diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 56a8c9cb28..87d859710b 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -665,6 +665,9 @@ Release 2.3.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-10288. Explicit reference to Log4JLogger breaks non-log4j users
     (todd)
 
+    HADOOP-10310. SaslRpcServer should be initialized even when no secret
+    manager present. (atm)
+
 Release 2.2.0 - 2013-10-13
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
index 8c578fd107..c7cada825d 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
@@ -2206,7 +2206,7 @@ protected Server(String bindAddress, int port,
     // Create the responder here
     responder = new Responder();
     
-    if (secretManager != null) {
+    if (secretManager != null || UserGroupInformation.isSecurityEnabled()) {
       SaslRpcServer.init(conf);
     }