diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index b25e7009c3b..6e027d26d73 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -568,6 +568,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     YARN-3849. Too much of preemption activity causing continuos killing of
     containers across queues. (Sunil G via wangda)
 
+    YARN-3917. getResourceCalculatorPlugin for the default should intercept all
+    exceptions. (gera)
+
 Release 2.7.2 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/util/ResourceCalculatorPlugin.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/util/ResourceCalculatorPlugin.java
index 21724a9f49e..3af4aee8456 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/util/ResourceCalculatorPlugin.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/util/ResourceCalculatorPlugin.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.util;
 
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
@@ -30,6 +32,8 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.util.SysInfo;
 @InterfaceAudience.LimitedPrivate({"YARN", "MAPREDUCE"})
 @InterfaceStability.Unstable
 public class ResourceCalculatorPlugin extends Configured {
+  private static final Log LOG =
+      LogFactory.getLog(ResourceCalculatorPlugin.class);
 
   private final SysInfo sys;
 
@@ -158,9 +162,10 @@ public class ResourceCalculatorPlugin extends Configured {
     }
     try {
       return new ResourceCalculatorPlugin();
-    } catch (SecurityException e) {
-      return null;
+    } catch (Throwable t) {
+      LOG.warn(t + ": Failed to instantiate default resource calculator.", t);
     }
+    return null;
   }
 
 }