diff --git a/build-infer.sh b/build-infer.sh
index ddfede7de..96a4818e3 100755
--- a/build-infer.sh
+++ b/build-infer.sh
@@ -167,6 +167,20 @@ install_infer-deps () {
     opam pin add infer-deps "$INFER_DEPS_DIR"
 }
 
+# temporary: patch javalib and use local version as source of truth. can be removed once javalib
+# creates a new release with the patch
+# (https://gforge.inria.fr/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=21418&group_id=686&atid=2817)
+install_patched_javalib() {
+    local javalib_dir="$INFER_ROOT"/dependencies/javalib
+    local unzipped_javalib_dir="$javalib_dir"/javalib-2.3.3
+    tar xvf "$javalib_dir"/javalib-2.3.3.tar.bz2 -C "$javalib_dir"
+    # apply the patch
+    patch -d "$unzipped_javalib_dir"/src < "$javalib_dir"/allow_empty_method.patch
+    opam pin add javalib "$unzipped_javalib_dir"
+    # clean up unzipped source
+    rm -rf "$unzipped_javalib_dir"
+}
+
 install_locked_deps() {
     if ! opam lock 2> /dev/null; then
         echo "opam-lock not found in the current switch, installing from '$OPAM_LOCK_URL'..." >&2
@@ -176,6 +190,7 @@ install_locked_deps() {
 }
 
 install_opam_deps() {
+    install_patched_javalib
     if [ "$USE_OPAM_LOCK" = yes ]; then
         install_locked_deps
     else
diff --git a/dependencies/javalib/allow_empty_method.patch b/dependencies/javalib/allow_empty_method.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b76a9356d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dependencies/javalib/allow_empty_method.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+--- jLow2High.ml	2016-11-01 08:10:40.000000000 -0700
++++ jLow2High.ml	2017-08-30 14:54:09.000000000 -0700
+@@ -630,9 +630,9 @@
+ 	Java (lazy (low2high_code consts bootstrap_methods (Lazy.force c)))
+     | [] when is_native -> Native
+     | [] ->
+-        raise
+-          (Class_structure_error
+-             "A method not declared as Native, nor Abstract has been found without code.")
++        (* although this will never happen in bytecode generated by Javac, some bytecode generators
++           create empty method bodies without bothering to mark them native *)
++        Native
+     | [_] ->
+         raise
+           (Class_structure_error)
diff --git a/dependencies/javalib/javalib-2.3.3.tar.bz2 b/dependencies/javalib/javalib-2.3.3.tar.bz2
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..90b20c1b9
Binary files /dev/null and b/dependencies/javalib/javalib-2.3.3.tar.bz2 differ