diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index a23a50852b..ef8e2383bd 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -705,6 +705,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-11893. Mark org.apache.hadoop.security.token.Token as
     @InterfaceAudience.Public. (Brahma Reddy Battula via stevel)
 
+    HADOOP-12081. Fix UserGroupInformation.java to support 64-bit zLinux.
+    (aajisaka)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HADOOP-11785. Reduce the number of listStatus operation in distcp
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/UserGroupInformation.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/UserGroupInformation.java
index be3d60d73c..80a08980f0 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/UserGroupInformation.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/UserGroupInformation.java
@@ -369,7 +369,8 @@ private static boolean isAuthenticationMethodEnabled(AuthenticationMethod method
   private static final boolean windows =
       System.getProperty("os.name").startsWith("Windows");
   private static final boolean is64Bit =
-      System.getProperty("os.arch").contains("64");
+      System.getProperty("os.arch").contains("64") ||
+      System.getProperty("os.arch").contains("s390x");
   private static final boolean aix = System.getProperty("os.name").equals("AIX");
 
   /* Return the OS login module class name */