diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index 6f62dae71e7..b02e97587fc 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -279,6 +279,9 @@ Release 2.3.0 - UNRELEASED
     YARN-1407. RM Web UI and REST APIs should uniformly use
     YarnApplicationState (Sandy Ryza)
 
+    YARN-1438. Ensure container diagnostics includes exception from container
+    launch. (stevel via acmurthy)
+
 Release 2.2.0 - 2013-10-13
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/DefaultContainerExecutor.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/DefaultContainerExecutor.java
index 507f7a04931..9e2e1113aed 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/DefaultContainerExecutor.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/DefaultContainerExecutor.java
@@ -213,7 +213,8 @@ public class DefaultContainerExecutor extends ContainerExecutor {
         LOG.warn("Exception from container-launch with container ID: "
             + containerId + " and exit code: " + exitCode , e);
         logOutput(shExec.getOutput());
-        String diagnostics = "Exception from container-launch: \n"
+        String diagnostics = "Exception from container-launch: "
+            + e + "\n"
             + StringUtils.stringifyException(e) + "\n" + shExec.getOutput();
         container.handle(new ContainerDiagnosticsUpdateEvent(containerId,
             diagnostics));