diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 6542cb7f84c..c9726dff072 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -519,6 +519,9 @@ Release 2.6.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-10928. Incorrect usage on `hadoop credential list`.
     (Josh Elser via wang)
 
+    HADOOP-10927. Fix CredentialShell help behavior and error codes.
+    (Josh Elser via wang)
+
 Release 2.5.0 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop
index 55c843ff77d..b1e2018f611 100755
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ function print_usage(){
   echo "  distcp <srcurl> <desturl> copy file or directories recursively"
   echo "  archive -archiveName NAME -p <parent path> <src>* <dest> create a hadoop archive"
   echo "  classpath            prints the class path needed to get the"
+  echo "  credential           interact with credential providers"
   echo "                       Hadoop jar and the required libraries"
   echo "  daemonlog            get/set the log level for each daemon"
   echo " or"
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/alias/CredentialShell.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/alias/CredentialShell.java
index 0ac39943179..6d9c6af2631 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/alias/CredentialShell.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/alias/CredentialShell.java
@@ -67,11 +67,11 @@ public int run(String[] args) throws Exception {
       if (command.validate()) {
           command.execute();
       } else {
-        exitCode = -1;
+        exitCode = 1;
       }
     } catch (Exception e) {
       e.printStackTrace(err);
-      return -1;
+      return 1;
     }
     return exitCode;
   }
@@ -79,29 +79,36 @@ public int run(String[] args) throws Exception {
   /**
    * Parse the command line arguments and initialize the data
    * <pre>
-   * % hadoop alias create alias [-provider providerPath]
-   * % hadoop alias list [-provider providerPath]
-   * % hadoop alias delete alias [-provider providerPath] [-i]
+   * % hadoop credential create alias [-provider providerPath]
+   * % hadoop credential list [-provider providerPath]
+   * % hadoop credential delete alias [-provider providerPath] [-i]
    * </pre>
    * @param args
-   * @return
+   * @return 0 if the argument(s) were recognized, 1 otherwise
    * @throws IOException
    */
-  private int init(String[] args) throws IOException {
+  protected int init(String[] args) throws IOException {
+    // no args should print the help message
+    if (0 == args.length) {
+      printCredShellUsage();
+      ToolRunner.printGenericCommandUsage(System.err);
+      return 1;
+    }
+
     for (int i = 0; i < args.length; i++) { // parse command line
       if (args[i].equals("create")) {
         String alias = args[++i];
         command = new CreateCommand(alias);
         if (alias.equals("-help")) {
           printCredShellUsage();
-          return -1;
+          return 0;
         }
       } else if (args[i].equals("delete")) {
         String alias = args[++i];
         command = new DeleteCommand(alias);
         if (alias.equals("-help")) {
           printCredShellUsage();
-          return -1;
+          return 0;
         }
       } else if (args[i].equals("list")) {
         command = new ListCommand();
@@ -115,11 +122,11 @@ private int init(String[] args) throws IOException {
         value = args[++i];
       } else if (args[i].equals("-help")) {
         printCredShellUsage();
-        return -1;
+        return 0;
       } else {
         printCredShellUsage();
         ToolRunner.printGenericCommandUsage(System.err);
-        return -1;
+        return 1;
       }
     }
     return 0;
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/alias/TestCredShell.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/alias/TestCredShell.java
index 05eb7b8c2a0..b9f0dc937cb 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/alias/TestCredShell.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/security/alias/TestCredShell.java
@@ -17,16 +17,18 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.security.alias;
 
-import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.security.alias.CredentialShell.PasswordReader;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -87,7 +89,7 @@ public void testInvalidProvider() throws Exception {
     CredentialShell cs = new CredentialShell();
     cs.setConf(new Configuration());
     rc = cs.run(args1);
-    assertEquals(-1, rc);
+    assertEquals(1, rc);
     assertTrue(outContent.toString().contains("There are no valid " +
     		"CredentialProviders configured."));
   }
@@ -122,7 +124,7 @@ public void testTransientProviderOnlyConfig() throws Exception {
     config.set(CredentialProviderFactory.CREDENTIAL_PROVIDER_PATH, "user:///");
     cs.setConf(config);
     rc = cs.run(args1);
-    assertEquals(-1, rc);
+    assertEquals(1, rc);
     assertTrue(outContent.toString().contains("There are no valid " +
     		"CredentialProviders configured."));
   }
@@ -139,7 +141,7 @@ public void testPromptForCredentialWithEmptyPasswd() throws Exception {
     shell.setConf(new Configuration());
     shell.setPasswordReader(new MockPasswordReader(passwords));
     rc = shell.run(args1);
-    assertEquals(outContent.toString(), -1, rc);
+    assertEquals(outContent.toString(), 1, rc);
     assertTrue(outContent.toString().contains("Passwords don't match"));
   }
 
@@ -186,4 +188,21 @@ public void format(String message) {
       System.out.println(message);
     }
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testEmptyArgList() throws Exception {
+    CredentialShell shell = new CredentialShell();
+    shell.setConf(new Configuration());
+    assertEquals(1, shell.init(new String[0]));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testCommandHelpExitsNormally() throws Exception {
+    for (String cmd : Arrays.asList("create", "list", "delete")) {
+      CredentialShell shell = new CredentialShell();
+      shell.setConf(new Configuration());
+      assertEquals("Expected help argument on " + cmd + " to return 0",
+              0, shell.init(new String[] {cmd, "-help"}));
+    }
+  }
 }