diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 9e2f6b663b..c29e6bdfc4 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -436,9 +436,12 @@ Release 2.0.5-beta - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-4620. Documentation for dfs.namenode.rpc-address specifies wrong
     format. (Sandy Ryza via atm)
 
-    HDFS-4607.  In TestGetConf.testGetSpecificKey(), use a platform-specific
+    HDFS-4607. In TestGetConf.testGetSpecificKey(), use a platform-specific
     line separator; otherwise, it fails on Windows.  (Ivan Mitic via szetszwo)
 
+    HDFS-4609. TestAuditLogs should release log handles between tests. 
+    (Ivan Mitic via szetszwo)
+
 Release 2.0.4-alpha - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestAuditLogs.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestAuditLogs.java
index 0fe6255fc9..bbf1dac25d 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestAuditLogs.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestAuditLogs.java
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.AccessControlException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.UserGroupInformation;
 import org.apache.log4j.Level;
+import org.apache.log4j.LogManager;
 import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 import org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout;
 import org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender;
@@ -233,9 +234,15 @@ public void testAuditWebHdfsDenied() throws Exception {
 
   /** Sets up log4j logger for auditlogs */
   private void setupAuditLogs() throws IOException {
+    // Shutdown the LogManager to release all logger open file handles.
+    // Unfortunately, Apache commons logging library does not provide
+    // means to release underlying loggers. For additional info look up
+    // commons library FAQ.
+    LogManager.shutdown();
+
     File file = new File(auditLogFile);
     if (file.exists()) {
-      file.delete();
+      assertTrue(file.delete());
     }
     Logger logger = ((Log4JLogger) FSNamesystem.auditLog).getLogger();
     logger.setLevel(Level.INFO);