diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FilterFs.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FilterFs.java
index 6b1093e7969..5c16a4e9f36 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FilterFs.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/FilterFs.java
@@ -57,8 +57,7 @@ public abstract class FilterFs extends AbstractFileSystem {
   }
   
   protected FilterFs(AbstractFileSystem fs) throws URISyntaxException {
-    super(fs.getUri(), fs.getUri().getScheme(),
-        fs.getUri().getAuthority() != null, fs.getUriDefaultPort());
+    super(fs.getUri(), fs.getUri().getScheme(), false, fs.getUriDefaultPort());
     myFs = fs;
   }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ChRootedFs.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ChRootedFs.java
index d77ad8b96e3..ad1f5b56204 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ChRootedFs.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ChRootedFs.java
@@ -101,8 +101,7 @@ class ChRootedFs extends AbstractFileSystem {
 
   public ChRootedFs(final AbstractFileSystem fs, final Path theRoot)
     throws URISyntaxException {
-    super(fs.getUri(), fs.getUri().getScheme(),
-        fs.getUri().getAuthority() != null, fs.getUriDefaultPort());
+    super(fs.getUri(), fs.getUri().getScheme(), false, fs.getUriDefaultPort());
     myFs = fs;
     myFs.checkPath(theRoot);
     chRootPathPart = new Path(myFs.getUriPath(theRoot));
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFilterFs.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFilterFs.java
index 27d093c2b0a..a2f09057ce6 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFilterFs.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestFilterFs.java
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import java.util.Iterator;
 
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.viewfs.ConfigUtil;
 
 public class TestFilterFs extends TestCase {
 
@@ -65,4 +67,14 @@ public class TestFilterFs extends TestCase {
     }
   }
   
+  // Test that FilterFs will accept an AbstractFileSystem to be filtered which
+  // has an optional authority, such as ViewFs
+  public void testFilteringWithNonrequiredAuthority() throws Exception {
+    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
+    ConfigUtil.addLink(conf, "custom", "/mnt", URI.create("file:///"));
+    FileContext fc =
+        FileContext.getFileContext(URI.create("viewfs://custom/"), conf);
+    new FilterFs(fc.getDefaultFileSystem()) {};
+  }
+
 }