diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/introspect/JacksonAnnotationIntrospector.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/introspect/JacksonAnnotationIntrospector.java
index 3f0280db1b..d13836794a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/introspect/JacksonAnnotationIntrospector.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/introspect/JacksonAnnotationIntrospector.java
@@ -76,10 +76,13 @@ public class JacksonAnnotationIntrospector
      * need for actual meta-annotation introspection.
      *<p>
      * Non-final only because it needs to be re-created after deserialization.
+     *<p>
+     * Starting with 2.15 key is {@link String} (before that was {@link Class})
+     * to avoid unintentional retention of third-party annotation class types.
      *
      * @since 2.7
      */
-    protected transient LRUMap<Class<?>,Boolean> _annotationsInside = new LRUMap<Class<?>,Boolean>(48, 48);
+    protected transient LRUMap<String,Boolean> _annotationsInside = new LRUMap<String,Boolean>(48, 48);
 
     /*
     /**********************************************************
@@ -112,7 +115,7 @@ public Version version() {
 
     protected Object readResolve() {
         if (_annotationsInside == null) {
-            _annotationsInside = new LRUMap<Class<?>,Boolean>(48, 48);
+            _annotationsInside = new LRUMap<>(48, 48);
         }
         return this;
     }
@@ -155,11 +158,12 @@ public boolean isAnnotationBundle(Annotation ann) {
         //   mostly in degenerate cases where introspection used more often than
         //   it should (like recreating ObjectMapper once per read/write).
         //   But it may be more beneficial on platforms like Android (should verify)
-        Class<?> type = ann.annotationType();
-        Boolean b = _annotationsInside.get(type);
+        final Class<?> type = ann.annotationType();
+        final String typeName = type.getName();
+        Boolean b = _annotationsInside.get(typeName);
         if (b == null) {
             b = type.getAnnotation(JacksonAnnotationsInside.class) != null;
-            _annotationsInside.putIfAbsent(type, b);
+            _annotationsInside.putIfAbsent(typeName, b);
         }
         return b.booleanValue();
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/util/LRUMap.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/util/LRUMap.java
index 78752544c6..f8428ce8cc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/util/LRUMap.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/util/LRUMap.java
@@ -12,11 +12,16 @@
  * on assumption that all use cases are for caching where persistence
  * does not make sense. The only thing serialized is the cache size of Map.
  *<p>
- * NOTE: since Jackson 2.14, the implementation evicts the least recently used
- * entry when max size is reached.
- *<p>
  * Since Jackson 2.12, there has been pluggable {@link LookupCache} interface which
  * allows users, frameworks, provide their own cache implementations.
+ *<p>
+ * Snce Jackson 2.14, the implementation
+ *<ul>
+ *<li>Evicts the least recently used  entry when max size is reached
+ * </li>
+ *<li>Is thread-safe and does NOT require external synchronization
+ * </li>
+ *</ul>
  */
 public class LRUMap<K,V>
     implements LookupCache<K,V>, // since 2.12