diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 4ceb77dfc45..e7a206117cf 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -143,6 +143,9 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
 
     HADOOP-10788. Rewrite kms to use new shell framework (John Smith via aw)
 
+    HADOOP-11058. Missing HADOOP_CONF_DIR generates strange results
+    (Masatake Iwasaki via aw)
+
   BUG FIXES
 
     HADOOP-9451. Fault single-layer config if node group topology is enabled.
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop-config.sh b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop-config.sh
index 06fb0efdcc5..d9fd6e676df 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop-config.sh
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/bin/hadoop-config.sh
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ hadoop_exec_userfuncs
 #
 
 hadoop_exec_hadooprc
+hadoop_verify_confdir
 
 # do all the OS-specific startup bits here
 # this allows us to get a decent JAVA_HOME,
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 799aad0e1b3..2d8e90ecd56 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
@@ -92,6 +92,15 @@ function hadoop_find_confdir
   hadoop_debug "HADOOP_CONF_DIR=${HADOOP_CONF_DIR}"
 }
 
+function hadoop_verify_confdir
+{
+  # Check only log4j.properties by default.
+  # --loglevel does not work without logger settings in log4j.log4j.properties.
+  if [[ ! -f "${HADOOP_CONF_DIR}/log4j.properties" ]]; then
+    hadoop_error "WARNING: log4j.properties is not found. HADOOP_CONF_DIR may be incomplete."
+  fi
+}
+
 function hadoop_exec_hadoopenv
 {
   # NOTE: This function is not user replaceable.