diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES-HDFS-4949.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES-HDFS-4949.txt
index 97777dfb280..0a903312a96 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES-HDFS-4949.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES-HDFS-4949.txt
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ HDFS-4949 (Unreleased)
     HDFS-5163. Miscellaneous cache pool RPC fixes.  (Contributed by Colin
     Patrick McCabe)
 
-
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
   BUG FIXES
+    HDFS-5169. hdfs.c: translateZCRException: null pointer deref when
+    translating some exceptions.  (Contributed by Colin Patrick McCabe)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/native/libhdfs/hdfs.c b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/native/libhdfs/hdfs.c
index cfffe385a8d..66799c82c43 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/native/libhdfs/hdfs.c
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/native/libhdfs/hdfs.c
@@ -2270,7 +2270,7 @@ static int translateZCRException(JNIEnv *env, jthrowable exc)
         ret = EPROTONOSUPPORT;
         goto done;
     }
-    ret = printExceptionAndFree(env, jthr, PRINT_EXC_ALL,
+    ret = printExceptionAndFree(env, exc, PRINT_EXC_ALL,
             "hadoopZeroCopyRead: ZeroCopyCursor#read failed");
 done:
     free(className);