com/sun/jdi/RedefineNestmateAttr/TestNestmateAttr.java currently overrides the TestScaffold.startup() method:

    // override this to correct a bug so arguments can be passed to
    // the Target class
    protected void startUp(String targetName) {
        List<String> argList = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(args));
        argList.add(0, targetName); // pre-pend so it becomes the first "app" arg
        println("run args: " + argList);
        connect((String[]) argList.toArray(args));
        waitForVMStart();
    }

This issue of passing app args was fixed recently by JDK-8308481, so the override is no longer needed.