java.lang.OutOfMemoryError in java.util.zip.ZipFile.open()

Issue

• We see the following exception thrown:

    Caused by: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError 
       at java.util.zip.ZipFile.open(Native Method)

• Following a kernel upgrade, we are unable to start JBoss EAP . Startup fails with the following error

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError
    at java.util.zip.ZipFile.open(Native Method)

• When starting JBoss, we get the following OutOfMemoryError (OOME) on startup (even though it has plenty of memory available)

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError
    at java.util.zip.ZipFile.open(Native Method)
    at java.util.zip.ZipFile.<init>(ZipFile.java:203)
    at java.util.zip.ZipFile.<init>(ZipFile.java:234)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.TomcatDeployer.performDeployInternal(TomcatDeployer.java:250)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.TomcatDeployer.performDeploy(TomcatDeployer.java:104)

If we change version of RHEL it works.
This happens on 2.6.32-220.7.1 version of RHEL but works on older redHat versions like '2.6.18-194.26.1.el5 #1 SMP Fri Oct 29 14:21:16 EDT 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux'.
Our configuration is

*  java version "1.5.0_22"
*  Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_22-b03)
*  Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 1.5.0_22-b03, mixed mode)
*  2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Fri Feb 10 15:22:22 EST 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux