diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
index 116ed41703858..c1db0f3825c31 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSClient.java
@@ -477,7 +477,10 @@ int getDatanodeWriteTimeout(int numNodes) {
 
   int getDatanodeReadTimeout(int numNodes) {
     final int t = dfsClientConf.getSocketTimeout();
-    return t > 0? HdfsConstants.READ_TIMEOUT_EXTENSION*numNodes + t: 0;
+    int readTimeout = HdfsConstants.READ_TIMEOUT_EXTENSION*numNodes + t;
+    Preconditions.checkArgument(readTimeout >= 0,
+            "Read timeout should be non-negative.");
+    return t > 0? readTimeout: 0;
   }
 
   @VisibleForTesting