diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/ExitUtil.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/ExitUtil.java
index 5642a2340d7..dbe6663b2e7 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/ExitUtil.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/ExitUtil.java
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ public final class ExitUtil {
   private static volatile boolean systemHaltDisabled = false;
   private static volatile ExitException firstExitException;
   private static volatile HaltException firstHaltException;
+  /** Message raised from an exit exception if none were provided: {@value}. */
+  public static final String EXIT_EXCEPTION_MESSAGE = "ExitException";
+  /** Message raised from a halt exception if none were provided: {@value}. */
+  public static final String HALT_EXCEPTION_MESSAGE = "HaltException";
 
   private ExitUtil() {
   }
@@ -285,7 +289,7 @@ public final class ExitUtil {
    * @throws ExitException if {@link System#exit(int)} is disabled.
    */
   public static void terminate(int status) throws ExitException {
-    terminate(status, "");
+    terminate(status, EXIT_EXCEPTION_MESSAGE);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -306,7 +310,7 @@ public final class ExitUtil {
    * @throws HaltException if {@link Runtime#halt(int)} is disabled.
    */
   public static void halt(int status) throws HaltException {
-    halt(status, "");
+    halt(status, HALT_EXCEPTION_MESSAGE);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestMetadataVersionOutput.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestMetadataVersionOutput.java
index dc8f70a5b5b..e1663e29615 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestMetadataVersionOutput.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestMetadataVersionOutput.java
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.MiniDFSCluster;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.common.HdfsServerConstants;
+import org.apache.hadoop.util.ExitUtil;
+
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -78,7 +80,7 @@ public class TestMetadataVersionOutput {
       try {
         NameNode.createNameNode(new String[] { "-metadataVersion" }, conf);
       } catch (Exception e) {
-        assertExceptionContains("ExitException", e);
+        assertExceptionContains(ExitUtil.EXIT_EXCEPTION_MESSAGE, e);
       }
     /* Check if meta data version is printed correctly. */
       final String verNumStr = HdfsServerConstants.NAMENODE_LAYOUT_VERSION + "";
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestStartup.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestStartup.java
index 2fe25e0e716..f8a033641d3 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestStartup.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestStartup.java
@@ -437,8 +437,9 @@ public class TestStartup {
       SecondaryNameNode.main(argv);
       fail("Failed to handle runtime exceptions during SNN startup!");
     } catch (ExitException ee) {
-      GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains("ExitException", ee);
-      assertTrue("Didn't termiated properly ", ExitUtil.terminateCalled());
+      GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains(
+          ExitUtil.EXIT_EXCEPTION_MESSAGE, ee);
+      assertTrue("Didn't terminate properly ", ExitUtil.terminateCalled());
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-gridmix/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/gridmix/TestGridmixSubmission.java b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-gridmix/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/gridmix/TestGridmixSubmission.java
index f1800c177aa..d4bfddcc1ed 100644
--- a/hadoop-tools/hadoop-gridmix/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/gridmix/TestGridmixSubmission.java
+++ b/hadoop-tools/hadoop-gridmix/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/gridmix/TestGridmixSubmission.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream;
 
+import static org.apache.hadoop.test.GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains;
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 
 public class TestGridmixSubmission extends CommonJobTest {
@@ -185,7 +186,7 @@ public class TestGridmixSubmission extends CommonJobTest {
       DebugGridmix.main(argv);
 
     } catch (ExitUtil.ExitException e) {
-      assertEquals("ExitException", e.getMessage());
+      assertExceptionContains(ExitUtil.EXIT_EXCEPTION_MESSAGE, e);
       ExitUtil.resetFirstExitException();
     } finally {
       System.setErr(oldOut);