diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index a5e4d9c0f88..02953c03113 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -577,6 +577,9 @@ Release 2.0.5-beta - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-9503. Remove sleep between IPC client connect timeouts.
     (Varun Sharma via szetszwo)
 
+    HADOOP-9322. LdapGroupsMapping doesn't seem to set a timeout for
+    its directory search. (harsh)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HADOOP-9150. Avoid unnecessary DNS resolution attempts for logical URIs
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/LdapGroupsMapping.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/LdapGroupsMapping.java
index eda711547c3..eb62e8b2b9e 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/LdapGroupsMapping.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/LdapGroupsMapping.java
@@ -144,7 +144,15 @@ public class LdapGroupsMapping
    */
   public static final String GROUP_NAME_ATTR_KEY = LDAP_CONFIG_PREFIX + ".search.attr.group.name";
   public static final String GROUP_NAME_ATTR_DEFAULT = "cn";
-  
+
+  /*
+   * LDAP {@link SearchControls} attribute to set the time limit
+   * for an invoked directory search. Prevents infinite wait cases.
+   */
+  public static final String DIRECTORY_SEARCH_TIMEOUT =
+    LDAP_CONFIG_PREFIX + ".directory.search.timeout";
+  public static final int DIRECTORY_SEARCH_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT = 10000; // 10s
+
   private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(LdapGroupsMapping.class);
 
   private static final SearchControls SEARCH_CONTROLS = new SearchControls();
@@ -326,6 +334,9 @@ public synchronized void setConf(Configuration conf) {
     groupNameAttr =
         conf.get(GROUP_NAME_ATTR_KEY, GROUP_NAME_ATTR_DEFAULT);
 
+    int dirSearchTimeout = conf.getInt(DIRECTORY_SEARCH_TIMEOUT, DIRECTORY_SEARCH_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT);
+    SEARCH_CONTROLS.setTimeLimit(dirSearchTimeout);
+
     this.conf = conf;
   }
   
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
index b728a696b08..908c4d47b9b 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/resources/core-default.xml
@@ -212,6 +212,17 @@
   </description>
 </property>
 
+<property>
+  <name>hadoop.security.group.mapping.ldap.directory.search.timeout</name>
+  <value>10000</value>
+  <description>
+    The attribute applied to the LDAP SearchControl properties to set a
+    maximum time limit when searching and awaiting a result.
+    Set to 0 if infinite wait period is desired.
+    Default is 10 seconds. Units in milliseconds.
+  </description>
+</property>
+
 <property>
   <name>hadoop.security.service.user.name.key</name>
   <value></value>