diff --git a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/Bytes.java b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/Bytes.java
index 7fa937e3d83..ea32d3ed61f 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/Bytes.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/Bytes.java
@@ -382,19 +382,12 @@ public class Bytes {
   }
 
   public static byte [] toBytesBinary(String in) {
-    // this may be bigger than we need, but lets be safe.
+    // this may be bigger than we need, but let's be safe.
     byte [] b = new byte[in.length()];
     int size = 0;
     for (int i = 0; i < in.length(); ++i) {
       char ch = in.charAt(i);
-      if (ch == '\\') {
-        // begin hex escape:
-        char next = in.charAt(i+1);
-        if (next != 'x') {
-          // invalid escape sequence, ignore this one.
-          b[size++] = (byte)ch;
-          continue;
-        }
+      if (ch == '\\' && in.length() > i+1 && in.charAt(i+1) == 'x') {
         // ok, take next 2 hex digits.
         char hd1 = in.charAt(i+2);
         char hd2 = in.charAt(i+3);
diff --git a/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/TestBytes.java b/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/TestBytes.java
index cf7f7e0dd25..da4a5669142 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/TestBytes.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/TestBytes.java
@@ -290,5 +290,13 @@ public class TestBytes extends TestCase {
     assertFalse(bytes == copy);
     assertTrue(Bytes.equals(bytes, copy));
   }
+
+  public void testToBytesBinaryTrailingBackslashes() throws Exception {
+    try {
+      Bytes.toBytesBinary("abc\\x00\\x01\\");
+    } catch (StringIndexOutOfBoundsException ex) {
+      fail("Illegal string access: " + ex.getMessage());
+    }
+  }
 }