ADDITIONAL SYSTEM INFORMATION :
openjdk 11-ea 2018-09-25
OpenJDK Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11-ea+10)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11-ea+10, mixed mode)

Mac OS X 10.12.1

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
        System.out.println(new java.io.File("a").getAbsolutePath());
        System.setProperty("user.dir", "/User/zhb");
        System.out.println(new java.io.File("a").getAbsolutePath());

On Java 10 or lower, the output is:

/the/current/working/dir/a
/User/zhb/a

On Java 11 ea, the output is:

/the/current/working/dir/a
/the/current/working/dir/a

REGRESSION : Last worked in version 11

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
class MyTest {
    public static void main(String []args){
        System.out.println(new java.io.File("a").getAbsolutePath());
        System.setProperty("user.dir", "/User/zhb");
        System.out.println(new java.io.File("a").getAbsolutePath());
    }
}


Compile and run on Java 10 and Java 11 repectively.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Keep the previous behaviour
ACTUAL -
Different behavior as Java 1-

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
No found yet.

FREQUENCY : always