diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index ce02eef5b2..36c910c07d 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1375,7 +1375,10 @@ Release 0.23.7 - UNRELEASED
     permissions (Ivan A. Veselovsky via bobby)
 
     HADOOP-9067. provide test for LocalFileSystem.reportChecksumFailure
-    (Ivan A. Veselovsky via bobby) 
+    (Ivan A. Veselovsky via bobby)
+
+    HADOOP-9336. Allow UGI of current connection to be queried. (Daryn Sharp
+    via kihwal)
 
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
index be18141aef..c43b8a9029 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ipc/Server.java
@@ -313,6 +313,14 @@ public static String getRemoteAddress() {
     return (addr == null) ? null : addr.getHostAddress();
   }
 
+  /** Returns the RPC remote user when invoked inside an RPC.  Note this
+   *  may be different than the current user if called within another doAs
+   *  @return connection's UGI or null if not an RPC
+   */
+  public static UserGroupInformation getRemoteUser() {
+    Call call = CurCall.get();
+    return (call != null) ? call.connection.user : null;
+  }
  
   /** Return true if the invocation was through an RPC.
    */
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/TestDoAsEffectiveUser.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/TestDoAsEffectiveUser.java
index 608cfb05cd..217174de49 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/TestDoAsEffectiveUser.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/TestDoAsEffectiveUser.java
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ public interface TestProtocol extends VersionedProtocol {
     public static final long versionID = 1L;
 
     String aMethod() throws IOException;
+    String getServerRemoteUser() throws IOException;
   }
 
   public class TestImpl implements TestProtocol {
@@ -136,6 +137,11 @@ public String aMethod() throws IOException {
       return UserGroupInformation.getCurrentUser().toString();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public String getServerRemoteUser() throws IOException {
+      return Server.getRemoteUser().toString();
+    }
+    
     @Override
     public long getProtocolVersion(String protocol, long clientVersion)
         throws IOException {
@@ -149,7 +155,23 @@ public ProtocolSignature getProtocolSignature(String protocol,
     }
   }
 
-  @Test
+  private void checkRemoteUgi(final Server server,
+      final UserGroupInformation ugi, final Configuration conf)
+          throws Exception {
+    ugi.doAs(new PrivilegedExceptionAction<Void>() {
+      @Override
+      public Void run() throws IOException {
+        proxy = RPC.getProxy(
+            TestProtocol.class, TestProtocol.versionID,
+            NetUtils.getConnectAddress(server), conf);
+        Assert.assertEquals(ugi.toString(), proxy.aMethod());
+        Assert.assertEquals(ugi.toString(), proxy.getServerRemoteUser());
+        return null;
+      }
+    });    
+  }
+  
+  @Test(timeout=4000)
   public void testRealUserSetup() throws IOException {
     final Configuration conf = new Configuration();
     conf.setStrings(ProxyUsers
@@ -163,24 +185,13 @@ public void testRealUserSetup() throws IOException {
     try {
       server.start();
 
-      final InetSocketAddress addr = NetUtils.getConnectAddress(server);
-
       UserGroupInformation realUserUgi = UserGroupInformation
           .createRemoteUser(REAL_USER_NAME);
+      checkRemoteUgi(server, realUserUgi, conf);
+      
       UserGroupInformation proxyUserUgi = UserGroupInformation.createProxyUserForTesting(
           PROXY_USER_NAME, realUserUgi, GROUP_NAMES);
-      String retVal = proxyUserUgi
-          .doAs(new PrivilegedExceptionAction<String>() {
-            @Override
-            public String run() throws IOException {
-              proxy = RPC.getProxy(TestProtocol.class,
-                  TestProtocol.versionID, addr, conf);
-              String ret = proxy.aMethod();
-              return ret;
-            }
-          });
-
-      Assert.assertEquals(PROXY_USER_NAME + " (auth:PROXY) via " + REAL_USER_NAME + " (auth:SIMPLE)", retVal);
+      checkRemoteUgi(server, proxyUserUgi, conf);
     } catch (Exception e) {
       e.printStackTrace();
       Assert.fail();
@@ -192,7 +203,7 @@ public String run() throws IOException {
     }
   }
 
-  @Test
+  @Test(timeout=4000)
   public void testRealUserAuthorizationSuccess() throws IOException {
     final Configuration conf = new Configuration();
     configureSuperUserIPAddresses(conf, REAL_USER_SHORT_NAME);
@@ -206,25 +217,13 @@ public void testRealUserAuthorizationSuccess() throws IOException {
     try {
       server.start();
 
-      final InetSocketAddress addr = NetUtils.getConnectAddress(server);
-
       UserGroupInformation realUserUgi = UserGroupInformation
           .createRemoteUser(REAL_USER_NAME);
+      checkRemoteUgi(server, realUserUgi, conf);
 
       UserGroupInformation proxyUserUgi = UserGroupInformation
           .createProxyUserForTesting(PROXY_USER_NAME, realUserUgi, GROUP_NAMES);
-      String retVal = proxyUserUgi
-          .doAs(new PrivilegedExceptionAction<String>() {
-            @Override
-            public String run() throws IOException {
-              proxy = RPC.getProxy(TestProtocol.class,
-                  TestProtocol.versionID, addr, conf);
-              String ret = proxy.aMethod();
-              return ret;
-            }
-          });
-
-      Assert.assertEquals(PROXY_USER_NAME + " (auth:PROXY) via " + REAL_USER_NAME + " (auth:SIMPLE)", retVal);
+      checkRemoteUgi(server, proxyUserUgi, conf);
     } catch (Exception e) {
       e.printStackTrace();
       Assert.fail();