diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/token/AuthenticationTokenSecretManager.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/token/AuthenticationTokenSecretManager.java
index a6ad3aae2e5..5985be62735 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/token/AuthenticationTokenSecretManager.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/token/AuthenticationTokenSecretManager.java
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ public class AuthenticationTokenSecretManager
     identifier.setIssueDate(now);
     identifier.setExpirationDate(now + tokenMaxLifetime);
     identifier.setSequenceNumber(tokenSeq.getAndIncrement());
-    return createPassword(WritableUtils.toByteArray(identifier),
+    return createPassword(identifier.getBytes(),
         secretKey.getKey());
   }
 
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ public class AuthenticationTokenSecretManager
           identifier.getKeyId()+")");
     }
     // regenerate the password
-    return createPassword(WritableUtils.toByteArray(identifier),
+    return createPassword(identifier.getBytes(),
         masterKey.getKey());
   }