For me, it is totally broken. Unsetting JAVA_HOME, /usr/libexec/java_home gives:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home

As I tryed. I just delete the /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin and relogin. Then everything works fine.

For me https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/666681 worked after spending so much time on the solutions.

I simply call following commands

sudo rm -fr /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

sudo rm -fr /Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefpane

Had this problem after installing Big Sur.

First I started uninstalling all JDK from the system with:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin  
sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefPane  
sudo rm -rf /Library/Application\ Support/Oracle/Java/ 
sudo rm -rf /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines 

Then, I installed the JDK that I am going to use:

brew tap AdoptOpenJDK/openjdk
brew install --cask adoptopenjdk<version>

Seems in macOS Big Sur v11.0.1 the behavior of the /usr/libexec/java_home -v ... command has changed: it is sensitive to the previously set value of JAVA_HOME environment variable.

Exact behavior is not clear, I couldn't find any documentation on this, but in my experiments it reported the version already set in JAVA_HOME, regardless of the -v switch:

% JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home /usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8.0_162
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home

Additionally, I noticed that it reports nothing, if JAVA_HOME is set, but doesn't point to a valid java home (also for -V):

% JAVA_HOME=dummy /usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.7.0_45
% JAVA_HOME=dummy /usr/libexec/java_home -V
%

Solution is to ensure JAVA_HOME is not set before executing /usr/libexec/java_home:

% unset JAVA_HOME ; /usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8.0_162
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_162.jdk/Contents/Home

I have Big Sur 11.2.1 from 18.02.2021. I had the same issue with JAVA_HOME path configuration. After reading a lot of information I solved my problem with next:

Install JDK 8: https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase/javase-jdk8-downloads.html Java SE Development Kit 8u281

Install it as usual on your MacOS Big Sur.

Check JDK version:

java -version
java version "1.8.0_281"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_281-b09)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.281-b09, mixed mode)

Check what versions of JDK are already installed on your machine:

/usr/libexec/java_home -V 
Matching Java Virtual Machines (2):
    1.8.281.09 (x86_64) "Oracle Corporation" - "Java" /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home
    1.8.0_281 (x86_64) "Oracle Corporation" - "Java SE 8" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_281.jdk/Contents/Home
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home

Get only one that you need:

/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8.0_281
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_281.jdk/Contents/Home

On Catalina and Big Sur - there is Z-shell , to add Environment variables like JAVA_HOME there are two files for that: ~/.zshenv and ~/.zshrc, I couldn't make it work with first one. It worked for me like this:

nano ~/.zshrc

Add to that file this line:

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8.0_281)

Press Ctrl+X and save changes.

Then run command to apply that changes to current terminal:

source ~/.zshrc

After that you can check if everything is working with command:

echo $JAVA_HOME
it will print you: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_281.jdk/Contents/Home

Restart your terminal and programs which will be using JAVA_HOME variable. For me it was Android Studio. Now everything works fine. I am new to Mac OS and it took me with 4hours to solve this. With Windows it's just done in a minute:)

Agree with @Konstantin. I faced the same issue , after the Big Sur upgrade.

The steps you need to follow to fix this are :

1. unset JAVA_HOME
2. check what java_home in library is pointing to: /usr/libexec/java_home -v

Matching Java Virtual Machines (2):

1.8.221.11 (x86_64) "Oracle Corporation" - "Java" /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home

1.8.0_221 (x86_64) "Oracle Corporation" - "Java SE 8" /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_221.jdk/Contents/Home

3. Because both the versions start with 1.8.221, so by default 1st one is picked, check the version

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_221.jdk/Contents/Home

4. export JAVA_HOME='/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_221.jdk/Contents/Home'
5. echo $JAVA_HOME

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_221.jdk/Contents/Home

$> /usr/libexec/java_home -v "1.8.0" appears to access the exact jdk if present. Ignores the 'plugin' if installed. The quotes were recommended in random places on internet. They are also shown in the man page.

The /usr/libexec/java_home tool in macOS will give you the location of the latest Java version installed. Invoke it from the terminal to get a response similar to the following:

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-17.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home

Navigate into the root and open the .zprofile file.

cd ~
open .zprofile

If the file is not found, create one using the echo > .zprofile command.

Open the file using open .zprofile. This should open it up in a text editor.

Add the response of the /usr/libexec/java_home tool into the file like so:

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-17.0.1.jdk/Contents/Home

My solution is creating a link to your JDK file. Apparently, Teradata studio was executing a wrong path sudo ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_202.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/lib/server/libjvm.dylib /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_202.jdk/Contents/Home/lib/libserver.dylib