diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 08f705a223..cca755ebf4 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -143,6 +143,9 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
     HDFS-7430. Rewrite the BlockScanner to use O(1) memory and use multiple
     threads (cmccabe)
 
+    HDFS-7659. truncate should check negative value of the new length.
+    (Yi Liu via shv)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
   BUG FIXES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
index 1bb7f4a787..21f75a586a 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
@@ -1984,6 +1984,10 @@ public void rename(String src, String dst, Options.Rename... options)
    */
   public boolean truncate(String src, long newLength) throws IOException {
     checkOpen();
+    if (newLength < 0) {
+      throw new HadoopIllegalArgumentException(
+          "Cannot truncate to a negative file size: " + newLength + ".");
+    }
     TraceScope scope = getPathTraceScope("truncate", src);
     try {
       return namenode.truncate(src, newLength, clientName);
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
index 6a8f57452d..fae1641e0f 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
@@ -1911,6 +1911,10 @@ boolean truncateInt(String srcArg, long newLength,
       NameNode.stateChangeLog.debug("DIR* NameSystem.truncate: src="
           + src + " newLength=" + newLength);
     }
+    if (newLength < 0) {
+      throw new HadoopIllegalArgumentException(
+          "Cannot truncate to a negative file size: " + newLength + ".");
+    }
     HdfsFileStatus stat = null;
     FSPermissionChecker pc = getPermissionChecker();
     checkOperation(OperationCategory.WRITE);
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFileTruncate.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFileTruncate.java
index 5498b128c2..1612a24cf5 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFileTruncate.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFileTruncate.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.HadoopIllegalArgumentException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.ContentSummary;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FSDataOutputStream;
@@ -443,6 +444,14 @@ public void testTruncateFailure() throws IOException {
     } catch(IOException expected) {}
     out.close();
 
+    try {
+      fs.truncate(p, -1);
+      fail("Truncate must fail for a negative new length.");
+    } catch (HadoopIllegalArgumentException expected) {
+      GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains(
+          "Cannot truncate to a negative file size", expected);
+    }
+
     cluster.shutdownDataNodes();
     NameNodeAdapter.getLeaseManager(cluster.getNamesystem())
         .setLeasePeriod(LOW_SOFTLIMIT, LOW_HARDLIMIT);