diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index ba08baeea5..04743e4f93 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@
     <jettison.version>1.5.4</jettison.version>
     <jsr305.version>3.0.0</jsr305.version>
     <junit.version>4.13.2</junit.version>
+    <leveldbjni.group>org.fusesource.leveldbjni</leveldbjni.group>
+    <leveldb.version>0.12</leveldb.version>
     <leveldbjni-all.version>1.8</leveldbjni-all.version>
     <lifecycle-mapping.version>1.0.0</lifecycle-mapping.version>
     <metrics-core.version>3.1.0</metrics-core.version>
@@ -810,10 +812,15 @@
         <version>${bouncycastle.version}</version>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
-        <groupId>org.fusesource.leveldbjni</groupId>
+        <groupId>${leveldbjni.group}</groupId>
         <artifactId>leveldbjni-all</artifactId>
         <version>${leveldbjni-all.version}</version>
       </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.iq80.leveldb</groupId>
+        <artifactId>leveldb</artifactId>
+        <version>${leveldb.version}</version>
+      </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.xerial.snappy</groupId>
         <artifactId>snappy-java</artifactId>
@@ -1358,6 +1365,18 @@
         </plugins>
       </reporting>
     </profile>
+    <profile>
+      <id>aarch64</id>
+      <properties>
+        <leveldbjni.group>org.openlabtesting.leveldbjni</leveldbjni.group>
+      </properties>
+      <activation>
+        <os>
+          <family>linux</family>
+          <arch>aarch64</arch>
+        </os>
+      </activation>
+    </profile>
   </profiles>
 
   <!-- TODO: TEZ-4597: IncludePublicAnnotationsStandardDoclet is not JDK9+ compatible -->
diff --git a/tez-plugins/tez-aux-services/pom.xml b/tez-plugins/tez-aux-services/pom.xml
index 61535adc53..d08433f99f 100644
--- a/tez-plugins/tez-aux-services/pom.xml
+++ b/tez-plugins/tez-aux-services/pom.xml
@@ -49,6 +49,12 @@
       <groupId>org.apache.hadoop</groupId>
       <artifactId>hadoop-yarn-server-common</artifactId>
       <scope>provided</scope>
+      <exclusions>
+        <exclusion>
+          <groupId>org.fusesource.leveldbjni</groupId>
+          <artifactId>leveldbjni-all</artifactId>
+        </exclusion>
+      </exclusions>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.hadoop</groupId>
@@ -64,6 +70,10 @@
           <groupId>io.netty</groupId>
           <artifactId>*</artifactId>
         </exclusion>
+        <exclusion>
+          <groupId>org.fusesource.leveldbjni</groupId>
+          <artifactId>leveldbjni-all</artifactId>
+        </exclusion>
       </exclusions>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
@@ -90,6 +100,12 @@
       <groupId>org.apache.hadoop</groupId>
       <artifactId>hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle</artifactId>
       <scope>provided</scope>
+      <exclusions>
+        <exclusion>
+          <groupId>org.fusesource.leveldbjni</groupId>
+          <artifactId>leveldbjni-all</artifactId>
+        </exclusion>
+      </exclusions>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.tez</groupId>
@@ -110,10 +126,14 @@
       <scope>provided</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.fusesource.leveldbjni</groupId>
+      <groupId>${leveldbjni.group}</groupId>
       <artifactId>leveldbjni-all</artifactId>
       <scope>provided</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.iq80.leveldb</groupId>
+      <artifactId>leveldb</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.netty</groupId>
       <artifactId>netty-all</artifactId>
@@ -141,6 +161,10 @@
           <groupId>io.netty</groupId>
           <artifactId>*</artifactId>
         </exclusion>
+        <exclusion>
+          <groupId>org.fusesource.leveldbjni</groupId>
+          <artifactId>leveldbjni-all</artifactId>
+        </exclusion>
       </exclusions>
     </dependency>
    <dependency>
@@ -154,6 +178,12 @@
      <artifactId>hadoop-yarn-server-tests</artifactId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <type>test-jar</type>
+     <exclusions>
+       <exclusion>
+         <groupId>org.fusesource.leveldbjni</groupId>
+         <artifactId>leveldbjni-all</artifactId>
+       </exclusion>
+     </exclusions>
    </dependency>
   <dependency>
      <groupId>org.apache.hadoop</groupId>
diff --git a/tez-plugins/tez-aux-services/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/auxservices/ShuffleHandler.java b/tez-plugins/tez-aux-services/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/auxservices/ShuffleHandler.java
index 2144f62dbe..c7b830e8b2 100644
--- a/tez-plugins/tez-aux-services/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/auxservices/ShuffleHandler.java
+++ b/tez-plugins/tez-aux-services/src/main/java/org/apache/tez/auxservices/ShuffleHandler.java
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@
 import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.OK;
 import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.UNAUTHORIZED;
 import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1;
-import static org.fusesource.leveldbjni.JniDBFactory.asString;
-import static org.fusesource.leveldbjni.JniDBFactory.bytes;
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
@@ -89,7 +88,6 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.AuxiliaryService;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.records.Version;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.records.impl.pb.VersionPBImpl;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.utils.LeveldbIterator;
 import org.apache.tez.common.security.JobTokenIdentifier;
 import org.apache.tez.common.security.JobTokenSecretManager;
 import org.apache.tez.runtime.library.common.Constants;
@@ -149,10 +147,10 @@
 import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.GlobalEventExecutor;
 
