diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 97a50bcd778..290c5ef179a 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -676,6 +676,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-8164. cTime is 0 in VERSION file for newly formatted NameNode.
     (Xiao Chen via Yongjun Zhang)
 
+    HDFS-9181. Better handling of exceptions thrown during upgrade shutdown.
+    (Wei-Chiu Chuang via Yongjun Zhang)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HDFS-8026. Trace FSOutputSummer#writeChecksumChunks rather than
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java
index b9be20e2770..e0e8de5ff92 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java
@@ -1765,8 +1765,9 @@ public class DataNode extends ReconfigurableBase
         xserver.sendOOBToPeers();
         ((DataXceiverServer) this.dataXceiverServer.getRunnable()).kill();
         this.dataXceiverServer.interrupt();
-      } catch (Throwable e) {
+      } catch (Exception e) {
         // Ignore, since the out of band messaging is advisory.
+        LOG.trace("Exception interrupting DataXceiverServer: ", e);
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestDataNodeExit.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestDataNodeExit.java
index da98d26cd5f..7a15b8556dd 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestDataNodeExit.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/TestDataNodeExit.java
@@ -96,13 +96,13 @@ public class TestDataNodeExit {
   public void testSendOOBToPeers() throws Exception {
     DataNode dn = cluster.getDataNodes().get(0);
     DataXceiverServer spyXserver = Mockito.spy(dn.getXferServer());
-    NullPointerException e = new NullPointerException();
-    Mockito.doThrow(e).when(spyXserver).sendOOBToPeers();
+    NullPointerException npe = new NullPointerException();
+    Mockito.doThrow(npe).when(spyXserver).sendOOBToPeers();
     dn.xserver = spyXserver;
     try {
       dn.shutdown();
-    } catch (Throwable t) {
-      fail("DataNode shutdown should not have thrown exception " + t);
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      fail("DataNode shutdown should not have thrown exception " + e);
     }
   }
 }