diff --git a/rt/rs/extensions/json-basic/src/main/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/json/basic/JsonMapObjectReaderWriter.java b/rt/rs/extensions/json-basic/src/main/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/json/basic/JsonMapObjectReaderWriter.java
index f83e48ad3ad..117c6692c4c 100644
--- a/rt/rs/extensions/json-basic/src/main/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/json/basic/JsonMapObjectReaderWriter.java
+++ b/rt/rs/extensions/json-basic/src/main/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/json/basic/JsonMapObjectReaderWriter.java
@@ -245,6 +245,7 @@ private void readJsonObjectAsSettable(Settable values, String json, int depth) {
             }
             if (json.charAt(sepIndex + j) == OBJECT_START) {
                 int closingIndex = getClosingIndex(json, OBJECT_START, OBJECT_END, sepIndex + j);
+                closingIndex = requireClosingIndex(closingIndex, OBJECT_START, OBJECT_END);
                 String newJson = json.substring(sepIndex + j + 1, closingIndex);
                 MapSettable nextMap = new MapSettable();
                 readJsonObjectAsSettable(nextMap, newJson, depth + 1);
@@ -252,6 +253,7 @@ private void readJsonObjectAsSettable(Settable values, String json, int depth) {
                 i = closingIndex + 1;
             } else if (json.charAt(sepIndex + j) == ARRAY_START) {
                 int closingIndex = getClosingIndex(json, ARRAY_START, ARRAY_END, sepIndex + j);
+                closingIndex = requireClosingIndex(closingIndex, ARRAY_START, ARRAY_END);
                 String newJson = json.substring(sepIndex + j + 1, closingIndex);
                 values.put(name, internalFromJsonAsList(name, newJson, depth + 1));
                 i = closingIndex + 1;
@@ -281,10 +283,16 @@ private List<Object> internalFromJsonAsList(String name, String json, int depth)
             }
             if (json.charAt(i) == OBJECT_START) {
                 int closingIndex = getClosingIndex(json, OBJECT_START, OBJECT_END, i);
+                closingIndex = requireClosingIndex(closingIndex, OBJECT_START, OBJECT_END);
                 MapSettable nextMap = new MapSettable();
                 readJsonObjectAsSettable(nextMap, json.substring(i + 1, closingIndex), depth + 1);
                 values.add(nextMap.map);
                 i = closingIndex + 1;
+            } else if (json.charAt(i) == ARRAY_START) {
+                int closingIndex = getClosingIndex(json, ARRAY_START, ARRAY_END, i);
+                closingIndex = requireClosingIndex(closingIndex, ARRAY_START, ARRAY_END);
+                values.add(internalFromJsonAsList(name, json.substring(i + 1, closingIndex), depth + 1));
+                i = closingIndex + 1;
             } else {
                 int commaIndex = getCommaIndex(json, i);
                 Object value = readPrimitiveValue(name, json, i, commaIndex);
@@ -339,6 +347,15 @@ protected static int getClosingIndex(String json, char openChar, char closeChar,
         return closingIndex;
     }
 
+    private static int requireClosingIndex(int closingIndex, char openChar, char closeChar) {
+        if (closingIndex == -1) {
+            throw new UncheckedIOException(new IOException(
+                    "Error in parsing json: missing closing '" + closeChar
+                    + "' for '" + openChar + "'"));
+        }
+        return closingIndex;
+    }
+
     protected static int getNextSepCharIndex(String json, char curlyBracketChar, int from) {
         int nextCurlyBracketIndex = -1;
         boolean inString = false;
diff --git a/rt/rs/extensions/json-basic/src/test/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/json/basic/JsonMapObjectReaderWriterTest.java b/rt/rs/extensions/json-basic/src/test/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/json/basic/JsonMapObjectReaderWriterTest.java
index 805f56b5c2f..124a9b1669a 100644
--- a/rt/rs/extensions/json-basic/src/test/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/json/basic/JsonMapObjectReaderWriterTest.java
+++ b/rt/rs/extensions/json-basic/src/test/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/json/basic/JsonMapObjectReaderWriterTest.java
@@ -382,6 +382,13 @@ public void testRejectNaNNumericValue() {
         assertInvalidNumericLiteral("NaN");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testNestedArrayValueParsesSuccessfully() {
+        Map<String, Object> map = new JsonMapObjectReaderWriter().fromJson("{\"a\":[[]]}");
+        assertEquals(1, map.size());
+        assertEquals(Collections.singletonList(Collections.emptyList()), map.get("a"));
+    }
+
     private void assertInvalidNumericLiteral(String value) {
         JsonMapObjectReaderWriter jsonMapObjectReaderWriter = new JsonMapObjectReaderWriter();
         try {