diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/opensymphony/xwork2/ognl/OgnlUtil.java b/core/src/main/java/com/opensymphony/xwork2/ognl/OgnlUtil.java
index 8bd8b56317..bc53c758e1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/opensymphony/xwork2/ognl/OgnlUtil.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/opensymphony/xwork2/ognl/OgnlUtil.java
@@ -189,11 +189,16 @@ protected void setDisallowProxyMemberAccess(String disallowProxyMemberAccess) {
      */
     @Inject(value = StrutsConstants.STRUTS_OGNL_EXPRESSION_MAX_LENGTH, required = false)
     protected void applyExpressionMaxLength(String maxLength) {
-        if (maxLength == null || maxLength.isEmpty()) {
-            // user is going to disable this functionality
-            Ognl.applyExpressionMaxLength(null);
-        } else {
-            Ognl.applyExpressionMaxLength(Integer.parseInt(maxLength));
+        try {
+            if (maxLength == null || maxLength.isEmpty()) {
+                // user is going to disable this functionality
+                Ognl.applyExpressionMaxLength(null);
+            } else {
+                Ognl.applyExpressionMaxLength(Integer.parseInt(maxLength));
+            }
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            LOG.warn("Unable to set OGNL Expression Max Length {}.", maxLength);  // Help configuration debugging.
+            throw ex;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/opensymphony/xwork2/ognl/OgnlValueStack.java b/core/src/main/java/com/opensymphony/xwork2/ognl/OgnlValueStack.java
index bb7b4cb146..93f82425ee 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/opensymphony/xwork2/ognl/OgnlValueStack.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/opensymphony/xwork2/ognl/OgnlValueStack.java
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ protected void handleRuntimeException(String expr, Object value, boolean throwEx
     }
 
     protected void handleOgnlException(String expr, Object value, boolean throwExceptionOnFailure, OgnlException e) {
-        if (e.getReason() instanceof SecurityException) {
+        if (e != null && e.getReason() instanceof SecurityException) {
             LOG.warn("Could not evaluate this expression due to security constraints: [{}]", expr, e);
         }
     	boolean shouldLog = shouldLogMissingPropertyWarning(e);
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ private Object tryFindValueWhenExpressionIsNotNull(String expr, Class asType) th
 
     protected Object handleOgnlException(String expr, boolean throwExceptionOnFailure, OgnlException e) {
         Object ret = null;
-        if (e.getReason() instanceof SecurityException) {
+        if (e != null && e.getReason() instanceof SecurityException) {
             LOG.warn("Could not evaluate this expression due to security constraints: [{}]", expr, e);
         } else {
             ret = findInContext(expr);
diff --git a/core/src/main/resources/struts-default.xml b/core/src/main/resources/struts-default.xml
index f8f8bd0f84..0206d6c01a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/resources/struts-default.xml
+++ b/core/src/main/resources/struts-default.xml
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
                 java.lang.ClassLoader,
                 java.lang.Shutdown,
                 java.lang.ProcessBuilder,
+                sun.misc.Unsafe,
                 com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionContext" />
 
     <!-- this must be valid regex, each '.' in package name must be escaped! -->
@@ -56,11 +57,14 @@
               value="
                 ognl.,
                 java.io.,
+                java.net.,
+                java.nio.,
                 javax.,
                 freemarker.core.,
                 freemarker.template.,
                 freemarker.ext.jsp.,
                 freemarker.ext.rhino.,
+                sun.misc.,
                 sun.reflect.,
                 javassist.,
                 org.apache.velocity.,