diff --git a/jni/jni_hmac.c b/jni/jni_hmac.c
index 35833bdf..f7366e31 100644
--- a/jni/jni_hmac.c
+++ b/jni/jni_hmac.c
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ JNIEXPORT void JNICALL Java_com_wolfssl_wolfcrypt_Hmac_wc_1HmacSetKey
     Hmac* hmac = NULL;
     byte* key  = NULL;
     word32 keySz = 0;
+    jboolean keyIsCopy = JNI_FALSE;
 
     hmac = (Hmac*) getNativeStruct(env, this);
     if ((*env)->ExceptionOccurred(env)) {
@@ -163,19 +164,41 @@ JNIEXPORT void JNICALL Java_com_wolfssl_wolfcrypt_Hmac_wc_1HmacSetKey
         return;
     }
 
-    key   = getByteArray(env, key_object);
-    keySz = getByteArrayLength(env, key_object);
+    if (key_object != NULL) {
+        key = (byte*)(*env)->GetByteArrayElements(env, key_object, &keyIsCopy);
+        if ((*env)->ExceptionOccurred(env)) {
+            return;
+        }
+        keySz = getByteArrayLength(env, key_object);
+    }
 
-    ret = (!hmac || !key)
-        ? BAD_FUNC_ARG
-        : wc_HmacSetKey(hmac, type, key, keySz);
+    if (hmac == NULL || key == NULL) {
+        ret = BAD_FUNC_ARG;
+    }
+    else {
+        ret = wc_HmacSetKey(hmac, type, key, keySz);
+    }
 
-    if (ret != 0)
+    if (ret != 0) {
         throwWolfCryptExceptionFromError(env, ret);
+    }
 
     LogStr("HmacInit(hmac=%p) = %d\n", hmac, ret);
 
-    releaseByteArray(env, key_object, key, JNI_ABORT);
+    if (key != NULL) {
+        /* Zero native key copy before release. Skip when not a copy,
+         * key then points at the caller's array and must not be cleared */
+        if (keyIsCopy == JNI_TRUE) {
+        #if (LIBWOLFSSL_VERSION_HEX >= 0x05008004) && \
+            !defined(WOLFSSL_NO_FORCE_ZERO)
+            wc_ForceZero(key, keySz);
+        #else
+            XMEMSET(key, 0, keySz);
+        #endif
+        }
+        (*env)->ReleaseByteArrayElements(env, key_object, (jbyte*)key,
+            JNI_ABORT);
+    }
 #else
     throwNotCompiledInException(env);
 #endif
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/wolfssl/wolfcrypt/test/HmacTest.java b/src/test/java/com/wolfssl/wolfcrypt/test/HmacTest.java
index a66d5b5f..85addfde 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/wolfssl/wolfcrypt/test/HmacTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/wolfssl/wolfcrypt/test/HmacTest.java
@@ -171,6 +171,34 @@ public class HmacTest {
         }
     }
 
+    /*
+     * setKey() must not modify the caller's key array. The JNI layer zeroes
+     * only its own native copy of the key before release. This guards the
+     * JNI_ABORT release mode, the zeroed native copy must never be written
+     * back to the caller's array.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void hmacSetKeyShouldNotModifyKey() {
+        byte[] key = new byte[32];
+        for (int i = 0; i < key.length; i++) {
+            key[i] = (byte)(0x41 + ((i * 7) % 26));
+        }
+        byte[] keyCopy = key.clone();
+
+        Hmac hmac = new Hmac();
+        try {
+            hmac.setKey(Hmac.SHA256, key);
+        } catch (WolfCryptException e) {
+            if (e.getError() == WolfCryptError.NOT_COMPILED_IN) {
+                return;
+            }
+            throw e;
+        }
+
+        assertArrayEquals("setKey must not modify caller key array",
+            keyCopy, key);
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void sha384HmacShouldMatch() {
         String[] keyVector = new String[] {