diff --git a/parent/pom.xml b/parent/pom.xml
index fcccf9f4ef62..ab39a08e3b46 100644
--- a/parent/pom.xml
+++ b/parent/pom.xml
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@
       <version.log4j>1.2.16</version.log4j>
       <version.lucene>3.4.0</version.lucene>
       <version.mysql.driver>5.1.9</version.mysql.driver>
-      <version.netty>3.2.3.Final</version.netty>
+      <version.netty>3.2.4.Final</version.netty>
       <version.org.jboss.naming>5.0.6.CR1</version.org.jboss.naming>
       <version.resteasy>2.2.1.GA</version.resteasy>
       <version.rhq.pluginAnnotations>3.0.1</version.rhq.pluginAnnotations>
diff --git a/server/core/src/main/scala/org/infinispan/server/core/AbstractProtocolDecoder.scala b/server/core/src/main/scala/org/infinispan/server/core/AbstractProtocolDecoder.scala
index 2132dcb58925..16f10a015b97 100644
--- a/server/core/src/main/scala/org/infinispan/server/core/AbstractProtocolDecoder.scala
+++ b/server/core/src/main/scala/org/infinispan/server/core/AbstractProtocolDecoder.scala
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ abstract class AbstractProtocolDecoder[K, V <: CacheValue](transport: NettyTrans
       // Reset parameters to avoid leaking previous params
       // into a request that has no params
       params = null.asInstanceOf[SuitableParameters]
+      rawValue = null.asInstanceOf[Array[Byte]] // Clear reference to value
       null
    }
 
diff --git a/server/hotrod/src/test/scala/org/infinispan/server/hotrod/stress/HotRodBigDataStressTest.scala b/server/hotrod/src/test/scala/org/infinispan/server/hotrod/stress/HotRodBigDataStressTest.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ffb87eb0dba3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/hotrod/src/test/scala/org/infinispan/server/hotrod/stress/HotRodBigDataStressTest.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2011 Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of
+ * the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
+ * 02110-1301 USA
+ */
+
+package org.infinispan.server.hotrod.stress
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Method
+import org.infinispan.test.TestingUtil.generateRandomString
+import org.infinispan.server.hotrod.test.HotRodTestingUtil._
+import org.infinispan.server.hotrod.HotRodSingleNodeTest
+import org.infinispan.server.hotrod.OperationStatus._
+import org.testng.annotations.Test
+
+/**
+ * A simple test that stresses Hot Rod by storing big data and waits to allow
+ * the test runner to generate heap dumps for the test.
+ *
+ * @author Galder Zamarreño
+ * @since 5.1
+ */
+@Test(groups = Array("stress"), testName = "server.hotrod.stress.HotRodBigDataStressTest", enabled = false)
+class HotRodBigDataStressTest extends HotRodSingleNodeTest {
+
+   def testPutBigSizeValue(m: Method) {
+      val value = generateRandomString(1024 * 1024).getBytes
+      assertStatus(client.put(k(m), 0, 0, value), Success)
+      while (true)
+         Thread.sleep(5000)
+   }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server/hotrod/src/test/scala/org/infinispan/server/hotrod/test/HotRodTestingUtil.scala b/server/hotrod/src/test/scala/org/infinispan/server/hotrod/test/HotRodTestingUtil.scala
index c498acd2b73d..f84dcdd52417 100644
--- a/server/hotrod/src/test/scala/org/infinispan/server/hotrod/test/HotRodTestingUtil.scala
+++ b/server/hotrod/src/test/scala/org/infinispan/server/hotrod/test/HotRodTestingUtil.scala
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ import org.infinispan.manager.EmbeddedCacheManager
 import org.infinispan.server.core.Main._
 import java.util.{Properties, Arrays}
 import org.infinispan.util.{TypedProperties, Util}
-import org.infinispan.config.{GlobalConfiguration, Configuration}
+import org.infinispan.config.Configuration
 
 /**
  * Test utils for Hot Rod tests.