diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 20bdef0cd1..8f6dd41246 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1044,6 +1044,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-7608: hdfs dfsclient newConnectedPeer has no write timeout (Xiaoyu Yao
     via Colin P. McCabe)
 
+    HDFS-8778. TestBlockReportRateLimiting#testLeaseExpiration can deadlock.
+    (Arpit Agarwal)
+
 Release 2.7.2 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
@@ -1059,7 +1062,7 @@ Release 2.7.2 - UNRELEASED
   HDFS-8722. Optimize datanode writes for small writes and flushes (kihwal)
 
   BUG FIXES
-
+    
 Release 2.7.1 - 2015-07-06 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/TestBlockReportRateLimiting.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/TestBlockReportRateLimiting.java
index fc5f9e7cb3..86a7511b84 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/TestBlockReportRateLimiting.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/blockmanagement/TestBlockReportRateLimiting.java
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 import com.google.common.base.Joiner;
 import com.google.common.base.Supplier;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Uninterruptibles;
-import org.apache.commons.lang.mutable.MutableObject;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
@@ -42,8 +41,6 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
-import java.util.concurrent.ArrayBlockingQueue;
-import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.Semaphore;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
@@ -174,13 +171,11 @@ public void testLeaseExpiration() throws Exception {
     conf.setLong(DFS_NAMENODE_FULL_BLOCK_REPORT_LEASE_LENGTH_MS, 100L);
 
     final Semaphore gotFbrSem = new Semaphore(0);
-    final AtomicReference<String> failure = new AtomicReference<String>("");
+    final AtomicReference<String> failure = new AtomicReference<>();
     final AtomicReference<MiniDFSCluster> cluster =
-        new AtomicReference<>(null);
-    final BlockingQueue<Integer> datanodeToStop =
-        new ArrayBlockingQueue<Integer>(1);
+        new AtomicReference<>();
+    final AtomicReference<String> datanodeToStop = new AtomicReference<>();
     final BlockManagerFaultInjector injector = new BlockManagerFaultInjector() {
-      private String uuidToStop = "";
 
       @Override
       public void incomingBlockReportRpc(DatanodeID nodeID,
@@ -189,11 +184,9 @@ public void incomingBlockReportRpc(DatanodeID nodeID,
           setFailure(failure, "Got unexpected rate-limiting-" +
               "bypassing full block report RPC from " + nodeID);
         }
-        synchronized (this) {
-          if (uuidToStop.equals(nodeID.getDatanodeUuid())) {
-            throw new IOException("Injecting failure into block " +
-                "report RPC for " + nodeID);
-          }
+        if (nodeID.getXferAddr().equals(datanodeToStop.get())) {
+          throw new IOException("Injecting failure into block " +
+              "report RPC for " + nodeID);
         }
         gotFbrSem.release();
       }
@@ -204,43 +197,24 @@ public void requestBlockReportLease(DatanodeDescriptor node,
         if (leaseId == 0) {
           return;
         }
-        synchronized (this) {
-          if (uuidToStop.isEmpty()) {
-            MiniDFSCluster cl;
-            do {
-              cl = cluster.get();
-            } while (cl == null);
-            int datanodeIndexToStop = getDatanodeIndex(cl, node);
-            uuidToStop = node.getDatanodeUuid();
-            datanodeToStop.add(Integer.valueOf(datanodeIndexToStop));
-          }
-        }
-      }
-
-      private int getDatanodeIndex(MiniDFSCluster cl,
-                                   DatanodeDescriptor node) {
-        List<DataNode> datanodes = cl.getDataNodes();
-        for (int i = 0; i < datanodes.size(); i++) {
-          DataNode datanode = datanodes.get(i);
-          if (datanode.getDatanodeUuid().equals(node.getDatanodeUuid())) {
-            return i;
-          }
-        }
-        throw new RuntimeException("Failed to find UUID " +
-            node.getDatanodeUuid() + " in the list of datanodes.");
+        datanodeToStop.compareAndSet(null, node.getXferAddr());
       }
 
       @Override
       public void removeBlockReportLease(DatanodeDescriptor node, long leaseId) {
       }
     };
-    BlockManagerFaultInjector.instance = injector;
-    cluster.set(new MiniDFSCluster.Builder(conf).numDataNodes(2).build());
-    cluster.get().waitActive();
-    int datanodeIndexToStop = datanodeToStop.take();
-    cluster.get().stopDataNode(datanodeIndexToStop);
-    gotFbrSem.acquire();
-    cluster.get().shutdown();
-    Assert.assertEquals("", failure.get());
+    try {
+      BlockManagerFaultInjector.instance = injector;
+      cluster.set(new MiniDFSCluster.Builder(conf).numDataNodes(2).build());
+      cluster.get().waitActive();
+      Assert.assertNotNull(cluster.get().stopDataNode(datanodeToStop.get()));
+      gotFbrSem.acquire();
+      Assert.assertNull(failure.get());
+    } finally {
+      if (cluster.get() != null) {
+        cluster.get().shutdown();
+      }
+    }
   }
 }