diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index c13ba43e2b9..98f5603a21e 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ Release 2.6.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-10929. Typo in Configuration.getPasswordFromCredentialProviders
     (lmccay via brandonli)
 
+    HADOOP-10402. Configuration.getValByRegex does not substitute for
+    variables. (Robert Kanter via kasha)
+
 Release 2.5.0 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java
index 56a356dd012..4ad96564c85 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java
@@ -2747,7 +2747,8 @@ public class Configuration implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String,String>>,
           item.getValue() instanceof String) {
         m = p.matcher((String)item.getKey());
         if(m.find()) { // match
-          result.put((String) item.getKey(), (String) item.getValue());
+          result.put((String) item.getKey(),
+              substituteVars(getProps().getProperty((String) item.getKey())));
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/TestConfiguration.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/TestConfiguration.java
index 67977f93e9d..3bc8365e890 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/TestConfiguration.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/TestConfiguration.java
@@ -178,6 +178,14 @@ public class TestConfiguration extends TestCase {
     // check that expansion also occurs for getInt()
     assertTrue(conf.getInt("intvar", -1) == 42);
     assertTrue(conf.getInt("my.int", -1) == 42);
+
+    Map<String, String> results = conf.getValByRegex("^my.*file$");
+    assertTrue(results.keySet().contains("my.relfile"));
+    assertTrue(results.keySet().contains("my.fullfile"));
+    assertTrue(results.keySet().contains("my.file"));
+    assertEquals(-1, results.get("my.relfile").indexOf("${"));
+    assertEquals(-1, results.get("my.fullfile").indexOf("${"));
+    assertEquals(-1, results.get("my.file").indexOf("${"));
   }
 
   public void testFinalParam() throws IOException {