diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 22ecae1628..931dea0874 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -265,6 +265,9 @@ Release 2.0.3-alpha - Unreleased
 
     HDFS-3964. Make NN log of fs.defaultFS debug rather than info. (eli)
 
+    HDFS-3992. Method org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.TestHftpFileSystem.tearDown()
+    sometimes throws NPEs. (Ivan A. Veselovsky via atm)
+
 Release 2.0.2-alpha - 2012-09-07 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestHftpFileSystem.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestHftpFileSystem.java
index 3fa5eaad0a..6cb0ad1ce8 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestHftpFileSystem.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestHftpFileSystem.java
@@ -102,9 +102,15 @@ public static void setUp() throws IOException {
   
   @AfterClass
   public static void tearDown() throws IOException {
-    hdfs.close();
-    hftpFs.close();
-    cluster.shutdown();
+    if (hdfs != null) {
+      hdfs.close();
+    }
+    if (hftpFs != null) {
+      hftpFs.close();
+    }
+    if (cluster != null) {
+      cluster.shutdown();
+    }
   }
 
   /**