diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 49cfc5ab41..450d3f2cdf 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -81,6 +81,9 @@ Trunk (unreleased changes)
 
     HADOOP-6796. FileStatus allows null srcPath but crashes if that's done. (Rodrigo Schmidt via eli)
 
+    HADOOP-6603. Provide workaround for issue with Kerberos not resolving 
+    cross-realm principal (Kan Zhang and Jitendra Pandey via jghoman)
+
 Release 0.21.0 - Unreleased
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/SecurityUtil.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/SecurityUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..17f698b42d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/SecurityUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with this
+ * work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. The ASF
+ * licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
+ * the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.hadoop.security;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.security.AccessController;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import javax.security.auth.Subject;
+import javax.security.auth.kerberos.KerberosTicket;
+
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.security.UserGroupInformation;
+
+import sun.security.jgss.krb5.Krb5Util;
+import sun.security.krb5.Credentials;
+import sun.security.krb5.PrincipalName;
+
+public class SecurityUtil {
+  private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(SecurityUtil.class);
+
+  /**
+   * Find the original TGT within the current subject's credentials. Cross-realm
+   * TGT's of the form "krbtgt/TWO.COM@ONE.COM" may be present.
+   * 
+   * @return The TGT from the current subject
+   * @throws IOException
+   *           if TGT can't be found
+   */
+  private static KerberosTicket getTgtFromSubject() throws IOException {
+    Set<KerberosTicket> tickets = Subject.getSubject(
+        AccessController.getContext()).getPrivateCredentials(
+        KerberosTicket.class);
+    for (KerberosTicket t : tickets) {
+      if (isOriginalTGT(t.getServer().getName()))
+        return t;
+    }
+    throw new IOException("Failed to find TGT from current Subject");
+  }
+  
+  // Original TGT must be of form "krbtgt/FOO@FOO". Verify this
+  protected static boolean isOriginalTGT(String name) {
+    if(name == null) return false;
+    
+    String [] components = name.split("[/@]");
+
+    return components.length == 3 &&
+           "krbtgt".equals(components[0]) &&
+           components[1].equals(components[2]);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Explicitly pull the service ticket for the specified host.  This solves a
+   * problem with Java's Kerberos SSL problem where the client cannot 
+   * authenticate against a cross-realm service.  It is necessary for clients
+   * making kerberized https requests to call this method on the target URL
+   * to ensure that in a cross-realm environment the remote host will be 
+   * successfully authenticated.  
+   * 
+   * This method is internal to Hadoop and should not be used by other 
+   * applications.  This method should not be considered stable or open: 
+   * it will be removed when the Java behavior is changed.
+   * 
+   * @param remoteHost Target URL the krb-https client will access
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public static void fetchServiceTicket(URL remoteHost) throws IOException {
+    if(!UserGroupInformation.isSecurityEnabled())
+      return;
+    
+    String serviceName = "host/" + remoteHost.getHost();
+    LOG.debug("Fetching service ticket for host at: " + serviceName);
+    Credentials serviceCred = null;
+    try {
+      PrincipalName principal = new PrincipalName(serviceName,
+          PrincipalName.KRB_NT_SRV_HST);
+      serviceCred = Credentials.acquireServiceCreds(principal
+          .toString(), Krb5Util.ticketToCreds(getTgtFromSubject()));
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      throw new IOException("Invalid service principal name: "
+          + serviceName, e);
+    }
+    if (serviceCred == null) {
+      throw new IOException("Can't get service ticket for " + serviceName);
+    }
+    Subject.getSubject(AccessController.getContext()).getPrivateCredentials()
+        .add(Krb5Util.credsToTicket(serviceCred));
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/security/TestSecurityUtil.java b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/security/TestSecurityUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..23e39746c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/security/TestSecurityUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with this
+ * work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. The ASF
+ * licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
+ * the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.hadoop.security;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class TestSecurityUtil {
+  @Test
+  public void isOriginalTGTReturnsCorrectValues() {
+    assertTrue(SecurityUtil.isOriginalTGT("krbtgt/foo@foo"));
+    assertTrue(SecurityUtil.isOriginalTGT("krbtgt/foo.bar.bat@foo.bar.bat"));
+    assertFalse(SecurityUtil.isOriginalTGT(null));
+    assertFalse(SecurityUtil.isOriginalTGT("blah"));
+    assertFalse(SecurityUtil.isOriginalTGT(""));
+    assertFalse(SecurityUtil.isOriginalTGT("krbtgt/hello"));
+    assertFalse(SecurityUtil.isOriginalTGT("/@"));
+    assertFalse(SecurityUtil.isOriginalTGT("this@is/notright"));
+    assertFalse(SecurityUtil.isOriginalTGT("krbtgt/foo@FOO"));
+  }
+}