diff --git a/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/context/weaving/DefaultContextLoadTimeWeaver.java b/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/context/weaving/DefaultContextLoadTimeWeaver.java
index c5a7305052e..350e0b30ecf 100644
--- a/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/context/weaving/DefaultContextLoadTimeWeaver.java
+++ b/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/context/weaving/DefaultContextLoadTimeWeaver.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.Assert;
  * appropriate weaver implementation: As of Spring Framework 5.0, it detects
  * Oracle WebLogic 10+, GlassFish 4+, Tomcat 8+, WildFly 8+, IBM WebSphere 8.5+,
  * {@link InstrumentationSavingAgent Spring's VM agent}, and any {@link ClassLoader}
- * supported by Spring's {@link ReflectiveLoadTimeWeaver}.
+ * supported by Spring's {@link ReflectiveLoadTimeWeaver} (such as Liberty's).
  *
  * @author Juergen Hoeller
  * @author Ramnivas Laddad
@@ -104,32 +104,29 @@ public class DefaultContextLoadTimeWeaver implements LoadTimeWeaver, BeanClassLo
 	 * This method never fails, allowing to try other possible ways to use an
 	 * server-agnostic weaver. This non-failure logic is required since
 	 * determining a load-time weaver based on the ClassLoader name alone may
-	 * legitimately fail due to other mismatches. Specific case in point: the
-	 * use of WebLogicLoadTimeWeaver works for WLS 10 but fails due to the lack
-	 * of a specific method (addInstanceClassPreProcessor) for any earlier
-	 * versions even though the ClassLoader name is the same.
+	 * legitimately fail due to other mismatches.
 	 */
 	@Nullable
 	protected LoadTimeWeaver createServerSpecificLoadTimeWeaver(ClassLoader classLoader) {
 		String name = classLoader.getClass().getName();
 		try {
-			if (name.startsWith("weblogic")) {
-				return new WebLogicLoadTimeWeaver(classLoader);
+			if (name.startsWith("org.apache.catalina")) {
+				return new TomcatLoadTimeWeaver(classLoader);
 			}
 			else if (name.startsWith("org.glassfish")) {
 				return new GlassFishLoadTimeWeaver(classLoader);
 			}
-			else if (name.startsWith("org.apache.catalina")) {
-				return new TomcatLoadTimeWeaver(classLoader);
-			}
-			else if (name.startsWith("org.jboss")) {
+			else if (name.startsWith("org.jboss.modules")) {
 				return new JBossLoadTimeWeaver(classLoader);
 			}
-			else if (name.startsWith("com.ibm")) {
+			else if (name.startsWith("com.ibm.ws.classloader")) {
 				return new WebSphereLoadTimeWeaver(classLoader);
 			}
+			else if (name.startsWith("weblogic")) {
+				return new WebLogicLoadTimeWeaver(classLoader);
+			}
 		}
-		catch (IllegalStateException ex) {
+		catch (Exception ex) {
 			if (logger.isInfoEnabled()) {
 				logger.info("Could not obtain server-specific LoadTimeWeaver: " + ex.getMessage());
 			}
diff --git a/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/instrument/classloading/weblogic/WebLogicClassLoaderAdapter.java b/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/instrument/classloading/weblogic/WebLogicClassLoaderAdapter.java
index 7a2a74afda5..1c49a44e67f 100644
--- a/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/instrument/classloading/weblogic/WebLogicClassLoaderAdapter.java
+++ b/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/instrument/classloading/weblogic/WebLogicClassLoaderAdapter.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ class WebLogicClassLoaderAdapter {
 			throw new IllegalStateException(
 					"Could not initialize WebLogic LoadTimeWeaver because WebLogic 10 API classes are not available", ex);
 		}
+
 		if (!wlGenericClassLoaderClass.isInstance(classLoader)) {
 			throw new IllegalArgumentException(
 					"ClassLoader must be an instance of [" + wlGenericClassLoaderClass.getName() + "]: " + classLoader);
diff --git a/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/instrument/classloading/websphere/WebSphereClassLoaderAdapter.java b/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/instrument/classloading/websphere/WebSphereClassLoaderAdapter.java
index f6aeaacc5cf..4334de848fa 100644
--- a/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/instrument/classloading/websphere/WebSphereClassLoaderAdapter.java
+++ b/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/instrument/classloading/websphere/WebSphereClassLoaderAdapter.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ class WebSphereClassLoaderAdapter {
 		}
 
 		if (!wsCompoundClassLoaderClass.isInstance(classLoader)) {
-			throw new IllegalArgumentException("ClassLoader must be instance of " + COMPOUND_CLASS_LOADER_NAME);
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+					"ClassLoader must be an instance of [" + COMPOUND_CLASS_LOADER_NAME + "]: " + classLoader);
 		}
 		this.classLoader = classLoader;
 	}