diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 65567458972..8f27c9a8357 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ Release 2.6.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-10835. Implement HTTP proxyuser support in HTTP authentication 
     client/server libraries. (tucu)
 
+    HADOOP-10820. Throw an exception in GenericOptionsParser when passed
+    an empty Path. (Alex Holmes and Zhihai Xu via wang)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
   BUG FIXES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/GenericOptionsParser.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/GenericOptionsParser.java
index cb6f91c7c67..18acbf109a2 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/GenericOptionsParser.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/GenericOptionsParser.java
@@ -378,9 +378,15 @@ public class GenericOptionsParser {
     if (files == null) 
       return null;
     String[] fileArr = files.split(",");
+    if (fileArr.length == 0) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("File name can't be empty string");
+    }
     String[] finalArr = new String[fileArr.length];
     for (int i =0; i < fileArr.length; i++) {
       String tmp = fileArr[i];
+      if (tmp.isEmpty()) {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("File name can't be empty string");
+      }
       String finalPath;
       URI pathURI;
       try {
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/TestGenericOptionsParser.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/TestGenericOptionsParser.java
index 48a419b3a52..779318acc8e 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/TestGenericOptionsParser.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/util/TestGenericOptionsParser.java
@@ -21,11 +21,14 @@ import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.URI;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
+import org.apache.commons.math3.util.Pair;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
@@ -34,12 +37,14 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.security.Credentials;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.UserGroupInformation;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.token.Token;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.token.delegation.AbstractDelegationTokenIdentifier;
+import org.apache.hadoop.test.GenericTestUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.Option;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.OptionBuilder;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.Options;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
 public class TestGenericOptionsParser extends TestCase {
   File testDir;
@@ -92,6 +97,67 @@ public class TestGenericOptionsParser extends TestCase {
     assertNull("files is not null", files);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Test the case where the libjars, files and archives arguments
+   * contains an empty token, which should create an IllegalArgumentException.
+   */
+  public void testEmptyFilenames() throws Exception {
+    List<Pair<String, String>> argsAndConfNames = new ArrayList<Pair<String, String>>();
+    argsAndConfNames.add(new Pair<String, String>("-libjars", "tmpjars"));
+    argsAndConfNames.add(new Pair<String, String>("-files", "tmpfiles"));
+    argsAndConfNames.add(new Pair<String, String>("-archives", "tmparchives"));
+    for (Pair<String, String> argAndConfName : argsAndConfNames) {
+      String arg = argAndConfName.getFirst();
+      String configName = argAndConfName.getSecond();
+
+      File tmpFileOne = new File(testDir, "tmpfile1");
+      Path tmpPathOne = new Path(tmpFileOne.toString());
+      File tmpFileTwo = new File(testDir, "tmpfile2");
+      Path tmpPathTwo = new Path(tmpFileTwo.toString());
+      localFs.create(tmpPathOne);
+      localFs.create(tmpPathTwo);
+      String[] args = new String[2];
+      args[0] = arg;
+      // create an empty path in between two valid files,
+      // which prior to HADOOP-10820 used to result in the
+      // working directory being added to "tmpjars" (or equivalent)
+      args[1] = String.format("%s,,%s",
+          tmpFileOne.toURI().toString(), tmpFileTwo.toURI().toString());
+      try {
+        new GenericOptionsParser(conf, args);
+        fail("Expected exception for empty filename");
+      } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+        // expect to receive an IllegalArgumentException
+        GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains("File name can't be"
+            + " empty string", e);
+      }
+
+      // test zero file list length - it should create an exception
+      args[1] = ",,";
+      try {
+        new GenericOptionsParser(conf, args);
+        fail("Expected exception for zero file list length");
+      } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+        // expect to receive an IllegalArgumentException
+        GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains("File name can't be"
+            + " empty string", e);
+      }
+
+      // test filename with space character
+      // it should create exception from parser in URI class
+      // due to URI syntax error
+      args[1] = String.format("%s, ,%s",
+          tmpFileOne.toURI().toString(), tmpFileTwo.toURI().toString());
+      try {
+        new GenericOptionsParser(conf, args);
+        fail("Expected exception for filename with space character");
+      } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+        // expect to receive an IllegalArgumentException
+        GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains("URISyntaxException", e);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Test that options passed to the constructor are used.
    */