diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 629b0186dd5..ca15e7ad460 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -601,6 +601,9 @@ Release 2.7.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-7714. Simultaneous restart of HA NameNodes and DataNode can cause
     DataNode to register successfully with only one NameNode.(vinayakumarb)
 
+    HDFS-7769. TestHDFSCLI should not create files in hdfs project root dir.
+    (szetszwo)
+
 Release 2.6.1 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/resources/testHDFSConf.xml b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/resources/testHDFSConf.xml
index 93bbeb2f603..f1310fd8d50 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/resources/testHDFSConf.xml
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/resources/testHDFSConf.xml
@@ -16281,8 +16281,8 @@
         <command>-fs NAMENODE -mkdir -p /user/USERNAME/dir1</command>
         <command>-fs NAMENODE -copyFromLocal CLITEST_DATA/data15bytes /user/USERNAME/dir1</command>
         <command>-fs NAMENODE -copyFromLocal CLITEST_DATA/data30bytes /user/USERNAME/dir1</command>
-        <command>-fs NAMENODE -getmerge /user/USERNAME/dir1 data</command>
-        <command>-cat data</command>
+        <command>-fs NAMENODE -getmerge /user/USERNAME/dir1 CLITEST_DATA/file</command>
+        <command>-cat CLITEST_DATA/file</command>
       </test-commands>
       <cleanup-commands>
         <command>-fs NAMENODE -rm -r /user/USERNAME</command>