diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 999090e311e..32b2c2a4e60 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -314,6 +314,9 @@ Release 2.0.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-8238. NetUtils#getHostNameOfIP blows up if given ip:port
     string w/o port. (eli)
 
+    HADOOP-8243. Security support broken in CLI (manual) failover controller
+    (todd)
+
   BREAKDOWN OF HADOOP-7454 SUBTASKS
 
     HADOOP-7455. HA: Introduce HA Service Protocol Interface. (suresh)
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/FailoverController.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/FailoverController.java
index d1dad189545..22f245a9c84 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/FailoverController.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/FailoverController.java
@@ -52,14 +52,22 @@ public class FailoverController {
   public FailoverController(Configuration conf) {
     this.conf = conf;
     
-    this.gracefulFenceTimeout = conf.getInt(
+    this.gracefulFenceTimeout = getGracefulFenceTimeout(conf);
+    this.rpcTimeoutToNewActive = getRpcTimeoutToNewActive(conf);
+  }
+
+  static int getGracefulFenceTimeout(Configuration conf) {
+    return conf.getInt(
         CommonConfigurationKeys.HA_FC_GRACEFUL_FENCE_TIMEOUT_KEY,
         CommonConfigurationKeys.HA_FC_GRACEFUL_FENCE_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT);
-    this.rpcTimeoutToNewActive = conf.getInt(
+  }
+  
+  static int getRpcTimeoutToNewActive(Configuration conf) {
+    return conf.getInt(
         CommonConfigurationKeys.HA_FC_NEW_ACTIVE_TIMEOUT_KEY,
         CommonConfigurationKeys.HA_FC_NEW_ACTIVE_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT);
   }
-
+  
   /**
    * Perform pre-failover checks on the given service we plan to
    * failover to, eg to prevent failing over to a service (eg due
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java
index 75c0c11eee7..a3d898cf3e5 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAAdmin.java
@@ -114,7 +114,8 @@ private int transitionToActive(final String[] argv)
       return -1;
     }
     
-    HAServiceProtocol proto = resolveTarget(argv[1]).getProxy();
+    HAServiceProtocol proto = resolveTarget(argv[1]).getProxy(
+        getConf(), 0);
     HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToActive(proto);
     return 0;
   }
@@ -127,7 +128,8 @@ private int transitionToStandby(final String[] argv)
       return -1;
     }
     
-    HAServiceProtocol proto = resolveTarget(argv[1]).getProxy();
+    HAServiceProtocol proto = resolveTarget(argv[1]).getProxy(
+        getConf(), 0);
     HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToStandby(proto);
     return 0;
   }
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAServiceTarget.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAServiceTarget.java
index e3f887611c2..90c887d2923 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAServiceTarget.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/HAServiceTarget.java
@@ -68,11 +68,4 @@ public HAServiceProtocol getProxy(Configuration conf, int timeoutMs)
         getAddress(),
         confCopy, factory, timeoutMs);
   }
-
-  /**
-   * @return a proxy to connect to the target HA Service.
-   */
-  public final HAServiceProtocol getProxy() throws IOException {
-    return getProxy(new Configuration(), 0); // default conf, timeout
-  }
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/ZKFailoverController.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/ZKFailoverController.java
index fd95c952eaf..9a50fe684ec 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/ZKFailoverController.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/ha/ZKFailoverController.java
@@ -245,7 +245,8 @@ private synchronized void fatalError(String err) {
   private synchronized void becomeActive() {
     LOG.info("Trying to make " + localTarget + " active...");
     try {
-      localTarget.getProxy().transitionToActive();
+      HAServiceProtocolHelper.transitionToActive(localTarget.getProxy(
+          conf, FailoverController.getRpcTimeoutToNewActive(conf)));
       LOG.info("Successfully transitioned " + localTarget +
           " to active state");
     } catch (Throwable t) {
@@ -267,7 +268,8 @@ private synchronized void becomeStandby() {
     LOG.info("ZK Election indicated that " + localTarget +
         " should become standby");
     try {
-      localTarget.getProxy().transitionToStandby();
+      int timeout = FailoverController.getGracefulFenceTimeout(conf);
+      localTarget.getProxy(conf, timeout).transitionToStandby();
       LOG.info("Successfully transitioned " + localTarget +
           " to standby state");
     } catch (Exception e) {