diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 954fa3f9d6..50c796714e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+2.1.4
+ * If no JMX flags are set start a localhost only JMX service
+
 2.1.3
  * Fix HSHA/offheap_objects corruption (CASSANDRA-8719)
  * Upgrade libthrift to 0.9.2 (CASSANDRA-8685)
diff --git a/NEWS.txt b/NEWS.txt
index 602770c784..076885c9b1 100644
--- a/NEWS.txt
+++ b/NEWS.txt
@@ -13,6 +13,12 @@ restore snapshots created with the previous major version using the
 'sstableloader' tool. You can upgrade the file format of your snapshots
 using the provided 'sstableupgrade' tool.
 
+2.1.4
+=====
+
+The default JMX config now listens to localhost only. You must enable 
+the other JMX flags in cassandra-env.sh manually.
+
 2.1.3
 =====
 
diff --git a/bin/cassandra.bat b/bin/cassandra.bat
index 99b291ad77..fefd3fcc8e 100644
--- a/bin/cassandra.bat
+++ b/bin/cassandra.bat
@@ -65,10 +65,13 @@ set JAVA_OPTS=-ea^
  -XX:MaxTenuringThreshold=1^
  -XX:CMSInitiatingOccupancyFraction=75^
  -XX:+UseCMSInitiatingOccupancyOnly^
- -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=7199^
- -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false^
- -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false^
- -Dlogback.configurationFile=logback.xml
+ -Dlogback.configurationFile=logback.xml^
+ -Dcassandra.jmx.local.port=7199
+REM **** JMX REMOTE ACCESS SETTINGS SEE: https://wiki.apache.org/cassandra/JmxSecurity ***
+REM -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=7199^
+REM -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false^
+REM -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=true^
+REM -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.password.file=C:\jmxremote.password
 
 REM ***** CLASSPATH library setting *****
 REM Ensure that any user defined CLASSPATH variables are not used on startup
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index eaef5340dd..cf401e4067 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
     <property name="debuglevel" value="source,lines,vars"/>
 
     <!-- default version and SCM information -->
-    <property name="base.version" value="2.1.3"/>
+    <property name="base.version" value="2.1.4"/>
     <property name="scm.connection" value="scm:git://git.apache.org/cassandra.git"/>
     <property name="scm.developerConnection" value="scm:git://git.apache.org/cassandra.git"/>
     <property name="scm.url" value="http://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf?p=cassandra.git;a=tree"/>
@@ -1113,6 +1113,7 @@
         <jvmarg value="-Xss256k"/>
         <jvmarg value="-Dcassandra.memtable_row_overhead_computation_step=100"/>
         <jvmarg value="-Dcassandra.test.use_prepared=${cassandra.test.use_prepared}"/>
+	<jvmarg value="-Dcassandra.jmx.local.port=7199" />
 	<jvmarg value="-Dcassandra.test.offsetseed=@{poffset}"/>        
 	<optjvmargs/>
         <classpath>
diff --git a/conf/cassandra-env.ps1 b/conf/cassandra-env.ps1
index 9c6b6f48d5..7a71a137c9 100644
--- a/conf/cassandra-env.ps1
+++ b/conf/cassandra-env.ps1
@@ -400,10 +400,17 @@ Function SetCassandraEnvironment
     # https://blogs.oracle.com/jmxetc/entry/troubleshooting_connection_problems_in_jconsole
     # for more on configuring JMX through firewalls, etc. (Short version:
     # get it working with no firewall first.)
-    $env:JVM_OPTS="$env:JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=$JMX_PORT"
-    $env:JVM_OPTS="$env:JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false"
-    $env:JVM_OPTS="$env:JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false"
+    #
+    # Due to potential security exploits, Cassandra ships with JMX accessible
+    # *only* from localhost.  To enable remote JMX connections, uncomment lines below
+    # with authentication and ssl enabled. See https://wiki.apache.org/cassandra/JmxSecurity 
+    #
+    #$env:JVM_OPTS="$env:JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=$JMX_PORT"
+    #$env:JVM_OPTS="$env:JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false"
+    #$env:JVM_OPTS="$env:JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=true"
     #$env:JVM_OPTS="$env:JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.password.file=C:/jmxremote.password"
+    $env:JVM_OPTS="$env:JVM_OPTS -Dcassandra.jmx.local.port=$JMX_PORT -XX:+DisableExplicitGC"
+
     $env:JVM_OPTS="$env:JVM_OPTS $JVM_EXTRA_OPTS"
 
     $env:JVM_OPTS = "$env:JVM_OPTS -Dlog4j.configuration=log4j-server.properties"
diff --git a/conf/cassandra-env.sh b/conf/cassandra-env.sh
index 3f4c21b088..58022e6124 100644
--- a/conf/cassandra-env.sh
+++ b/conf/cassandra-env.sh
@@ -270,6 +270,22 @@ JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true"
 # https://blogs.oracle.com/jmxetc/entry/troubleshooting_connection_problems_in_jconsole
 # for more on configuring JMX through firewalls, etc. (Short version:
 # get it working with no firewall first.)
+#
+# Cassandra ships with JMX accessible *only* from localhost.  
+# To enable remote JMX connections, uncomment lines below
+# with authentication and/or ssl enabled. See https://wiki.apache.org/cassandra/JmxSecurity 
+#
+LOCAL_JMX=yes
+
+if [ "$LOCAL_JMX" = "yes" ]; then
+  JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcassandra.jmx.local.port=$JMX_PORT -XX:+DisableExplicitGC"
+else
+  JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=$JMX_PORT"
+  JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.rmi.port=$JMX_PORT"
+  JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false"
+  JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=true"
+  JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.password.file=/etc/cassandra/jmxremote.password"
+fi
 
