diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index a49d049de64..766efd6c1e4 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ Release 0.23.1 - Unreleased
 
    HADOOP-7859. TestViewFsHdfs.testgetFileLinkStatus is failing an assert. (eli)
 
+   MAPREDUCE-3465. Fixed project pom to create test dirs (and fix failing tests).
+   (Hitesh Shah via sseth)
+
 Release 0.23.0 - 2011-11-01 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-project/pom.xml b/hadoop-project/pom.xml
index f4e001da451..28ceca10f74 100644
--- a/hadoop-project/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-project/pom.xml
@@ -576,6 +576,25 @@
           </execution>
         </executions>
       </plugin>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>create-testdirs</id>
+            <phase>validate</phase>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>run</goal>
+            </goals>
+            <configuration>
+              <target>
+                <mkdir dir="${test.build.dir}"/>
+                <mkdir dir="${test.build.data}"/>
+              </target>
+            </configuration>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>