diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 3066b1edb16..816819388c2 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -500,6 +500,9 @@ Release 2.4.0 - UNRELEASED
 
     HADOOP-10399. FileContext API for ACLs. (Vinayakumar B via cnauroth)
 
+    HADOOP-10442. Group look-up can cause segmentation fault when certain
+    JNI-based mapping module is used. (Kihwal Lee via jeagles)
+
 Release 2.3.1 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/security/hadoop_user_info.c b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/security/hadoop_user_info.c
index 5c58b96c39e..1bd7bdc6c1e 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/security/hadoop_user_info.c
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/native/src/org/apache/hadoop/security/hadoop_user_info.c
@@ -178,6 +178,11 @@ int hadoop_user_info_getgroups(struct hadoop_user_info *uinfo)
       return ret;
     }
     return 0;
+  } else if (ret != -1) {
+    // Any return code that is not -1 is considered as error.
+    // Since the user lookup was successful, there should be at least one
+    // group for this user.
+    return EIO;
   }
   ngids = realloc(uinfo->gids, sizeof(uinfo->gids[0]) * ngroups);
   if (!ngids) {