diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/CopyMapper.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/CopyMapper.java
index 09bceadbc5..4db1d4eb46 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/CopyMapper.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/CopyMapper.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang.exception.ExceptionUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.tools.DistCpOptionSwitch;
 import org.apache.hadoop.tools.DistCpOptions;
 import org.apache.hadoop.tools.DistCpOptions.FileAttribute;
+import org.apache.hadoop.tools.mapred.RetriableFileCopyCommand.CopyReadException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.tools.util.DistCpUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringUtils;
 
@@ -251,8 +253,8 @@ private void handleFailures(IOException exception,
     LOG.error("Failure in copying " + sourceFileStatus.getPath() + " to " +
                 target, exception);
 
-    if (ignoreFailures && exception.getCause() instanceof
-            RetriableFileCopyCommand.CopyReadException) {
+    if (ignoreFailures &&
+        ExceptionUtils.indexOfType(exception, CopyReadException.class) != -1) {
       incrementCounter(context, Counter.FAIL, 1);
       incrementCounter(context, Counter.BYTESFAILED, sourceFileStatus.getLen());
       context.write(null, new Text("FAIL: " + sourceFileStatus.getPath() + " - " +
diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/TestCopyMapper.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/TestCopyMapper.java
index 4d0752fef1..866ad6e178 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/TestCopyMapper.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-distcp/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/tools/mapred/TestCopyMapper.java
@@ -392,6 +392,8 @@ public void testMakeDirFailure() {
   public void testIgnoreFailures() {
     doTestIgnoreFailures(true);
     doTestIgnoreFailures(false);
+    doTestIgnoreFailuresDoubleWrapped(true);
+    doTestIgnoreFailuresDoubleWrapped(false);
   }
 
   @Test(timeout=40000)
@@ -800,6 +802,89 @@ private void doTestIgnoreFailures(boolean ignoreFailures) {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * This test covers the case where the CopyReadException is double-wrapped and
+   * the mapper should be able to ignore this nested read exception.
+   * @see #doTestIgnoreFailures
+   */
+  private void doTestIgnoreFailuresDoubleWrapped(final boolean ignoreFailures) {
+    try {
+      deleteState();
+      createSourceData();
+
+      final UserGroupInformation tmpUser = UserGroupInformation
+          .createRemoteUser("guest");
+
+      final CopyMapper copyMapper = new CopyMapper();
+
+      final Mapper<Text, CopyListingFileStatus, Text, Text>.Context context =
+          tmpUser.doAs(new PrivilegedAction<
+              Mapper<Text, CopyListingFileStatus, Text, Text>.Context>() {
+            @Override
+            public Mapper<Text, CopyListingFileStatus, Text, Text>.Context
+            run() {
+              try {
+                StubContext stubContext = new StubContext(
+                    getConfiguration(), null, 0);
+                return stubContext.getContext();
+              } catch (Exception e) {
+                LOG.error("Exception encountered when get stub context", e);
+                throw new RuntimeException(e);
+              }
+            }
+          });
+
+      touchFile(SOURCE_PATH + "/src/file");
+      mkdirs(TARGET_PATH);
+      cluster.getFileSystem().setPermission(new Path(SOURCE_PATH + "/src/file"),
+          new FsPermission(FsAction.NONE, FsAction.NONE, FsAction.NONE));
+      cluster.getFileSystem().setPermission(new Path(TARGET_PATH),
+          new FsPermission((short)511));
+
+      context.getConfiguration().setBoolean(
+          DistCpOptionSwitch.IGNORE_FAILURES.getConfigLabel(), ignoreFailures);
+
+      final FileSystem tmpFS = tmpUser.doAs(new PrivilegedAction<FileSystem>() {
+        @Override
+        public FileSystem run() {
+          try {
+            return FileSystem.get(configuration);
+          } catch (IOException e) {
+            LOG.error("Exception encountered when get FileSystem.", e);
+            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+          }
+        }
+      });
+
+      tmpUser.doAs(new PrivilegedAction<Integer>() {
+        @Override
+        public Integer run() {
+          try {
+            copyMapper.setup(context);
+            copyMapper.map(new Text("/src/file"),
+                new CopyListingFileStatus(tmpFS.getFileStatus(
+                    new Path(SOURCE_PATH + "/src/file"))),
+                context);
+            Assert.assertTrue("Should have thrown an IOException if not " +
+                "ignoring failures", ignoreFailures);
+          } catch (IOException e) {
+            LOG.error("Unexpected exception encountered. ", e);
+            Assert.assertFalse("Should not have thrown an IOException if " +
+                "ignoring failures", ignoreFailures);
+            // the IOException is not thrown again as it's expected
+          } catch (Exception e) {
+            LOG.error("Exception encountered when the mapper copies file.", e);
+            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+          }
+          return null;
+        }
+      });
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      LOG.error("Unexpected exception encountered. ", e);
+      Assert.fail("Test failed: " + e.getMessage());
+    }
+  }
+
   private static void deleteState() throws IOException {
     pathList.clear();
     nFiles = 0;