Java exception tables can allow infinite loops

Today I worked with an application that does some Java bytecode instrumentation to intercept exception handling. The exception table of a method specifies which regions to detect exceptions in and where to jump if an exception occurs. In one class, an exception table entry's target ended up being the start of the covered region. If an exception occurred inside the region, an infinite loop would begin. That would even prevent the thread from being terminated because the ThreadDeath exception couldn't propagate out of the function.