diff --git a/weaver/src/main/java/org/aspectj/weaver/tools/cache/AbstractIndexedFileCacheBacking.java b/weaver/src/main/java/org/aspectj/weaver/tools/cache/AbstractIndexedFileCacheBacking.java
index e32ffcafa..fe479dfd7 100644
--- a/weaver/src/main/java/org/aspectj/weaver/tools/cache/AbstractIndexedFileCacheBacking.java
+++ b/weaver/src/main/java/org/aspectj/weaver/tools/cache/AbstractIndexedFileCacheBacking.java
@@ -17,8 +17,11 @@
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.InvalidClassException;
 import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
 import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
+import java.io.ObjectStreamClass;
 import java.io.Serializable;
 import java.io.StreamCorruptedException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -128,7 +131,7 @@ public IndexEntry[] readIndex(File indexFile) {
 
 		ObjectInputStream ois = null;
 		try {
-			ois = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(indexFile));
+			ois = new IndexInputStream(new FileInputStream(indexFile));
 			return (IndexEntry[]) ois.readObject();
 		} catch (Exception e) {
 			if ((logger != null) && logger.isTraceEnabled()) {
@@ -144,6 +147,36 @@ public IndexEntry[] readIndex(File indexFile) {
 		return EMPTY_INDEX;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * The cache index file is only ever written as an {@link IndexEntry} array, but
+	 * the file lives in a directory that may be shared between JVMs (or users) via
+	 * the {@code aj.weaving.cache.dir} property. A tampered index file would otherwise
+	 * turn {@link ObjectInputStream#readObject()} into an arbitrary deserialization
+	 * sink, so limit the classes the stream is allowed to resolve to the index type.
+	 */
+	private static final class IndexInputStream extends ObjectInputStream {
+		private static final String ENTRY_TYPE = IndexEntry.class.getName();
+		private static final String ENTRY_ARRAY_TYPE = IndexEntry[].class.getName();
+
+		IndexInputStream(InputStream in) throws IOException {
+			super(in);
+		}
+
+		@Override
+		protected Class<?> resolveClass(ObjectStreamClass desc) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
+			String name = desc.getName();
+			if (ENTRY_TYPE.equals(name) || ENTRY_ARRAY_TYPE.equals(name)) {
+				return super.resolveClass(desc);
+			}
+			throw new InvalidClassException(name, "unexpected class in cache index file");
+		}
+
+		@Override
+		protected Class<?> resolveProxyClass(String[] interfaces) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
+			throw new InvalidClassException("proxy", "unexpected proxy class in cache index file");
+		}
+	}
+
 	protected void writeIndex (File indexFile, Map<String,? extends IndexEntry> index) throws IOException {
 		writeIndex(indexFile, LangUtil.isEmpty(index) ? Collections.<IndexEntry>emptyList() : index.values());
 	}
diff --git a/weaver/src/test/java/org/aspectj/weaver/tools/cache/DefaultFileCacheBackingTest.java b/weaver/src/test/java/org/aspectj/weaver/tools/cache/DefaultFileCacheBackingTest.java
index 2fea0af1b..61e45cfac 100644
--- a/weaver/src/test/java/org/aspectj/weaver/tools/cache/DefaultFileCacheBackingTest.java
+++ b/weaver/src/test/java/org/aspectj/weaver/tools/cache/DefaultFileCacheBackingTest.java
@@ -13,7 +13,13 @@
 
 package org.aspectj.weaver.tools.cache;
 
+import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
+import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
+import java.io.Serializable;
 import java.util.zip.CRC32;
 
 import org.aspectj.util.LangUtil;
@@ -158,6 +164,52 @@ public void testOriginalClassBytesChanged () {
 		assertFalse("Cache file not removed", cachedFile.exists());
 	}
 
+	public void testReadIndexRejectsUnexpectedClass() throws Exception {
+		DefaultFileCacheBacking backing = DefaultFileCacheBacking.createBacking(root);
+		File indexFile = new File(root, AbstractIndexedFileCacheBacking.INDEX_FILE);
+		Gadget.deserialized = false;
+		writeObject(indexFile, new Gadget());
+
+		IndexEntry[] index = backing.readIndex(indexFile);
+
+		assertTrue("Index should be empty after rejecting a hostile entry", LangUtil.isEmpty(index));
+		assertFalse("Disallowed class was deserialized from the cache index", Gadget.deserialized);
+	}
+
+	public void testReadIndexAcceptsIndexEntryArray() throws Exception {
+		DefaultFileCacheBacking backing = DefaultFileCacheBacking.createBacking(root);
+		File indexFile = new File(root, AbstractIndexedFileCacheBacking.INDEX_FILE);
+		IndexEntry ie = new IndexEntry();
+		ie.key = fakeKey;
+		ie.crcClass = 42L;
+		writeObject(indexFile, new IndexEntry[] { ie });
+
+		IndexEntry[] index = backing.readIndex(indexFile);
+
+		assertEquals(1, index.length);
+		assertEquals(fakeKey, index[0].key);
+		assertEquals(42L, index[0].crcClass);
+	}
+
+	private static void writeObject(File file, Serializable object) throws IOException {
+		ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(file)));
+		try {
+			oos.writeObject(object);
+		} finally {
+			oos.close();
+		}
+	}
+
+	private static class Gadget implements Serializable {
+		private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+		static boolean deserialized;
+
+		private void readObject(ObjectInputStream in) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
+			in.defaultReadObject();
+			deserialized = true;
+		}
+	}
+
 	private boolean indexEntryExists(AbstractIndexedFileCacheBacking cache, String key, long expectedCRC) throws Exception {
 		long storedCRC = 0L;
 		IndexEntry[] index = cache.readIndex(new File(root, AbstractIndexedFileCacheBacking.INDEX_FILE));