diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 269c77a88ec..4b0faf46ff8 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -491,6 +491,9 @@ Release 2.7.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-10062. race condition in MetricsSystemImpl#publishMetricsNow that 
     causes incorrect results. (Sangjin Lee via junping_du)
 
+    HADOOP-11526. Memory leak in Bzip2Compressor and Bzip2Decompressor.
+    (Anu Engineer via cnauroth)
+
 Release 2.6.1 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/bzip2/Bzip2Compressor.c b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/bzip2/Bzip2Compressor.c
index d4cd6dfbd24..ef81bea2ce0 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/bzip2/Bzip2Compressor.c
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/bzip2/Bzip2Compressor.c
@@ -43,15 +43,25 @@ JNIEXPORT void JNICALL
 Java_org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_bzip2_Bzip2Compressor_initIDs(
                                  JNIEnv *env, jclass class, jstring libname)
 {
-    const char* bzlib_name = (*env)->GetStringUTFChars(env, libname, NULL);
-    if (strcmp(bzlib_name, "system-native") == 0)
-      bzlib_name = HADOOP_BZIP2_LIBRARY;
+    const char *bzlib_name = NULL;
+    const char *java_lib_name = (*env)->GetStringUTFChars(env, libname, NULL);
+    if (java_lib_name == NULL) {
+        // Java code will get OutOfMemoryException thrown by GetStringUTFChars
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    if (strcmp(java_lib_name, "system-native") == 0) {
+        bzlib_name = HADOOP_BZIP2_LIBRARY;
+    } else {
+        bzlib_name = java_lib_name;
+    }
+
     // Load the native library.
     void *libbz2 = dlopen(bzlib_name, RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_GLOBAL);
     if (!libbz2) {
         THROW(env, "java/lang/UnsatisfiedLinkError",
               "Cannot load bzip2 native library");
-        return;
+        goto cleanup;
     }
 
     // Locate the requisite symbols from libbz2.so.
@@ -83,6 +93,11 @@ Java_org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_bzip2_Bzip2Compressor_initIDs(
                                                      "Ljava/nio/Buffer;");
     Bzip2Compressor_directBufferSize = (*env)->GetFieldID(env, class, 
                                                   "directBufferSize", "I");
+ cleanup:
+    if(java_lib_name != NULL) {
+        (*env)->ReleaseStringUTFChars(env,libname,java_lib_name);
+        java_lib_name = NULL;
+    }
 }
 
 JNIEXPORT jlong JNICALL
@@ -234,9 +249,10 @@ Java_org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_bzip2_Bzip2Compressor_end(
 {
     if (dlsym_BZ2_bzCompressEnd(BZSTREAM(stream)) != BZ_OK) {
         THROW(env, "java/lang/InternalError", NULL);
-    } else {
-        free(BZSTREAM(stream));
     }
+
+    free(BZSTREAM(stream));
+
 }
 
 JNIEXPORT jstring JNICALL
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/bzip2/Bzip2Decompressor.c b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/bzip2/Bzip2Decompressor.c
index b6c52135246..ad9bcb72c6c 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/bzip2/Bzip2Decompressor.c
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/io/compress/bzip2/Bzip2Decompressor.c
@@ -42,15 +42,25 @@ JNIEXPORT void JNICALL
 Java_org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_bzip2_Bzip2Decompressor_initIDs(
                                  JNIEnv *env, jclass class, jstring libname)
 {
-    const char* bzlib_name = (*env)->GetStringUTFChars(env, libname, NULL);
-    if (strcmp(bzlib_name, "system-native") == 0)
-      bzlib_name = HADOOP_BZIP2_LIBRARY;
+    const char *bzlib_name = NULL;
+    const char *java_lib_name = (*env)->GetStringUTFChars(env, libname, NULL);
+    if (java_lib_name == NULL) {
+        // Java code will get OutOfMemoryException thrown by GetStringUTFChars
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
+    if (strcmp(java_lib_name, "system-native") == 0) {
+        bzlib_name = HADOOP_BZIP2_LIBRARY;
+    } else {
+        bzlib_name = java_lib_name;
+    }
+
     // Load the native library.
     void *libbz2 = dlopen(bzlib_name, RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_GLOBAL);
     if (!libbz2) {
         THROW(env, "java/lang/UnsatisfiedLinkError",
               "Cannot load bzip2 native library");
-        return;
+        goto cleanup;
     }
 
     // Locate the requisite symbols from libbz2.so.
@@ -80,6 +90,11 @@ Java_org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_bzip2_Bzip2Decompressor_initIDs(
                                                 "Ljava/nio/Buffer;");
     Bzip2Decompressor_directBufferSize = (*env)->GetFieldID(env, class, 
                                                 "directBufferSize", "I");
+cleanup:
+    if(java_lib_name != NULL) {
+         (*env)->ReleaseStringUTFChars(env,libname,java_lib_name);
+         java_lib_name = NULL;
+    }
 }
 
 JNIEXPORT jlong JNICALL
@@ -237,9 +252,10 @@ Java_org_apache_hadoop_io_compress_bzip2_Bzip2Decompressor_end(
 {
     if (dlsym_BZ2_bzDecompressEnd(BZSTREAM(stream)) != BZ_OK) {
         THROW(env, "java/lang/InternalError", 0);
-    } else {
-        free(BZSTREAM(stream));
     }
+
+    free(BZSTREAM(stream));
+
 }
 
 /**