Test.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+package hudson.security
+
+import com.gargoylesoftware.htmlunit.html.HtmlForm
+import com.gargoylesoftware.htmlunit.html.HtmlPage
+import org.acegisecurity.AuthenticationException
+import org.acegisecurity.BadCredentialsException
+import org.acegisecurity.GrantedAuthority
+import org.acegisecurity.GrantedAuthorityImpl
+import org.acegisecurity.ui.rememberme.TokenBasedRememberMeServices
+import org.acegisecurity.userdetails.User
+import org.acegisecurity.userdetails.UserDetails
+import org.acegisecurity.userdetails.UsernameNotFoundException
+import org.apache.commons.httpclient.Cookie
+import org.junit.After
+import org.junit.Before
+import org.junit.Rule
+import org.junit.Test
+import org.jvnet.hudson.test.JenkinsRule
+import org.springframework.dao.DataAccessException
+
+import java.util.logging.Handler
+import java.util.logging.Level
+import java.util.logging.LogRecord
+import java.util.logging.Logger
+
+import static java.util.logging.Level.FINEST
+
+/**
+ *
+ *
+ * @author Kohsuke Kawaguchi
+ */
+class TokenBasedRememberMeServices2Test {
+    @Rule
+    public JenkinsRule j = new JenkinsRule();
+
+    private boolean failureInduced;
+
+    private Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(TokenBasedRememberMeServices.class.name)
+
+    private List<LogRecord> logs = []
+    private Handler loghandler
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        loghandler = new Handler() {
+            @Override
+            void publish(LogRecord record) {
+                logs.add(record);
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            void flush() {
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            void close() throws SecurityException {
+            }
+        }
+        loghandler.level = FINEST
+        logger.addHandler(loghandler)
+        logger.level = FINEST
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        logger.removeHandler(loghandler);
+        logger.level = null
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void bogusTokenWillNotClearItself()  {
+        j.jenkins.securityRealm = new BogusSecurityRealm()
+
+        def wc = j.createWebClient()
+        loginWithRememberMe(wc)
+
+        // we should see a remember me cookie
+        def c = getRememberMeCookie(wc)
+        assert c!=null
+
+        // start a new session and attempt to access Jenkins,
+        // which should cause autoLogin failures
+        wc = j.createWebClient()
+        wc.cookieManager.addCookie(c);
+
+        // even if SecurityRealm chokes, it shouldn't kill the page
+        logs.clear()
+        wc.goTo("")
+
+        // make sure that the server recorded this failure
+        assert failureInduced
+        assert logs.find { it.message.contains("intentionally not working")}!=null
+        // and the problematic cookie should have been removed
+        assert getRememberMeCookie(wc)==null
+    }
+
+    private Cookie getRememberMeCookie(JenkinsRule.WebClient wc) {
+        wc.cookieManager.getCookie(TokenBasedRememberMeServices2.ACEGI_SECURITY_HASHED_REMEMBER_ME_COOKIE_KEY)
+    }
+
+    private void loginWithRememberMe(JenkinsRule.WebClient wc) {
+        HtmlPage page = wc.goTo("login");
+
+        HtmlForm form = page.getFormByName("login");
+        form.getInputByName("j_username").valueAttribute = "alice"
+        form.getInputByName("j_password").valueAttribute = "alice"
+        form.getInputByName("remember_me").checked = true
+        form.submit(null);
+    }
+
+    private class BogusSecurityRealm extends AbstractPasswordBasedSecurityRealm {
+        @Override
+        protected UserDetails authenticate(String username, String password) throws AuthenticationException {
+            if (username==password)
+                return new User(username,password,true,[new GrantedAuthorityImpl("myteam")] as GrantedAuthority[])
+            throw new BadCredentialsException(username);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        GroupDetails loadGroupByGroupname(String groupname) throws UsernameNotFoundException, DataAccessException {
+            throw new UnsupportedOperationException()
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        UserDetails loadUserByUsername(String username) throws UsernameNotFoundException, DataAccessException {
+            failureInduced = true
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("intentionally not working");
+        }
+    }
+}