diff --git a/dev-support/test-patch.sh b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
index efcd614207..a3cdc85b8d 100755
--- a/dev-support/test-patch.sh
+++ b/dev-support/test-patch.sh
@@ -947,6 +947,12 @@ function git_checkout
     # we need to explicitly fetch in case the
     # git ref hasn't been brought in tree yet
     if [[ ${OFFLINE} == false ]]; then
+
+      if [[ -f .git/rebase-apply ]]; then
+        hadoop_error "ERROR: previous rebase failed. Aborting it."
+        ${GIT} rebase --abort
+      fi
+
       ${GIT} pull --rebase
       if [[ $? != 0 ]]; then
         hadoop_error "ERROR: git pull is failing"
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index c80be05a67..5d8d20dac8 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -504,6 +504,8 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
     HADOOP-12009. Clarify FileSystem.listStatus() sorting order & fix
     FileSystemContractBaseTest:testListStatus. (J.Andreina via jghoman)
 
+    HADOOP-12244. recover broken rebase during precommit (aw)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HADOOP-7761. Improve the performance of raw comparisons. (todd)