diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 08e1c2cc21d..39475c193aa 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -240,6 +240,9 @@ Release 2.4.0 - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-5623. TestJobCleanup fails because of RejectedExecutionException
     and NPE. (jlowe)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5679. TestJobHistoryParsing has race condition (Liyin Liang via
+    jlowe)
+
 Release 2.3.0 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-hs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/hs/TestJobHistoryParsing.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-hs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/hs/TestJobHistoryParsing.java
index 86d5016a67b..382c1971f6c 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-hs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/hs/TestJobHistoryParsing.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-hs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/hs/TestJobHistoryParsing.java
@@ -339,8 +339,11 @@ public class TestJobHistoryParsing {
     PrintStream stdps = System.out;
     try {
       System.setOut(new PrintStream(outContent));
-      HistoryViewer viewer = new HistoryViewer(fc.makeQualified(
-          fileInfo.getHistoryFile()).toString(), conf, true);
+      HistoryViewer viewer;
+      synchronized (fileInfo) {
+        viewer = new HistoryViewer(fc.makeQualified(
+            fileInfo.getHistoryFile()).toString(), conf, true);
+      }
       viewer.print();
 
       for (TaskInfo taskInfo : allTasks.values()) {
@@ -397,29 +400,27 @@ public class TestJobHistoryParsing {
       // make sure all events are flushed
       app.waitForState(Service.STATE.STOPPED);
 
-      String jobhistoryDir = JobHistoryUtils
-          .getHistoryIntermediateDoneDirForUser(conf);
       JobHistory jobHistory = new JobHistory();
       jobHistory.init(conf);
+      HistoryFileInfo fileInfo = jobHistory.getJobFileInfo(jobId);
+      
+      JobHistoryParser parser;
+      JobInfo jobInfo;
+      synchronized (fileInfo) {
+        Path historyFilePath = fileInfo.getHistoryFile();
+        FSDataInputStream in = null;
+        FileContext fc = null;
+        try {
+          fc = FileContext.getFileContext(conf);
+          in = fc.open(fc.makeQualified(historyFilePath));
+        } catch (IOException ioe) {
+          LOG.info("Can not open history file: " + historyFilePath, ioe);
+          throw (new Exception("Can not open History File"));
+        }
 
-      JobIndexInfo jobIndexInfo = jobHistory.getJobFileInfo(jobId)
-          .getJobIndexInfo();
-      String jobhistoryFileName = FileNameIndexUtils
-          .getDoneFileName(jobIndexInfo);
-
-      Path historyFilePath = new Path(jobhistoryDir, jobhistoryFileName);
-      FSDataInputStream in = null;
-      FileContext fc = null;
-      try {
-        fc = FileContext.getFileContext(conf);
-        in = fc.open(fc.makeQualified(historyFilePath));
-      } catch (IOException ioe) {
-        LOG.info("Can not open history file: " + historyFilePath, ioe);
-        throw (new Exception("Can not open History File"));
+        parser = new JobHistoryParser(in);
+        jobInfo = parser.parse();
       }
-
-      JobHistoryParser parser = new JobHistoryParser(in);
-      JobInfo jobInfo = parser.parse();
       Exception parseException = parser.getParseException();
       Assert.assertNull("Caught an expected exception " + parseException,
           parseException);
@@ -464,29 +465,28 @@ public class TestJobHistoryParsing {
       // make sure all events are flushed
       app.waitForState(Service.STATE.STOPPED);
 
-      String jobhistoryDir = JobHistoryUtils
-          .getHistoryIntermediateDoneDirForUser(conf);
       JobHistory jobHistory = new JobHistory();
       jobHistory.init(conf);
 
-      JobIndexInfo jobIndexInfo = jobHistory.getJobFileInfo(jobId)
-          .getJobIndexInfo();
-      String jobhistoryFileName = FileNameIndexUtils
-          .getDoneFileName(jobIndexInfo);
+      HistoryFileInfo fileInfo = jobHistory.getJobFileInfo(jobId);
+      
+      JobHistoryParser parser;
+      JobInfo jobInfo;
+      synchronized (fileInfo) {
+        Path historyFilePath = fileInfo.getHistoryFile();
+        FSDataInputStream in = null;
+        FileContext fc = null;
+        try {
+          fc = FileContext.getFileContext(conf);
+          in = fc.open(fc.makeQualified(historyFilePath));
+        } catch (IOException ioe) {
+          LOG.info("Can not open history file: " + historyFilePath, ioe);
+          throw (new Exception("Can not open History File"));
+        }
 
-      Path historyFilePath = new Path(jobhistoryDir, jobhistoryFileName);
-      FSDataInputStream in = null;
-      FileContext fc = null;
-      try {
-        fc = FileContext.getFileContext(conf);
-        in = fc.open(fc.makeQualified(historyFilePath));
-      } catch (IOException ioe) {
-        LOG.info("Can not open history file: " + historyFilePath, ioe);
-        throw (new Exception("Can not open History File"));
+        parser = new JobHistoryParser(in);
+        jobInfo = parser.parse();
       }
-
-      JobHistoryParser parser = new JobHistoryParser(in);
-      JobInfo jobInfo = parser.parse();
       Exception parseException = parser.getParseException();
       Assert.assertNull("Caught an expected exception " + parseException,
           parseException);