diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
index 15389d614d..7eae564e2d 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -225,8 +226,18 @@ public void setINodeAttributeProvider(
     Class[] cArg = new Class[1];
     cArg[0] = INodeAttributeProvider.AuthorizationContext.class;
 
+    INodeAttributeProvider.AccessControlEnforcer enforcer =
+        attributeProvider.getExternalAccessControlEnforcer(null);
+
+    // If external enforcer is null, we use the default enforcer, which
+    // supports the new API.
+    if (enforcer == null) {
+      useAuthorizationWithContextAPI = true;
+      return;
+    }
+
     try {
-      Class<?> clazz = attributeProvider.getClass();
+      Class<?> clazz = enforcer.getClass();
       clazz.getDeclaredMethod("checkPermissionWithContext", cArg);
       useAuthorizationWithContextAPI = true;
       LOG.info("Use the new authorization provider API");