diff --git a/.changes/next-release/bugfix-NettyNIOHTTPClient-366cfb9.json b/.changes/next-release/bugfix-NettyNIOHTTPClient-366cfb9.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..184559aa58a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/next-release/bugfix-NettyNIOHTTPClient-366cfb9.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+    "type": "bugfix",
+    "category": "Netty NIO HTTP Client",
+    "contributor": "olivergillespie",
+    "description": "Don't force Netty's unpooled ByteBuffer allocator when using the JDK SSL provider. The underlying Netty issue (netty/netty#9768) has been fixed in later versions."
+}
diff --git a/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/AwaitCloseChannelPoolMap.java b/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/AwaitCloseChannelPoolMap.java
index 82e3edc764a..ff5c87e5703 100644
--- a/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/AwaitCloseChannelPoolMap.java
+++ b/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/AwaitCloseChannelPoolMap.java
@@ -131,7 +131,6 @@ protected SimpleChannelPoolAwareChannelPool newPool(URI key) {
         ChannelPipelineInitializer pipelineInitializer = new ChannelPipelineInitializer(protocol,
                                                                                         protocolNegotiation,
                                                                                         sslContext,
-                                                                                        sslProvider,
                                                                                         maxStreams,
                                                                                         initialWindowSize,
                                                                                         healthCheckPingPeriod,
diff --git a/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/ChannelPipelineInitializer.java b/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/ChannelPipelineInitializer.java
index 6b6e7b7ca1d..dfefb60cf28 100644
--- a/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/ChannelPipelineInitializer.java
+++ b/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/ChannelPipelineInitializer.java
@@ -24,11 +24,9 @@
 import static software.amazon.awssdk.utils.NumericUtils.saturatedCast;
 import static software.amazon.awssdk.utils.StringUtils.lowerCase;
 
-import io.netty.buffer.UnpooledByteBufAllocator;
 import io.netty.channel.Channel;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelInitializer;
-import io.netty.channel.ChannelOption;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelPipeline;
 import io.netty.channel.pool.AbstractChannelPoolHandler;
 import io.netty.channel.pool.ChannelPool;
@@ -44,7 +42,6 @@
 import io.netty.handler.ssl.ApplicationProtocolNegotiationHandler;
 import io.netty.handler.ssl.SslContext;
 import io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler;
-import io.netty.handler.ssl.SslProvider;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
@@ -64,7 +61,6 @@ public final class ChannelPipelineInitializer extends AbstractChannelPoolHandler
     private final Protocol protocol;
     private final ProtocolNegotiation protocolNegotiation;
     private final SslContext sslCtx;
-    private final SslProvider sslProvider;
     private final long clientMaxStreams;
     private final int clientInitialWindowSize;
     private final Duration healthCheckPingPeriod;
@@ -75,7 +71,6 @@ public final class ChannelPipelineInitializer extends AbstractChannelPoolHandler
     public ChannelPipelineInitializer(Protocol protocol,
                                       ProtocolNegotiation protocolNegotiation,
                                       SslContext sslCtx,
-                                      SslProvider sslProvider,
                                       long clientMaxStreams,
                                       int clientInitialWindowSize,
                                       Duration healthCheckPingPeriod,
@@ -85,7 +80,6 @@ public ChannelPipelineInitializer(Protocol protocol,
         this.protocol = protocol;
         this.protocolNegotiation = protocolNegotiation;
         this.sslCtx = sslCtx;
-        this.sslProvider = sslProvider;
         this.clientMaxStreams = clientMaxStreams;
         this.clientInitialWindowSize = clientInitialWindowSize;
         this.healthCheckPingPeriod = healthCheckPingPeriod;
@@ -108,12 +102,6 @@ public void channelCreated(Channel ch) {
 
             pipeline.addLast(sslHandler);
             pipeline.addLast(SslCloseCompletionEventHandler.getInstance());
-
-            // Use unpooled allocator to avoid increased heap memory usage from Netty 4.1.43.
-            // See https://github.com/netty/netty/issues/9768
-            if (sslProvider == SslProvider.JDK) {
-                ch.config().setOption(ChannelOption.ALLOCATOR, UnpooledByteBufAllocator.DEFAULT);
-            }
         }
 
         configureProtocolHandlers(ch, pipeline, protocol, sslCtxPresent);
diff --git a/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/ChannelPipelineInitializerTest.java b/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/ChannelPipelineInitializerTest.java
index 4b1aeb85073..109a38e3a5e 100644
--- a/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/ChannelPipelineInitializerTest.java
+++ b/http-clients/netty-nio-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/awssdk/http/nio/netty/internal/ChannelPipelineInitializerTest.java
@@ -15,18 +15,14 @@
 
 package software.amazon.awssdk.http.nio.netty.internal;
 
-import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
-import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 import static software.amazon.awssdk.http.SdkHttpConfigurationOption.GLOBAL_HTTP_DEFAULTS;
 
-import io.netty.buffer.UnpooledByteBufAllocator;
 import io.netty.channel.Channel;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
-import io.netty.channel.ChannelOption;
 import io.netty.channel.embedded.EmbeddedChannel;
 import io.netty.channel.pool.ChannelPool;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http2.Http2MultiplexHandler;
@@ -50,15 +46,6 @@ public class ChannelPipelineInitializerTest {
     private final URI TARGET_URI = URI.create("https://some-awesome-service-1234.amazonaws.com:8080");
     private static final SslProvider SSL_PROVIDER = SslProvider.JDK;
 
-    @Test
-    public void channelConfigOptionCheck() {
-        ChannelPipelineInitializer pipelineInitializer = createChannelPipelineInitializer(Protocol.HTTP1_1, ProtocolNegotiation.ASSUME_PROTOCOL);
-        Channel channel = new EmbeddedChannel();
-        pipelineInitializer.channelCreated(channel);
-
-        assertThat(channel.config().getOption(ChannelOption.ALLOCATOR), is(UnpooledByteBufAllocator.DEFAULT));
-    }
-
     @Test
     @EnabledIf("alpnSupported")
     public void h2AlpnEnabled_shouldUseAlpn() {
@@ -126,7 +113,6 @@ private ChannelPipelineInitializer createChannelPipelineInitializer(Protocol pro
         return new ChannelPipelineInitializer(protocol,
                                               protocolNegotiation,
                                               sslContextProvider.sslContext(),
-                                              SSL_PROVIDER,
                                               100,
                                               1024,
                                               Duration.ZERO,