diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index d38fae955b4..afd1cc79373 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -330,6 +330,9 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
 
     HADOOP-11033. shell scripts ignore JAVA_HOME on OS X. (aw)
 
+    HADOOP-11052. hadoop_verify_secure_prereq's results aren't checked 
+    in bin/hdfs (aw)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HADOOP-7761. Improve the performance of raw comparisons. (todd)
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop-functions.sh b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop-functions.sh
index d430188cbf0..1677cc06bfa 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop-functions.sh
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop-functions.sh
@@ -644,9 +644,9 @@ function hadoop_verify_secure_prereq
   # this.
   
   # ${EUID} comes from the shell itself!
-  if [[ "${EUID}" -ne 0 ]] || [[ -n "${HADOOP_SECURE_COMMAND}" ]]; then
+  if [[ "${EUID}" -ne 0 ]] && [[ -z "${HADOOP_SECURE_COMMAND}" ]]; then
     hadoop_error "ERROR: You must be a privileged in order to run a secure serice."
-    return 1
+    exit 1
   else
     return 0
   fi
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs
index 6872a0eb1a4..2300dbfcc5d 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs
@@ -225,14 +225,13 @@ esac
 
 if [[ -n "${secure_service}" ]]; then
   HADOOP_SECURE_USER="${secure_user}"
-  if hadoop_verify_secure_prereq; then
-    hadoop_setup_secure_service
-    priv_outfile="${HADOOP_LOG_DIR}/privileged-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND-$HOSTNAME}.out"
-    priv_errfile="${HADOOP_LOG_DIR}/privileged-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND-$HOSTNAME}.err"
-    priv_pidfile="${HADOOP_PID_DIR}/privileged-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND-$HOSTNAME}.pid"
-    daemon_outfile="${HADOOP_LOG_DIR}/hadoop-${HADOOP_SECURE_USER}-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND}-${HOSTNAME}.out"
-    daemon_pidfile="${HADOOP_PID_DIR}/hadoop-${HADOOP_SECURE_USER}-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND}.pid"
-  fi
+  hadoop_verify_secure_prereq
+  hadoop_setup_secure_service
+  priv_outfile="${HADOOP_LOG_DIR}/privileged-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND-$HOSTNAME}.out"
+  priv_errfile="${HADOOP_LOG_DIR}/privileged-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND-$HOSTNAME}.err"
+  priv_pidfile="${HADOOP_PID_DIR}/privileged-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND-$HOSTNAME}.pid"
+  daemon_outfile="${HADOOP_LOG_DIR}/hadoop-${HADOOP_SECURE_USER}-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND}-${HOSTNAME}.out"
+  daemon_pidfile="${HADOOP_PID_DIR}/hadoop-${HADOOP_SECURE_USER}-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND}.pid"
 else
   daemon_outfile="${HADOOP_LOG_DIR}/hadoop-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND}-${HOSTNAME}.out"
   daemon_pidfile="${HADOOP_PID_DIR}/hadoop-${HADOOP_IDENT_STRING}-${COMMAND}.pid"