diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 2b49aad6073..8332b5476a8 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ Release 2.3.0 - UNRELEASED
     and the excludedNodes parameter types respectively to Node and Set.
     (Junping Du via szetszwo)
 
+    HDFS-5240. Separate formatting from logging in the audit logger API (daryn)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HDFS-5239.  Allow FSNamesystem lock fairness to be configurable (daryn)
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
index 8ca245cee41..a5b9ee8fe70 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
@@ -6873,10 +6873,13 @@ public class FSNamesystem implements Namesystem, FSClusterStats,
           }
           sb.append(trackingId);
         }
-        auditLog.info(sb);
+        logAuditMessage(sb.toString());
       }
     }
 
+    public void logAuditMessage(String message) {
+      auditLog.info(message);
+    }
   }
 
 }