diff --git a/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseClassTestRule.java b/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseClassTestRule.java
index 59011cfc9cd..73f5442b6a7 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseClassTestRule.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseClassTestRule.java
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ public final class HBaseClassTestRule implements TestRule {
 
   @Override
   public Statement apply(Statement base, Description description) {
-    return timeout.apply(systemExitRule.apply(base, description), description);
+    return systemExitRule.apply(timeout.apply(base, description), description);
   }
 
 }