diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index bc4fb4c6730..00b20401eb4 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1228,6 +1228,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     YARN-4709. NMWebServices produces incorrect JSON for containers.
     (Varun Saxena via vvasudev)
 
+    YARN-4748. ApplicationHistoryManagerOnTimelineStore should not
+    swallow exceptions on generateApplicationReport. (Li Lu via jianhe)
+
 Release 2.7.3 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/applicationhistoryservice/ApplicationHistoryManagerOnTimelineStore.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/applicationhistoryservice/ApplicationHistoryManagerOnTimelineStore.java
index 6e6b9fc620c..fd11aea66fe 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/applicationhistoryservice/ApplicationHistoryManagerOnTimelineStore.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/applicationhistoryservice/ApplicationHistoryManagerOnTimelineStore.java
@@ -625,6 +625,15 @@ public class ApplicationHistoryManagerOnTimelineStore extends AbstractService
       }
     } catch (AuthorizationException | ApplicationAttemptNotFoundException e) {
       // AuthorizationException is thrown because the user doesn't have access
+      if (e instanceof AuthorizationException) {
+        LOG.warn("Failed to authorize when generating application report for "
+            + app.appReport.getApplicationId()
+            + ". Use a placeholder for its latest attempt id. ", e);
+      } else { // Attempt not found
+        LOG.info("No application attempt found for "
+            + app.appReport.getApplicationId()
+            + ". Use a placeholder for its latest attempt id. ", e);
+      }
       // It's possible that the app is finished before the first attempt is created.
       app.appReport.setDiagnostics(null);
       app.appReport.setCurrentApplicationAttemptId(null);