diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index e62932cc87d..2a8a5a76c95 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -261,6 +261,8 @@ Release 0.23.3 - UNRELEASED
 
     HDFS-3020. Fix editlog to automatically sync when buffer is full. (todd)
 
+    HDFS-3038. Add FSEditLog.metrics to findbugs exclude list. (todd via atm)
+
 Release 0.23.2 - UNRELEASED 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/dev-support/findbugsExcludeFile.xml b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/dev-support/findbugsExcludeFile.xml
index 9b5d6df12e4..709e52fb461 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/dev-support/findbugsExcludeFile.xml
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/dev-support/findbugsExcludeFile.xml
@@ -247,4 +247,13 @@
        <Method name="save" />
        <Bug pattern="OS_OPEN_STREAM" />
      </Match>
+     <!--
+      the 'metrics' member is sometimes used from synchronized blocks, sometimes not,
+      but it's only reset by test cases, so should be fine
+     -->
+     <Match>
+       <Class name="org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.FSEditLog" />
+       <Field name="metrics" />
+       <Bug pattern="IS2_INCONSISTENT_SYNC" />
+     </Match>
  </FindBugsFilter>