diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-nfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/nfs/nfs3/Nfs3Utils.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-nfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/nfs/nfs3/Nfs3Utils.java
index 5c30f16bc97..71b018506e5 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-nfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/nfs/nfs3/Nfs3Utils.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-nfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/nfs/nfs3/Nfs3Utils.java
@@ -154,6 +154,8 @@ public class Nfs3Utils {
     if (isSet(mode, Nfs3Constant.ACCESS_MODE_EXECUTE)) {
       if (type == NfsFileType.NFSREG.toValue()) {
         rtn |= Nfs3Constant.ACCESS3_EXECUTE;
+      } else {
+        rtn |= Nfs3Constant.ACCESS3_LOOKUP;
       }
     }
     return rtn;
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-nfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/nfs/nfs3/TestNfs3Utils.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-nfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/nfs/nfs3/TestNfs3Utils.java
index b5f0cd4c539..77646af2c5e 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-nfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/nfs/nfs3/TestNfs3Utils.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-nfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/nfs/nfs3/TestNfs3Utils.java
@@ -68,5 +68,12 @@ public class TestNfs3Utils {
       0, Nfs3Utils.getAccessRightsForUserGroup(3, 10, new int[] {5, 16, 4}, attr));
     assertEquals("No access should be allowed for dir as mode is 700 even though AuxGID does match",
       0, Nfs3Utils.getAccessRightsForUserGroup(3, 20, new int[] {5, 10}, attr));
+    
+    Mockito.when(attr.getUid()).thenReturn(2);
+    Mockito.when(attr.getGid()).thenReturn(10);
+    Mockito.when(attr.getMode()).thenReturn(457); // 711
+    Mockito.when(attr.getType()).thenReturn(NfsFileType.NFSDIR.toValue());
+    assertEquals("Access should be allowed for dir as mode is 711 and GID matches",
+        2 /* Lookup */, Nfs3Utils.getAccessRightsForUserGroup(3, 10, new int[] {5, 16, 11}, attr));
   }
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index cd6871b933d..23a5854af66 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ Release 2.6.0 - UNRELEASED
     HDFS-6456. NFS should throw error for invalid entry in 
     dfs.nfs.exports.allowed.hosts (Abhiraj Butala via brandonli)
 
+    HDFS-6689. NFS doesn't return correct lookup access for direcories (brandonli)
+
 Release 2.5.0 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES