diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestFromClientSide3.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestFromClientSide3.java
index aa5bfb05120..0dee20b7de5 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestFromClientSide3.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestFromClientSide3.java
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.coprocessor.ObserverContext;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.coprocessor.RegionCoprocessor;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.coprocessor.RegionCoprocessorEnvironment;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.coprocessor.RegionObserver;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.exceptions.UnknownProtocolException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ipc.CoprocessorRpcUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ipc.ServerRpcController;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.protobuf.generated.MultiRowMutationProtos;
@@ -851,7 +852,7 @@ public class TestFromClientSide3 {
               CoprocessorRpcUtils.BlockingRpcCallback<MultiRowMutationProtos.MutateRowsResponse>
                 rpcCallback = new CoprocessorRpcUtils.BlockingRpcCallback<>();
               exe.mutateRows(controller, request, rpcCallback);
-              if (controller.failedOnException()) {
+              if (controller.failedOnException() && !(controller.getFailedOn() instanceof UnknownProtocolException)) {
                 exceptionDuringMutateRows.set(true);
               }
               return rpcCallback.get();