FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
1.7.0_25-b17
(also occurs in Java for Business 1.6.0_51 at our customer's installations)

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Windows 7 6.1

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Java 1.7.0_25 throws NullPointerException when running application, which uses dynamic rmi codebase downloading. It only occurs under Java Plugin and Java Web Start environments. It does not occur when application is started with a classic java invocation from the command line or so.

REGRESSION. Last worked in version 7u21

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Start JINI client application. Setup lookup discovery. After that start a Jini service. Look for exceptions thrown when the proxy object is about to be loaded by the client application's JVM.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Sucessfully load classes as the codebase is vital. As loading is working if discovering component (client) is started after the jini service.
ACTUAL -
java.lang.NullPointerException
at sun.plugin.net.protocol.jar.CachedJarURLConnection.getJarFileInternal(Unknown Source)

is thrown

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
java.lang.NullPointerException
at sun.plugin.net.protocol.jar.CachedJarURLConnection.getJarFileInternal(Unknown Source)
at sun.plugin.net.protocol.jar.CachedJarURLConnection.getJarFile(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath$JarLoader.getJarFile(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath$JarLoader.access$600(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath$JarLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath$JarLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath$JarLoader.ensureOpen(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath$JarLoader.<init>(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath$3.run(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath$3.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath.getLoader(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath.getLoader(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.URLClassPath.getResource(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.LoaderHandler$Loader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.LoaderHandler.loadClassForName(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.LoaderHandler.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.LoaderHandler.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.rmi.server.RMIClassLoader$2.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.deploy.util.DeployRMIClassLoaderSpi.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.rmi.server.RMIClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.MarshalInputStream.resolveClass(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readNonProxyDesc(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readClassDesc(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(Unknown Source)
at java.rmi.MarshalledObject.get(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.jini.reggie.Item.get(Item.java:122)
at com.sun.jini.reggie.RegistrarEvent.readObject(RegistrarEvent.java:90)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectStreamClass.invokeReadObject(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readSerialData(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.UnicastRef.unmarshalValue(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.UnicastServerRef.dispatch(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at sun.rmi.transport.Transport.serviceCall(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport.handleMessages(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run0(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.rubean.jini.lookup.RubeanAttributeDescriptor
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.LoaderHandler$Loader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.LoaderHandler.loadClassForName(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.LoaderHandler.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.LoaderHandler.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.rmi.server.RMIClassLoader$2.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.deploy.util.DeployRMIClassLoaderSpi.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.rmi.server.RMIClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.jini.reggie.EntryClass.toClass(EntryClass.java:215)
at com.sun.jini.reggie.EntryRep.get(EntryRep.java:109)
at com.sun.jini.reggie.EntryRep.toEntry(EntryRep.java:201)
at com.sun.jini.reggie.Item.get(Item.java:128)
at com.sun.jini.reggie.RegistrarEvent.readObject(RegistrarEvent.java:90)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectStreamClass.invokeReadObject(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readSerialData(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(Unknown Source)
at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.UnicastRef.unmarshalValue(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.server.UnicastServerRef.dispatch(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at sun.rmi.transport.Transport.serviceCall(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport.handleMessages(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run0(Unknown Source)
at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.