diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index c17141c..a7aedd0 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@
     MAPREDUCE-2905. Fix fair scheduler to prevent clumping of tasks when
     assignmultiple is enabled. (todd)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-2376. test-task-controller fails if run as a userid < 1000.
+    (todd via eli)
+
   IMPROVEMENTS
 
     MAPREDUCE-3008. [Gridmix] Improve cumulative CPU usage emulation for 
diff --git a/src/c++/task-controller/test/test-task-controller.c b/src/c++/task-controller/test/test-task-controller.c
index 8c349a3..67d8e51 100644
--- a/src/c++/task-controller/test/test-task-controller.c
+++ b/src/c++/task-controller/test/test-task-controller.c
@@ -795,7 +795,7 @@
 
   if (getuid() == 0 && argc == 2) {
     username = argv[1];
-  } else {
+  } else if ((username = getenv("TC_TEST_USERNAME")) == NULL) {
     username = strdup(getpwuid(getuid())->pw_name);
     my_username = 1;
   }