diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 4fa58f8e4d4..e6b71c927ce 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -375,6 +375,8 @@ Release 0.92.0 - Unreleased
    HBASE-4620  I broke the build when I submitted HBASE-3581 (Send length
                of the rpc response)
    HBASE-4621  TestAvroServer fails quite often intermittently (Akash Ashok)
+   HBASE-4378  [hbck] Does not complain about regions with startkey==endkey.
+               (Jonathan Hsieh)
 
   TESTS
    HBASE-4450  test for number of blocks read: to serve as baseline for expected
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/HBaseFsck.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/HBaseFsck.java
index 7409c9c1c1c..9e9e07be383 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/HBaseFsck.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/HBaseFsck.java
@@ -653,6 +653,17 @@ public class HBaseFsck {
           }
         }
 
+        // check for degenerate ranges
+        for (HbckInfo rng : ranges) {
+          // special endkey case converts '' to null
+          byte[] endKey = rng.getEndKey();
+          endKey = (endKey.length == 0) ? null : endKey;
+          if (Bytes.equals(rng.getStartKey(),endKey)) {
+            errors.reportError(ERROR_CODE.DEGENERATE_REGION,
+              "Region has the same start and end key.", this, rng);
+          }
+        }
+
         if (ranges.size() == 1) {
           // this split key is ok -- no overlap, not a hole.
           if (problemKey != null) {
@@ -676,12 +687,12 @@ public class HBaseFsck {
             subRange.remove(r1);
             for (HbckInfo r2 : subRange) {
               if (Bytes.compareTo(r1.getStartKey(), r2.getStartKey())==0) {
-            // dup start key
-            errors.reportError(ERROR_CODE.DUPE_STARTKEYS,
-              "Multiple regions have the same startkey: "
-                  + Bytes.toStringBinary(key), this, r1);
-            errors.reportError(ERROR_CODE.DUPE_STARTKEYS,
-                "Multiple regions have the same startkey: "
+                // dup start key
+                errors.reportError(ERROR_CODE.DUPE_STARTKEYS,
+                    "Multiple regions have the same startkey: "
+                    + Bytes.toStringBinary(key), this, r1);
+                errors.reportError(ERROR_CODE.DUPE_STARTKEYS,
+                    "Multiple regions have the same startkey: "
                     + Bytes.toStringBinary(key), this, r2);
               } else {
                 // overlap
@@ -1047,7 +1058,7 @@ public class HBaseFsck {
       NOT_IN_META_OR_DEPLOYED, NOT_IN_HDFS_OR_DEPLOYED, NOT_IN_HDFS, SERVER_DOES_NOT_MATCH_META, NOT_DEPLOYED,
       MULTI_DEPLOYED, SHOULD_NOT_BE_DEPLOYED, MULTI_META_REGION, RS_CONNECT_FAILURE,
       FIRST_REGION_STARTKEY_NOT_EMPTY, DUPE_STARTKEYS,
-      HOLE_IN_REGION_CHAIN, OVERLAP_IN_REGION_CHAIN, REGION_CYCLE
+      HOLE_IN_REGION_CHAIN, OVERLAP_IN_REGION_CHAIN, REGION_CYCLE, DEGENERATE_REGION
     }
     public void clear();
     public void report(String message);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/TestHBaseFsck.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/TestHBaseFsck.java
index f5be448735f..ca6dd4bc72b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/TestHBaseFsck.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/TestHBaseFsck.java
@@ -278,6 +278,32 @@ public class TestHBaseFsck {
       deleteTable(table);
     }
   }
+  
+  /**
+   * This creates a bad table with regions that has startkey == endkey
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testDegenerateRegions() throws Exception {
+    String table = "tableDegenerateRegions";
+    try {
+      setupTable(table);
+      assertNoErrors(doFsck(false));
+
+      // Now let's mess it up, by adding a region with a duplicate startkey
+      HRegionInfo hriDupe = createRegion(conf, tbl.getTableDescriptor(),
+          Bytes.toBytes("B"), Bytes.toBytes("B"));
+      TEST_UTIL.getHBaseCluster().getMaster().assignRegion(hriDupe);
+      TEST_UTIL.getHBaseCluster().getMaster().getAssignmentManager()
+          .waitForAssignment(hriDupe);
+
+      HBaseFsck hbck = doFsck(false);
+      assertErrors(hbck, new ERROR_CODE[] { ERROR_CODE.DEGENERATE_REGION,
+          ERROR_CODE.DUPE_STARTKEYS, ERROR_CODE.DUPE_STARTKEYS});
+      assertEquals(2, hbck.getOverlapGroups(table).size());
+    } finally {
+      deleteTable(table);
+    }
+  }
 
   /**
    * This creates a bad table where a start key contained in another region.