diff --git a/memory/memory-netty/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/memory/netty/TestEmptyArrowBuf.java b/memory/memory-netty/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/memory/netty/TestEmptyArrowBuf.java
index 3ce0705b4e..6426193246 100644
--- a/memory/memory-netty/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/memory/netty/TestEmptyArrowBuf.java
+++ b/memory/memory-netty/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/memory/netty/TestEmptyArrowBuf.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
 
-import io.netty.buffer.PooledByteBufAllocatorL;
 import org.apache.arrow.memory.ArrowBuf;
 import org.apache.arrow.memory.ReferenceManager;
 import org.apache.arrow.memory.RootAllocator;
@@ -57,39 +56,38 @@ public void testZeroBuf() {
 
   @Test
   public void testEmptyArrowBuf() {
-    ArrowBuf buf =
-        new ArrowBuf(
-            ReferenceManager.NO_OP,
-            null,
-            1024,
-            new PooledByteBufAllocatorL().empty.memoryAddress());
+    // Back the buffer with real memory of the declared capacity. The writes below would otherwise
+    // run past the end of the native allocation and could corrupt the native heap.
+    try (ArrowBuf memory = allocator.buffer(1024)) {
+      ArrowBuf buf = new ArrowBuf(ReferenceManager.NO_OP, null, 1024, memory.memoryAddress());
 
-    buf.getReferenceManager().retain();
-    buf.getReferenceManager().retain(8);
-    assertEquals(1024, buf.capacity());
-    assertEquals(1, buf.getReferenceManager().getRefCount());
-    assertEquals(0, buf.getActualMemoryConsumed());
+      buf.getReferenceManager().retain();
+      buf.getReferenceManager().retain(8);
+      assertEquals(1024, buf.capacity());
+      assertEquals(1, buf.getReferenceManager().getRefCount());
+      assertEquals(0, buf.getActualMemoryConsumed());
 
-    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
-      buf.setByte(i, i);
-    }
-    assertEquals(0, buf.getActualMemoryConsumed());
-    assertEquals(0, buf.getReferenceManager().getSize());
-    assertEquals(0, buf.getReferenceManager().getAccountedSize());
-    assertFalse(buf.getReferenceManager().release());
-    assertFalse(buf.getReferenceManager().release(2));
-    assertEquals(0, buf.getReferenceManager().getAllocator().getLimit());
-    assertEquals(
-        buf, buf.getReferenceManager().transferOwnership(buf, allocator).getTransferredBuffer());
-    assertEquals(0, buf.readerIndex());
-    assertEquals(0, buf.writerIndex());
-    assertEquals(1, buf.refCnt());
+      for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
+        buf.setByte(i, i);
+      }
+      assertEquals(0, buf.getActualMemoryConsumed());
+      assertEquals(0, buf.getReferenceManager().getSize());
+      assertEquals(0, buf.getReferenceManager().getAccountedSize());
+      assertFalse(buf.getReferenceManager().release());
+      assertFalse(buf.getReferenceManager().release(2));
+      assertEquals(0, buf.getReferenceManager().getAllocator().getLimit());
+      assertEquals(
+          buf, buf.getReferenceManager().transferOwnership(buf, allocator).getTransferredBuffer());
+      assertEquals(0, buf.readerIndex());
+      assertEquals(0, buf.writerIndex());
+      assertEquals(1, buf.refCnt());
 
-    ArrowBuf derive = buf.getReferenceManager().deriveBuffer(buf, 0, 100);
-    assertEquals(derive, buf);
-    assertEquals(1, buf.refCnt());
-    assertEquals(1, derive.refCnt());
+      ArrowBuf derive = buf.getReferenceManager().deriveBuffer(buf, 0, 100);
+      assertEquals(derive, buf);
+      assertEquals(1, buf.refCnt());
+      assertEquals(1, derive.refCnt());
 
-    buf.close();
+      buf.close();
+    }
   }
 }