diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/coprocessor/CoprocessorHost.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/coprocessor/CoprocessorHost.java
index db60d051008..4f07d5af8d0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/coprocessor/CoprocessorHost.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/coprocessor/CoprocessorHost.java
@@ -39,12 +39,16 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.SortedCopyOnWriteSet;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.VersionInfo;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Server;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.IOUtils;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLClassLoader;
 import java.util.*;
+import java.util.jar.JarEntry;
+import java.util.jar.JarFile;
 
 /**
  * Provides the common setup framework and runtime services for coprocessor
@@ -195,6 +199,21 @@ public abstract class CoprocessorHost<E extends CoprocessorEnvironment> {
       // method which returns URLs for as long as it is available
       List<URL> paths = new ArrayList<URL>();
       paths.add(new File(dst.toString()).getCanonicalFile().toURL());
+
+      JarFile jarFile = new JarFile(dst.toString());
+      Enumeration<JarEntry> entries = jarFile.entries();
+      while (entries.hasMoreElements()) {
+        JarEntry entry = entries.nextElement();
+        if (entry.getName().matches("/lib/[^/]+\\.jar")) {
+          File file = new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir") +
+              java.io.File.separator +"." + pathPrefix +
+              "." + className + "." + System.currentTimeMillis() + "." + entry.getName().substring(5));
+          IOUtils.copyBytes(jarFile.getInputStream(entry), new FileOutputStream(file), conf, true);
+          file.deleteOnExit();
+          paths.add(file.toURL());
+        }
+      }
+
       StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(cp, File.pathSeparator);
       while (st.hasMoreTokens()) {
         paths.add((new File(st.nextToken())).getCanonicalFile().toURL());
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/coprocessor/TestClassLoading.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/coprocessor/TestClassLoading.java
index 368a0e52498..1918b1e7e4a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/coprocessor/TestClassLoading.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/coprocessor/TestClassLoading.java
@@ -382,6 +382,93 @@ public class TestClassLoading {
     assertFalse("Configuration key 'k4' wasn't configured", found5_k4);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testClassLoadingFromLibDirInJar() throws Exception {
+    FileSystem fs = cluster.getFileSystem();
+
+    File innerJarFile1 = buildCoprocessorJar(cpName1);
+    File innerJarFile2 = buildCoprocessorJar(cpName2);
+    File outerJarFile = new File(TEST_UTIL.getDataTestDir().toString(), "outer.jar");
+
+    byte buffer[] = new byte[BUFFER_SIZE];
+    // Open archive file
+    FileOutputStream stream = new FileOutputStream(outerJarFile);
+    JarOutputStream out = new JarOutputStream(stream, new Manifest());
+
+    for (File jarFile: new File[] { innerJarFile1, innerJarFile2 }) {
+      // Add archive entry
+      JarEntry jarAdd = new JarEntry("/lib/" + jarFile.getName());
+      jarAdd.setTime(jarFile.lastModified());
+      out.putNextEntry(jarAdd);
+  
+      // Write file to archive
+      FileInputStream in = new FileInputStream(jarFile);
+      while (true) {
+        int nRead = in.read(buffer, 0, buffer.length);
+        if (nRead <= 0)
+          break;
+        out.write(buffer, 0, nRead);
+      }
+      in.close();
+    }
+    out.close();
+    stream.close();
+    LOG.info("Adding jar file to outer jar file completed");
+
+    // copy the jars into dfs
+    fs.copyFromLocalFile(new Path(outerJarFile.getPath()),
+      new Path(fs.getUri().toString() + Path.SEPARATOR));
+    String jarFileOnHDFS = fs.getUri().toString() + Path.SEPARATOR +
+      outerJarFile.getName();
+    assertTrue("Copy jar file to HDFS failed.",
+      fs.exists(new Path(jarFileOnHDFS)));
+    LOG.info("Copied jar file to HDFS: " + jarFileOnHDFS);
+
+    // create a table that references the coprocessors
+    HTableDescriptor htd = new HTableDescriptor(tableName);
+    htd.addFamily(new HColumnDescriptor("test"));
+      // without configuration values
+    htd.setValue("COPROCESSOR$1", jarFileOnHDFS.toString() + "|" + cpName1 +
+      "|" + Coprocessor.PRIORITY_USER);
+      // with configuration values
+    htd.setValue("COPROCESSOR$2", jarFileOnHDFS.toString() + "|" + cpName2 +
+      "|" + Coprocessor.PRIORITY_USER + "|k1=v1,k2=v2,k3=v3");
+    HBaseAdmin admin = new HBaseAdmin(this.conf);
+    if (admin.tableExists(tableName)) {
+      admin.disableTable(tableName);
+      admin.deleteTable(tableName);
+    }
+    admin.createTable(htd);
+
+    // verify that the coprocessors were loaded
+    boolean found1 = false, found2 = false, found2_k1 = false,
+        found2_k2 = false, found2_k3 = false;
+    MiniHBaseCluster hbase = TEST_UTIL.getHBaseCluster();
+    for (HRegion region:
+        hbase.getRegionServer(0).getOnlineRegionsLocalContext()) {
+      if (region.getRegionNameAsString().startsWith(tableName)) {
+        CoprocessorEnvironment env;
+        env = region.getCoprocessorHost().findCoprocessorEnvironment(cpName1);
+        if (env != null) {
+          found1 = true;
+        }
+        env = region.getCoprocessorHost().findCoprocessorEnvironment(cpName2);
+        if (env != null) {
+          found2 = true;
+          Configuration conf = env.getConfiguration();
+          found2_k1 = conf.get("k1") != null;
+          found2_k2 = conf.get("k2") != null;
+          found2_k3 = conf.get("k3") != null;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    assertTrue("Class " + cpName1 + " was missing on a region", found1);
+    assertTrue("Class " + cpName2 + " was missing on a region", found2);
+    assertTrue("Configuration key 'k1' was missing on a region", found2_k1);
+    assertTrue("Configuration key 'k2' was missing on a region", found2_k2);
+    assertTrue("Configuration key 'k3' was missing on a region", found2_k3);
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testRegionServerCoprocessorsReported() throws Exception {
     // HBASE 4070: Improve region server metrics to report loaded coprocessors