diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolder.java b/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolder.java
index 537ef244b7e81..6a52a5b0e0664 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolder.java
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolder.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ final class BufferHolder {
 
   private static final int ARRAY_MAX = ByteArrayMethods.MAX_ROUNDED_ARRAY_LENGTH;
 
+  // buffer is guarantee to be word-aligned since UnsafeRow assumes each field is word-aligned.
   private byte[] buffer;
   private int cursor = Platform.BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET;
   private final UnsafeRow row;
@@ -52,7 +53,8 @@ final class BufferHolder {
           "too many fields (number of fields: " + row.numFields() + ")");
     }
     this.fixedSize = bitsetWidthInBytes + 8 * row.numFields();
-    this.buffer = new byte[fixedSize + initialSize];
+    int roundedSize = ByteArrayMethods.roundNumberOfBytesToNearestWord(fixedSize + initialSize);
+    this.buffer = new byte[roundedSize];
     this.row = row;
     this.row.pointTo(buffer, buffer.length);
   }
@@ -61,8 +63,12 @@ final class BufferHolder {
    * Grows the buffer by at least neededSize and points the row to the buffer.
    */
   void grow(int neededSize) {
+    if (neededSize < 0) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+        "Cannot grow BufferHolder by size " + neededSize + " because the size is negative");
+    }
     if (neededSize > ARRAY_MAX - totalSize()) {
-      throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
         "Cannot grow BufferHolder by size " + neededSize + " because the size after growing " +
           "exceeds size limitation " + ARRAY_MAX);
     }
@@ -70,7 +76,8 @@ void grow(int neededSize) {
     if (buffer.length < length) {
       // This will not happen frequently, because the buffer is re-used.
       int newLength = length < ARRAY_MAX / 2 ? length * 2 : ARRAY_MAX;
-      final byte[] tmp = new byte[newLength];
+      int roundedSize = ByteArrayMethods.roundNumberOfBytesToNearestWord(newLength);
+      final byte[] tmp = new byte[roundedSize];
       Platform.copyMemory(
         buffer,
         Platform.BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET,
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSparkSubmitSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSparkSubmitSuite.scala
index 85682cf6ea670..d2862c8f41d1b 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSparkSubmitSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSparkSubmitSuite.scala
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.codegen
 
-import org.scalatest.{BeforeAndAfterEach, Matchers}
+import org.scalatest.{Assertions, BeforeAndAfterEach, Matchers}
 
 import org.apache.spark.{SparkFunSuite, TestUtils}
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmitSuite
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class BufferHolderSparkSubmitSuite
     val argsForSparkSubmit = Seq(
       "--class", BufferHolderSparkSubmitSuite.getClass.getName.stripSuffix("$"),
       "--name", "SPARK-22222",
-      "--master", "local-cluster[2,1,1024]",
+      "--master", "local-cluster[1,1,4096]",
       "--driver-memory", "4g",
       "--conf", "spark.ui.enabled=false",
       "--conf", "spark.master.rest.enabled=false",
@@ -49,28 +49,36 @@ class BufferHolderSparkSubmitSuite
   }
 }
 
-object BufferHolderSparkSubmitSuite {
+object BufferHolderSparkSubmitSuite extends Assertions {
 
   def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
 
     val ARRAY_MAX = ByteArrayMethods.MAX_ROUNDED_ARRAY_LENGTH
 
-    val holder = new BufferHolder(new UnsafeRow(1000))
+    val unsafeRow = new UnsafeRow(1000)
+    val holder = new BufferHolder(unsafeRow)
 
     holder.reset()
-    holder.grow(roundToWord(ARRAY_MAX / 2))
 
-    holder.reset()
-    holder.grow(roundToWord(ARRAY_MAX / 2 + 8))
+    assert(intercept[IllegalArgumentException] {
+      holder.grow(-1)
+    }.getMessage.contains("because the size is negative"))
 
-    holder.reset()
-    holder.grow(roundToWord(Integer.MAX_VALUE / 2))
+    // while to reuse a buffer may happen, this test checks whether the buffer can be grown
+    holder.grow(ARRAY_MAX / 2)
+    assert(unsafeRow.getSizeInBytes % 8 == 0)
 
-    holder.reset()
-    holder.grow(roundToWord(Integer.MAX_VALUE))
-  }
+    holder.grow(ARRAY_MAX / 2 + 7)
+    assert(unsafeRow.getSizeInBytes % 8 == 0)
+
+    holder.grow(Integer.MAX_VALUE / 2)
+    assert(unsafeRow.getSizeInBytes % 8 == 0)
+
+    holder.grow(ARRAY_MAX - holder.totalSize())
+    assert(unsafeRow.getSizeInBytes % 8 == 0)
 
-  private def roundToWord(len: Int): Int = {
-    ByteArrayMethods.roundNumberOfBytesToNearestWord(len)
+    assert(intercept[IllegalArgumentException] {
+      holder.grow(ARRAY_MAX + 1 - holder.totalSize())
+    }.getMessage.contains("because the size after growing"))
   }
 }
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSuite.scala
index c7c386b5b838a..4e0f903a030aa 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSuite.scala
@@ -23,17 +23,15 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.UnsafeRow
 class BufferHolderSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
 
   test("SPARK-16071 Check the size limit to avoid integer overflow") {
-    var e = intercept[UnsupportedOperationException] {
+    assert(intercept[UnsupportedOperationException] {
       new BufferHolder(new UnsafeRow(Int.MaxValue / 8))
-    }
-    assert(e.getMessage.contains("too many fields"))
+    }.getMessage.contains("too many fields"))
 
     val holder = new BufferHolder(new UnsafeRow(1000))
     holder.reset()
     holder.grow(1000)
-    e = intercept[UnsupportedOperationException] {
+    assert(intercept[IllegalArgumentException] {
       holder.grow(Integer.MAX_VALUE)
-    }
-    assert(e.getMessage.contains("exceeds size limitation"))
+    }.getMessage.contains("exceeds size limitation"))
   }
 }