diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FsShellPermissions.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FsShellPermissions.java
index 76e379c51f..1a8a777231 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FsShellPermissions.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FsShellPermissions.java
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ protected void processPath(PathData item) throws IOException {
   
   // used by chown/chgrp
   static private String allowedChars = Shell.WINDOWS ? "[-_./@a-zA-Z0-9 ]" :
-    "[-_./@a-zA-Z0-9]";
+    "[-+_./@a-zA-Z0-9]";
 
   /**
    * Used to change owner and/or group of files 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSShell.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSShell.java
index 65032514b4..d3920fca56 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSShell.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSShell.java
@@ -1468,6 +1468,9 @@ public void testFilePermissions() throws IOException {
 
     runCmd(shell, "-chgrp", "hadoop-core@apache.org/100", file);
     confirmOwner(null, "hadoop-core@apache.org/100", fs, path);
+
+    runCmd(shell, "-chown", "MYCOMPANY+user.name:hadoop", file);
+    confirmOwner("MYCOMPANY+user.name", "hadoop", fs, path);
   }
 
   /**