diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirMkdirOp.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirMkdirOp.java
index 2d1914f1625..4d8d7d7a8a7 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirMkdirOp.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirMkdirOp.java
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ static HdfsFileStatus mkdirs(FSNamesystem fsn, String src,
         }
 
         if (!createParent) {
-          fsd.verifyParentDir(iip, src);
+          fsd.verifyParentDir(iip);
         }
 
         // validate that we have enough inodes. This is, at best, a
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirSymlinkOp.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirSymlinkOp.java
index 6938a848487..71362f8be6d 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirSymlinkOp.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirSymlinkOp.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ static HdfsFileStatus createSymlinkInt(
       iip = fsd.resolvePathForWrite(pc, link, false);
       link = iip.getPath();
       if (!createParent) {
-        fsd.verifyParentDir(iip, link);
+        fsd.verifyParentDir(iip);
       }
       if (!fsd.isValidToCreate(link, iip)) {
         throw new IOException(
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirWriteFileOp.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirWriteFileOp.java
index 40be83b0dbd..aab0f763e7a 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirWriteFileOp.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirWriteFileOp.java
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ static INodesInPath resolvePathForStartFile(FSDirectory dir,
       }
     } else {
       if (!createParent) {
-        dir.verifyParentDir(iip, src);
+        dir.verifyParentDir(iip);
       }
       if (!flag.contains(CreateFlag.CREATE)) {
         throw new FileNotFoundException("Can't overwrite non-existent " + src);
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
index 8456da61811..a059ee56bfb 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirectory.java
@@ -1765,17 +1765,16 @@ HdfsFileStatus getAuditFileInfo(INodesInPath iip)
   /**
    * Verify that parent directory of src exists.
    */
-  void verifyParentDir(INodesInPath iip, String src)
+  void verifyParentDir(INodesInPath iip)
       throws FileNotFoundException, ParentNotDirectoryException {
-    Path parent = new Path(src).getParent();
-    if (parent != null) {
+    if (iip.length() > 2) {
       final INode parentNode = iip.getINode(-2);
       if (parentNode == null) {
         throw new FileNotFoundException("Parent directory doesn't exist: "
-            + parent);
-      } else if (!parentNode.isDirectory() && !parentNode.isSymlink()) {
+            + iip.getParentPath());
+      } else if (!parentNode.isDirectory()) {
         throw new ParentNotDirectoryException("Parent path is not a directory: "
-            + parent);
+            + iip.getParentPath());
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFSDirectory.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFSDirectory.java
index 2b43c0f9536..071bdf7e4a6 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFSDirectory.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFSDirectory.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.StringReader;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.ParentNotDirectoryException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.XAttr;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.XAttrSetFlag;
@@ -386,4 +388,50 @@ public void testXAttrMultiAddRemoveErrors() throws Exception {
                                                        XAttrSetFlag.REPLACE));
     verifyXAttrsPresent(newXAttrs, 4);
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testVerifyParentDir() throws Exception {
+    hdfs.mkdirs(new Path("/dir1/dir2"));
+    hdfs.createNewFile(new Path("/dir1/file"));
+    hdfs.createNewFile(new Path("/dir1/dir2/file"));
+
+    INodesInPath iip = fsdir.resolvePath(null, "/");
+    fsdir.verifyParentDir(iip);
+
+    iip = fsdir.resolvePath(null, "/dir1");
+    fsdir.verifyParentDir(iip);
+
+    iip = fsdir.resolvePath(null, "/dir1/file");
+    fsdir.verifyParentDir(iip);
+
+    iip = fsdir.resolvePath(null, "/dir-nonexist/file");
+    try {
+      fsdir.verifyParentDir(iip);
+      fail("expected FNF");
+    } catch (FileNotFoundException fnf) {
+      // expected.
+    }
+
+    iip = fsdir.resolvePath(null, "/dir1/dir2");
+    fsdir.verifyParentDir(iip);
+
+    iip = fsdir.resolvePath(null, "/dir1/dir2/file");
+    fsdir.verifyParentDir(iip);
+
+    iip = fsdir.resolvePath(null, "/dir1/dir-nonexist/file");
+    try {
+      fsdir.verifyParentDir(iip);
+      fail("expected FNF");
+    } catch (FileNotFoundException fnf) {
+      // expected.
+    }
+
+    iip = fsdir.resolvePath(null, "/dir1/file/fail");
+    try {
+      fsdir.verifyParentDir(iip);
+      fail("expected FNF");
+    } catch (ParentNotDirectoryException pnd) {
+      // expected.
+    }
+  }
 }