FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.8.0_45"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_45-b14)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.45-b02, mixed mode)


ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Linux donald 3.16.7-21-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Apr 14 07:11:37 UTC 2015 (93c1539) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

EXTRA RELEVANT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION :
The TTF list on my system might be helpful:
===============8<------------------------------------
andalemo.ttf
arialbd.ttf
arialbi.ttf
ariali.ttf
arial.ttf
ariblk.ttf
Arimo-BoldItalic.ttf
Arimo-Bold.ttf
Arimo-Italic.ttf
Arimo-Regular.ttf
Cantarell-Bold.otf
Cantarell-Regular.otf
Carlito-BoldItalic.ttf
Carlito-Bold.ttf
Carlito-Italic.ttf
Carlito-Regular.ttf
comicbd.ttf
comic.ttf
courbd.ttf
courbi.ttf
couri.ttf
cour.ttf
Cousine-BoldItalic.ttf
Cousine-Bold.ttf
Cousine-Italic.ttf
Cousine-Regular.ttf
DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf
DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf
DejaVuSansCondensed-BoldOblique.ttf
DejaVuSansCondensed-Bold.ttf
DejaVuSansCondensed-Oblique.ttf
DejaVuSansCondensed.ttf
DejaVuSans-ExtraLight.ttf
DejaVuSansMono-BoldOblique.ttf
DejaVuSansMono-Bold.ttf
DejaVuSansMono-Oblique.ttf
DejaVuSansMono.ttf
DejaVuSans-Oblique.ttf
DejaVuSans.ttf
DejaVuSerif-BoldItalic.ttf
DejaVuSerif-Bold.ttf
DejaVuSerifCondensed-BoldItalic.ttf
DejaVuSerifCondensed-Bold.ttf
DejaVuSerifCondensed-Italic.ttf
DejaVuSerifCondensed.ttf
DejaVuSerif-Italic.ttf
DejaVuSerif.ttf
DroidKufi-Bold.ttf
DroidKufi-Regular.ttf
DroidNaskh-Bold.ttf
DroidNaskh-Regular-SystemUI.ttf
DroidNaskh-Regular.ttf
DroidSansArmenian.ttf
DroidSans-Bold.ttf
DroidSansDevanagari-Regular.ttf
DroidSansEthiopic-Bold.ttf
DroidSansEthiopic-Regular.ttf
DroidSansFallbackFull.ttf
DroidSansGeorgian.ttf
DroidSansHebrew-Bold.ttf
DroidSansHebrew-Regular.ttf
DroidSansJapanese.ttf
DroidSansMono.ttf
DroidSansTamil-Bold.ttf
DroidSansTamil-Regular.ttf
DroidSansThai.ttf
DroidSans.ttf
DroidSerif-BoldItalic.ttf
DroidSerif-Bold.ttf
DroidSerif-Italic.ttf
DroidSerif-Regular.ttf
encodings.dir
fonts.dir
fonts.scale
georgiab.ttf
georgiai.ttf
georgia.ttf
georgiaz.ttf
GohaTibebZemen.otf
impact.ttf
LiberationMono-BoldItalic.ttf
LiberationMono-Bold.ttf
LiberationMono-Italic.ttf
LiberationMono-Regular.ttf
LiberationSans-BoldItalic.ttf
LiberationSans-Bold.ttf
LiberationSans-Italic.ttf
LiberationSansNarrow-BoldItalic.ttf
LiberationSansNarrow-Bold.ttf
LiberationSansNarrow-Italic.ttf
LiberationSansNarrow-Regular.ttf
LiberationSans-Regular.ttf
LiberationSerif-BoldItalic.ttf
LiberationSerif-Bold.ttf
LiberationSerif-Italic.ttf
LiberationSerif-Regular.ttf
luximbi.ttf
luximb.ttf
luximri.ttf
luximr.ttf
luxirbi.ttf
luxirb.ttf
luxirri.ttf
luxirr.ttf
luxisbi.ttf
luxisb.ttf
luxisri.ttf
luxisr.ttf
OpenSans-BoldItalic.ttf
OpenSans-Bold.ttf
OpenSans-CondBold.ttf
OpenSans-CondLightItalic.ttf
OpenSans-CondLight.ttf
OpenSans-ExtraBoldItalic.ttf
OpenSans-ExtraBold.ttf
OpenSans-Italic.ttf
OpenSans-LightItalic.ttf
OpenSans-Light.ttf
OpenSans-Regular.ttf
OpenSans-SemiboldItalic.ttf
OpenSans-Semibold.ttf
starsymbol.ttf
SymbolNeu.ttf
SyrCOMAdiabene.otf
SyrCOMAntioch.otf
SyrCOMBatnanBold.otf
SyrCOMBatnan.otf
SyrCOMCtesiphon.otf
SyrCOMEdessa.otf
SyrCOMJerusalemBold.otf
SyrCOMJerusalemItalic.otf
SyrCOMJerusalem.otf
SyrCOMJerusalemOutline.otf
SyrCOMKharput.otf
SyrCOMMalankara.otf
SyrCOMMardinBold.otf
SyrCOMMardin.otf
SyrCOMMidyat.otf
SyrCOMNisibin.otf
SyrCOMNisibinOutline.otf
SyrCOMQenNeshrin.otf
SyrCOMTalada.otf
SyrCOMTurAbdin.otf
SyrCOMUrhoyBold.otf
SyrCOMUrhoy.otf
timesbd.ttf
timesbi.ttf
timesi.ttf
times.ttf
Tinos-BoldItalic.ttf
Tinos-Bold.ttf
Tinos-Italic.ttf
Tinos-Regular.ttf
trebucbd.ttf
trebucbi.ttf
trebucit.ttf
trebuc.ttf
verdanab.ttf
verdanai.ttf
verdana.ttf
verdanaz.ttf
webdings.ttf
yudit.ttf
===============8<------------------------------------

If necessary I can also provide the associated fonts.dir, but as it has 3300 lines I don't add it here.


A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
The attached test case crashes with the attached ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException.

The underlying problem appeared in late Java 7 and every Java 8 release I tested,. but I hadn't found the time to break down everything to a neat example yet,


REGRESSION.  Last worked in version 7u75

ADDITIONAL REGRESSION INFORMATION: 
java version "1.7.0_45"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_45-b18)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 24.45-b08, mixed mode)

Other versions I tried:
In latest 7 (79-b15) version the problem already appears. 
In latest 9 (ea-b68) version no exception is thrown, but there is no text displayed either.
On Windows I never saw any problems.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Compile program and run.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
List with one element using eastern font is displayed in frame.
ACTUAL -
Exceptiion thrown, list content is not displayed.

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: -28311551
        at sun.font.FileFontStrike.setCachedGlyphPtr(FileFontStrike.java:520)
        at sun.font.FileFontStrike.setCachedGlyphPtr(FileFontStrike.java:537)
        at sun.font.FileFontStrike.getSlot0GlyphImagePtrs(FileFontStrike.java:449)
        at sun.font.CompositeStrike.getGlyphImagePtrs(CompositeStrike.java:115)
        at sun.font.GlyphList.mapChars(GlyphList.java:272)
        at sun.font.GlyphList.setFromString(GlyphList.java:244)
        at sun.java2d.pipe.GlyphListPipe.drawString(GlyphListPipe.java:71)
        at sun.java2d.pipe.ValidatePipe.drawString(ValidatePipe.java:165)
        at sun.java2d.SunGraphics2D.drawString(SunGraphics2D.java:2928)
        at sun.swing.SwingUtilities2.drawString(SwingUtilities2.java:572)
        at sun.swing.SwingUtilities2.drawStringUnderlineCharAt(SwingUtilities2.java:612)
        at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicLabelUI.paintEnabledText(BasicLabelUI.java:119)
        at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicLabelUI.paint(BasicLabelUI.java:179)
        at javax.swing.plaf.ComponentUI.update(ComponentUI.java:161)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paintComponent(JComponent.java:780)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1056)
        at javax.swing.CellRendererPane.paintComponent(CellRendererPane.java:151)
        at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicListUI.paintCell(BasicListUI.java:227)
        at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicListUI.paintImpl(BasicListUI.java:317)
        at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicListUI.paint(BasicListUI.java:240)
        at javax.swing.plaf.ComponentUI.update(ComponentUI.java:161)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paintComponent(JComponent.java:780)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1056)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065)
        at javax.swing.JLayeredPane.paint(JLayeredPane.java:586)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paintToOffscreen(JComponent.java:5226)
        at javax.swing.BufferStrategyPaintManager.paint(BufferStrategyPaintManager.java:290)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paint(RepaintManager.java:1265)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1042)
        at java.awt.GraphicsCallback$PaintCallback.run(GraphicsCallback.java:39)
        at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runOneComponent(SunGraphicsCallback.java:79)
        at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runComponents(SunGraphicsCallback.java:116)
        at java.awt.Container.paint(Container.java:1973)
        at java.awt.Window.paint(Window.java:3912)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager$4.run(RepaintManager.java:835)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager$4.run(RepaintManager.java:807)
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
        at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:75)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:807)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:782)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager.prePaintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:731)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager.access$1300(RepaintManager.java:64)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager$ProcessingRunnable.run(RepaintManager.java:1720)
        at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:311)
        at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:756)
        at java.awt.EventQueue.access$500(EventQueue.java:97)
        at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:709)
        at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:703)
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
        at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:75)
        at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:726)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:201)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:116)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:105)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:101)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:93)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:82)


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class LinuxFontCrash
{
  private static final String TEXT = "������������";
  
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.version"));
    JFrame frame = new JFrame("Crash Test Dummy");
    JList list = new JList(new Object[] { TEXT });
    frame.getContentPane().add(list, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    frame.setSize(200, 200);
    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
    frame.setVisible(true);
  }
}

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Trying to set some different fonts did not help me, just the offending index is changing (eg .-33554431 for Google OpenSans).
Only setting fonts which do not contain the given characters will avoid the exception, but in that case only placeholders will be displayed which is not perfectly helpful.