diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index c2781541db..825d3a8c9e 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -378,6 +378,9 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
     HDFS-5520. loading cache path directives from edit log doesn't update
     nextEntryId (cmccabe)
 
+    HDFS-5512. CacheAdmin -listPools fails with NPE when user lacks permissions
+    to view all pools (awang via cmccabe)
+
 Release 2.3.0 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/CacheAdmin.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/CacheAdmin.java
index 5352d669e7..36a81b00d3 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/CacheAdmin.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/CacheAdmin.java
@@ -741,14 +741,15 @@ public int run(Configuration conf, List<String> args) throws IOException {
         RemoteIterator<CachePoolInfo> iter = dfs.listCachePools();
         while (iter.hasNext()) {
           CachePoolInfo info = iter.next();
+          String[] row = new String[5];
           if (name == null || info.getPoolName().equals(name)) {
-            listing.addRow(new String[] {
-                info.getPoolName(),
-                info.getOwnerName(),
-                info.getGroupName(),
-                info.getMode().toString(),
-                info.getWeight().toString(),
-            });
+            row[0] = info.getPoolName();
+            row[1] = info.getOwnerName();
+            row[2] = info.getGroupName();
+            row[3] = info.getMode() != null ? info.getMode().toString() : null;
+            row[4] =
+                info.getWeight() != null ? info.getWeight().toString() : null;
+            listing.addRow(row);
             ++numResults;
             if (name != null) {
               break;
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TableListing.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TableListing.java
index 4d807cbbef..9a418c2149 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TableListing.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/tools/TableListing.java
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ private static class Column {
     }
 
     private void addRow(String val) {
+      if (val == null) {
+        val = "";
+      }
       if ((val.length() + 1) > maxWidth) {
         maxWidth = val.length() + 1;
       }