 # To use mx4j, an HTML interface for JMX, add mx4j-tools.jar to the lib/
 # directory.
@@ -279,11 +295,6 @@ JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true"
 #MX4J_ADDRESS="-Dmx4jaddress=127.0.0.1"
 #MX4J_PORT="-Dmx4jport=8081"
 
-JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=$JMX_PORT"
-JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.rmi.port=$JMX_PORT"
-JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false"
-JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false"
-#JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.password.file=/etc/cassandra/jmxremote.password"
 JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS $MX4J_ADDRESS"
 JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS $MX4J_PORT"
 JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS $JVM_EXTRA_OPTS"
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 339da0ce6e..807546033a 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+cassandra (2.1.4) unstable; urgency=medium
+
+  * New release
+
+ -- Jake Luciani <jake@apache.org>  Fri, 27 Mar 2015 13:48:25 -0400
+
 cassandra (2.1.3) unstable; urgency=medium
 
   * New release 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java
index 50c8295928..3e398bffa2 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/CassandraDaemon.java
@@ -23,14 +23,16 @@ import java.lang.management.ManagementFactory;
 import java.lang.management.MemoryPoolMXBean;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.net.UnknownHostException;
-import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.Date;
-import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.UUID;
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.rmi.registry.LocateRegistry;
+import java.rmi.server.RMIServerSocketFactory;
+import java.util.*;
+    import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import javax.management.MBeanServer;
 import javax.management.ObjectName;
 import javax.management.StandardMBean;
+import javax.management.remote.JMXConnectorServer;
+import javax.management.remote.JMXServiceURL;
+import javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectorServer;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Uninterruptibles;
@@ -66,9 +68,61 @@ import org.apache.cassandra.utils.*;
 public class CassandraDaemon
 {
     public static final String MBEAN_NAME = "org.apache.cassandra.db:type=NativeAccess";
+    public static JMXConnectorServer jmxServer = null;
 
     private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CassandraDaemon.class);
 
+    private static void maybeInitJmx()
+    {
+        String jmxPort = System.getProperty("com.sun.management.jmxremote.port");
+
+        if (jmxPort == null)
+        {
+            logger.warn("JMX is not enabled to receive remote connections. Please see cassandra-env.sh for more info.");
+
+            jmxPort = System.getProperty("cassandra.jmx.local.port");
+
+            if (jmxPort == null)
+            {
+                logger.error("cassandra.jmx.local.port missing from cassandra-env.sh, unable to start local JMX service." + jmxPort);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                System.setProperty("java.rmi.server.hostname","127.0.0.1");
+
+                try
+                {
+                    RMIServerSocketFactory serverFactory = new RMIServerSocketFactoryImpl();
+                    LocateRegistry.createRegistry(Integer.valueOf(jmxPort), null, serverFactory);
+
+                    StringBuffer url = new StringBuffer();
+                    url.append("service:jmx:");
+                    url.append("rmi://localhost/jndi/");
+                    url.append("rmi://localhost:").append(jmxPort).append("/jmxrmi");
+                    
+                    Map env = new HashMap();
+                    env.put(RMIConnectorServer.RMI_SERVER_SOCKET_FACTORY_ATTRIBUTE, serverFactory);
+
+                    jmxServer = new RMIConnectorServer(
+                            new JMXServiceURL(url.toString()),
+                            env,
+                            ManagementFactory.getPlatformMBeanServer()
+                    );
+
+                    jmxServer.start();
+                }
+                catch (IOException e)
+                {
+                    logger.error("Error starting local jmx server: ", e);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            logger.info("JMX is enabled to receive remote connections on port: " + jmxPort);
+        }
+    }
+
     private static final CassandraDaemon instance = new CassandraDaemon();
 
     /**
@@ -159,6 +213,8 @@ public class CassandraDaemon
 
         CLibrary.tryMlockall();
 
+        maybeInitJmx();
+
         Thread.setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler(new Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler()
         {
             public void uncaughtException(Thread t, Throwable e)
@@ -432,6 +488,18 @@ public class CassandraDaemon
         // We rely on the shutdown hook to drain the node
         if (FBUtilities.isWindows())
             System.exit(0);
+
+        if (jmxServer != null)
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                jmxServer.stop();
+            }
+            catch (IOException e)
+            {
+                logger.error("Error shutting down local JMX server: ", e);
+            }
+        }
     }
 
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/utils/RMIServerSocketFactoryImpl.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/utils/RMIServerSocketFactoryImpl.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..75331abd2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/utils/RMIServerSocketFactoryImpl.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+package org.apache.cassandra.utils;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.*;
+import java.rmi.server.RMIServerSocketFactory;
+import javax.net.ServerSocketFactory;
+
+
+public class RMIServerSocketFactoryImpl implements RMIServerSocketFactory
+{
+
+    public ServerSocket createServerSocket(final int pPort) throws IOException  {
+        return ServerSocketFactory.getDefault().createServerSocket(pPort, 0, InetAddress.getLoopbackAddress());
+    }
+
+    public boolean equals(Object obj)
+    {
+        if (obj == null)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+        if (obj == this)
+        {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        return obj.getClass().equals(getClass());
+    }
+
+    public int hashCode()
+    {
+        return RMIServerSocketFactoryImpl.class.hashCode();
+    }
+}