-import org.fusesource.leveldbjni.JniDBFactory;
-import org.fusesource.leveldbjni.internal.NativeDB;
 import org.iq80.leveldb.DB;
 import org.iq80.leveldb.DBException;
+import org.iq80.leveldb.DBFactory;
+import org.iq80.leveldb.DBIterator;
 import org.iq80.leveldb.Logger;
 import org.iq80.leveldb.Options;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -210,6 +208,7 @@ public class ShuffleHandler extends AuxiliaryService {
   private JobTokenSecretManager secretManager;
 
   private DB stateDb = null;
+  private static final DBFactory DB_FACTORY = createDBFactory();
 
   public static final String TEZ_SHUFFLE_SERVICEID =
       "tez_shuffle";
@@ -643,6 +642,7 @@ protected void serviceStop() throws Exception {
     destroyPipeline();
     if (stateDb != null) {
       stateDb.close();
+      stateDb = null;
     }
     super.serviceStop();
   }
@@ -671,9 +671,9 @@ private void recoverState(Configuration conf) throws IOException {
     if (recoveryRoot != null) {
       startStore(recoveryRoot);
       Pattern jobPattern = Pattern.compile(JobID.JOBID_REGEX);
-      LeveldbIterator iter = null;
+      DBIterator iter = null;
       try {
-        iter = new LeveldbIterator(stateDb);
+        iter = stateDb.iterator();
         iter.seek(bytes(JobID.JOB));
         while (iter.hasNext()) {
           Map.Entry<byte[],byte[]> entry = iter.next();
@@ -695,26 +695,23 @@ private void recoverState(Configuration conf) throws IOException {
 
   private void startStore(Path recoveryRoot) throws IOException {
     Options options = new Options();
-    options.createIfMissing(false);
     options.logger(new LevelDBLogger());
     Path dbPath = new Path(recoveryRoot, STATE_DB_NAME);
     LOG.info("Using state database at " + dbPath + " for recovery");
     File dbfile = new File(dbPath.toString());
+    boolean dbExists = dbfile.exists();
+    options.createIfMissing(!dbExists);
     try {
-      stateDb = JniDBFactory.factory.open(dbfile, options);
-    } catch (NativeDB.DBException e) {
-      if (e.isNotFound() || e.getMessage().contains(" does not exist ")) {
-        LOG.info("Creating state database at " + dbfile);
-        options.createIfMissing(true);
-        try {
-          stateDb = JniDBFactory.factory.open(dbfile, options);
-          storeVersion();
-        } catch (DBException dbExc) {
-          throw new IOException("Unable to create state store", dbExc);
-        }
-      } else {
-        throw e;
+      stateDb = DB_FACTORY.open(dbfile, options);
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      if (e instanceof IOException) {
+        throw (IOException) e;
       }
+      throw new IOException("Unable to open state store", e);
+    }
+    if (!dbExists) {
+      LOG.info("Created state database at " + dbfile);
+      storeVersion();
     }
     checkVersion();
   }
@@ -843,6 +840,27 @@ private void removeJobShuffleInfo(JobID jobId) throws IOException {
     }
   }
 
+  private static DBFactory createDBFactory() {
+    // Try native JNI LevelDB first (fastest), fall back to pure-Java iq80
+    try {
+      DBFactory jniFactory = org.fusesource.leveldbjni.JniDBFactory.factory;
+      LOG.info("Using JNI LevelDB factory");
+      return jniFactory;
+    } catch (Throwable t) {
+      LOG.info("Native LevelDB JNI library not available ({}), "
+          + "falling back to pure-Java implementation", t.getMessage());
+      return new org.iq80.leveldb.impl.Iq80DBFactory();
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static byte[] bytes(String value) {
+    return value.getBytes(UTF_8);
+  }
+
+  private static String asString(byte[] value) {
+    return new String(value, UTF_8);
+  }
+
   private static class LevelDBLogger implements Logger {
     private static final org.slf4j.Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LevelDBLogger.class);