diff --git a/dev-support/test-patch.sh b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
index ccadfb7d4b..ae91b8e0d0 100755
--- a/dev-support/test-patch.sh
+++ b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
@@ -1181,6 +1181,7 @@ function determine_issue
   # we can shortcut jenkins
   if [[ ${JENKINS} == true ]]; then
     ISSUE=${PATCH_OR_ISSUE}
+    return 0
   fi
 
   # shellcheck disable=SC2016
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 44e78bac7e..47731fbf68 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -665,6 +665,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-11951. test-patch should give better info about failures to handle
     dev-support updates without resetrepo option (Sean Busbey via aw)
 
+    HADOOP-11947. test-patch should return early from determine-issue when
+    run in jenkins mode. (Sean Busbey via aw)
+
 Release 2.7.1 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES