diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMap.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMap.scala
index 92bef0f38ef75..a78bf4241f6f2 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMap.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMap.scala
@@ -572,32 +572,41 @@ class ExternalAppendOnlyMap[K, V, C](
 
     private var nextUpstream: Iterator[(K, C)] = null
 
-    private var cur: (K, C) = null
+    private var cur: (K, C) = readNext()
+
+    private var hasSpilled: Boolean = false
 
     def spill(): Boolean = synchronized {
-      if (upstream == null || nextUpstream != null) {
+      if (hasSpilled) {
         false
       } else {
         logInfo(s"Task ${context.taskAttemptId} force spilling in-memory map to disk and " +
           s"it will release ${org.apache.spark.util.Utils.bytesToString(getUsed())} memory")
         nextUpstream = spillMemoryIteratorToDisk(upstream)
+        hasSpilled = true
         true
       }
     }
 
-    override def hasNext: Boolean = synchronized {
+    def readNext(): (K, C) = synchronized {
       if (nextUpstream != null) {
         upstream = nextUpstream
         nextUpstream = null
       }
-      val r = upstream.hasNext
-      if (r) {
-        cur = upstream.next()
+      if (upstream.hasNext) {
+        upstream.next()
+      } else {
+        null
       }
-      r
     }
 
-    override def next(): (K, C) = cur
+    override def hasNext(): Boolean = cur != null
+
+    override def next(): (K, C) = {
+      val r = cur
+      cur = readNext()
+      r
+    }
   }
 
   /** Convenience function to hash the given (K, C) pair by the key. */
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorter.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorter.scala
index 14140dc73f3a8..8bc0861ef9fee 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorter.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorter.scala
@@ -785,10 +785,12 @@ private[spark] class ExternalSorter[K, V, C](
 
     private var nextUpstream: Iterator[((Int, K), C)] = null
 
-    private var cur: ((Int, K), C) = null
+    private var cur: ((Int, K), C) = readNext()
+
+    private var hasSpilled: Boolean = false
 
     def spill(): Boolean = synchronized {
-      if (upstream == null || nextUpstream != null) {
+      if (hasSpilled) {
         false
       } else {
         val inMemoryIterator = new WritablePartitionedIterator {
@@ -812,22 +814,29 @@ private[spark] class ExternalSorter[K, V, C](
           val iterator = spillReader.readNextPartition()
           iterator.map(cur => ((p, cur._1), cur._2))
         }
+        hasSpilled = true
         true
       }
     }
 
-    override def hasNext: Boolean = synchronized {
+    def readNext(): ((Int, K), C) = synchronized {
       if (nextUpstream != null) {
         upstream = nextUpstream
         nextUpstream = null
       }
-      val r = upstream.hasNext
-      if (r) {
-        cur = upstream.next()
+      if (upstream.hasNext) {
+        upstream.next()
+      } else {
+        null
       }
-      r
     }
 
-    override def next(): ((Int, K), C) = cur
+    override def hasNext(): Boolean = cur != null
+
+    override def next(): ((Int, K), C) = {
+      val r = cur
+      cur = readNext()
+      r
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMapSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMapSuite.scala
index d122b79934186..5dbe9c615b291 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMapSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalAppendOnlyMapSuite.scala
@@ -422,9 +422,10 @@ class ExternalAppendOnlyMapSuite extends SparkFunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
     val conf = createSparkConf(loadDefaults = false)
       .set("spark.shuffle.memoryFraction", "0.01")
       .set("spark.memory.useLegacyMode", "true")
+      .set("spark.testing.memory", "100000000")
       .set("spark.shuffle.sort.bypassMergeThreshold", "0")
     sc = new SparkContext("local", "test", conf)
-    val N = 2e6.toInt
+    val N = 2e5.toInt
     sc.parallelize(1 to N, 10)
       .map { i => (i, i) }
       .groupByKey()
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorterSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorterSuite.scala
index c8f26dcb931dd..2f35153fbd192 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorterSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/collection/ExternalSorterSuite.scala
@@ -609,13 +609,14 @@ class ExternalSorterSuite extends SparkFunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
     }
   }
 
-  test("force to spill for sorting") {
+  test("force to spill for external sorter") {
     val conf = createSparkConf(loadDefaults = false, kryo = false)
       .set("spark.shuffle.memoryFraction", "0.01")
       .set("spark.memory.useLegacyMode", "true")
+      .set("spark.testing.memory", "100000000")
       .set("spark.shuffle.sort.bypassMergeThreshold", "0")
     sc = new SparkContext("local", "test", conf)
-    val N = 2e6.toInt
+    val N = 2e5.toInt
     val p = new org.apache.spark.HashPartitioner(10)
     val p2 = new org.apache.spark.HashPartitioner(5)
     sc.parallelize(1 to N, 10)
diff --git a/project/MimaExcludes.scala b/project/MimaExcludes.scala
index 7730823f9411b..98d6219552e5c 100644
--- a/project/MimaExcludes.scala
+++ b/project/MimaExcludes.scala
@@ -634,6 +634,11 @@ object MimaExcludes {
         // [SPARK-14628] Simplify task metrics by always tracking read/write metrics
         ProblemFilters.exclude[DirectMissingMethodProblem]("org.apache.spark.executor.InputMetrics.readMethod"),
         ProblemFilters.exclude[DirectMissingMethodProblem]("org.apache.spark.executor.OutputMetrics.writeMethod")
+      ) ++ Seq(
+        // [SPARK-4452][Core]Shuffle data structures can starve others on the same thread for memory
+        ProblemFilters.exclude[MissingClassProblem]("org.apache.spark.util.collection.ExternalAppendOnlyMap"),
+        ProblemFilters.exclude[MissingClassProblem]("org.apache.spark.util.collection.ExternalSorter"),
+        ProblemFilters.exclude[MissingClassProblem]("org.apache.spark.util.collection.Spillable")
       )
     case v if v.startsWith("1.6") =>
       Seq(