diff --git a/src/jdk.httpserver/share/classes/module-info.java b/src/jdk.httpserver/share/classes/module-info.java
index 15e9e2cc36d1e..ac147582b1421 100644
--- a/src/jdk.httpserver/share/classes/module-info.java
+++ b/src/jdk.httpserver/share/classes/module-info.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
  * questions.
  */
 
+import com.sun.net.httpserver.*;
+
 /**
  * Defines the JDK-specific HTTP server API, and provides the jwebserver tool
  * for running a minimal HTTP server.
@@ -109,6 +111,14 @@
  * and implementation of the server does not intend to be a full-featured, high performance
  * HTTP server.
  *
+ * @implNote
+ * Prior to JDK 26, in the JDK default implementation, the {@link HttpExchange} attribute map was
+ * shared with the enclosing {@link HttpContext}.
+ * Since JDK 26, by default, exchange attributes are per-exchange and the context attributes must
+ * be accessed by calling {@link HttpExchange#getHttpContext() getHttpContext()}{@link
+ * HttpContext#getAttributes() .getAttributes()}. <br>
+ * A new system property, <b>{@systemProperty jdk.httpserver.attributes}</b> (default value: {@code ""})
+ * allows to revert this new behavior. Set this property to "context" to restore the pre JDK 26 behavior.
  * @toolGuide jwebserver
  *
  * @uses com.sun.net.httpserver.spi.HttpServerProvider
diff --git a/src/jdk.httpserver/share/classes/sun/net/httpserver/ExchangeImpl.java b/src/jdk.httpserver/share/classes/sun/net/httpserver/ExchangeImpl.java
index 1119d1e386b3e..0899952b4950f 100644
--- a/src/jdk.httpserver/share/classes/sun/net/httpserver/ExchangeImpl.java
+++ b/src/jdk.httpserver/share/classes/sun/net/httpserver/ExchangeImpl.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2005, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2005, 2025, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 import java.net.*;
 import javax.net.ssl.*;
 import java.util.*;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 import java.lang.System.Logger;
 import java.lang.System.Logger.Level;
 import java.text.*;
@@ -59,6 +60,9 @@ class ExchangeImpl {
 
     /* for formatting the Date: header */
     private static final DateTimeFormatter FORMATTER;
+    private static final boolean perExchangeAttributes =
+        !System.getProperty("jdk.httpserver.attributes", "")
+              .equals("context");
     static {
         String pattern = "EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz";
         FORMATTER = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern(pattern, Locale.US)
@@ -76,7 +80,7 @@ class ExchangeImpl {
     PlaceholderOutputStream uos_orig;
 
     boolean sentHeaders; /* true after response headers sent */
-    Map<String,Object> attributes;
+    final Map<String,Object> attributes;
     int rcode = -1;
     HttpPrincipal principal;
     ServerImpl server;
@@ -91,6 +95,9 @@ class ExchangeImpl {
         this.uri = u;
         this.connection = connection;
         this.reqContentLen = len;
+        this.attributes = perExchangeAttributes
+            ? new ConcurrentHashMap<>()
+            : getHttpContext().getAttributes();
         /* ros only used for headers, body written directly to stream */
         this.ros = req.outputStream();
         this.ris = req.inputStream();
@@ -361,26 +368,15 @@ public SSLSession getSSLSession () {
     }
 
     public Object getAttribute (String name) {
-        if (name == null) {
-            throw new NullPointerException ("null name parameter");
-        }
-        if (attributes == null) {
-            attributes = getHttpContext().getAttributes();
-        }
-        return attributes.get (name);
+        return attributes.get(Objects.requireNonNull(name, "null name parameter"));
     }
 
     public void setAttribute (String name, Object value) {
-        if (name == null) {
-            throw new NullPointerException ("null name parameter");
-        }
-        if (attributes == null) {
-            attributes = getHttpContext().getAttributes();
-        }
+        var key = Objects.requireNonNull(name, "null name parameter");
         if (value != null) {
-            attributes.put (name, value);
+            attributes.put(key, value);
         } else {
-            attributes.remove (name);
+            attributes.remove(key);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/test/jdk/com/sun/net/httpserver/ExchangeAttributeTest.java b/test/jdk/com/sun/net/httpserver/ExchangeAttributeTest.java
index 2ce3dfd016d00..e7bea2814db03 100644
--- a/test/jdk/com/sun/net/httpserver/ExchangeAttributeTest.java
+++ b/test/jdk/com/sun/net/httpserver/ExchangeAttributeTest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2023, 2025, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@
  * @summary Tests for HttpExchange set/getAttribute
  * @library /test/lib
  * @run junit/othervm ExchangeAttributeTest
+ * @run junit/othervm -Djdk.httpserver.attributes=context ExchangeAttributeTest
+ * @run junit/othervm -Djdk.httpserver.attributes=random-string ExchangeAttributeTest
+ * @run junit/othervm -Djdk.httpserver.attributes ExchangeAttributeTest
  */
 
 import com.sun.net.httpserver.HttpExchange;
@@ -71,7 +74,7 @@ public static void setup() {
     public void testExchangeAttributes() throws Exception {
         var handler = new AttribHandler();
         var server = HttpServer.create(new InetSocketAddress(LOOPBACK_ADDR,0), 10);
-        server.createContext("/", handler);
+        server.createContext("/", handler).getAttributes().put("attr", "context-val");
         server.start();
         try {
             var client = HttpClient.newBuilder().proxy(NO_PROXY).build();
@@ -101,8 +104,17 @@ static class AttribHandler implements HttpHandler {
         @java.lang.Override
         public void handle(HttpExchange exchange) throws IOException {
             try {
-                exchange.setAttribute("attr", "val");
-                assertEquals("val", exchange.getAttribute("attr"));
+                if ("context".equals(System.getProperty("jdk.httpserver.attributes"))) {
+                    exchange.setAttribute("attr", "val");
+                    assertEquals("val", exchange.getAttribute("attr"));
+                    assertEquals("val", exchange.getHttpContext().getAttributes().get("attr"));
+                } else {
+                    assertNull(exchange.getAttribute("attr"));
+                    assertEquals("context-val", exchange.getHttpContext().getAttributes().get("attr"));
+                    exchange.setAttribute("attr", "val");
+                    assertEquals("val", exchange.getAttribute("attr"));
+                    assertEquals("context-val", exchange.getHttpContext().getAttributes().get("attr"));
+                }
                 exchange.setAttribute("attr", null);
                 assertNull(exchange.getAttribute("attr"));
                 exchange.sendResponseHeaders(200, -1);