diff --git a/storm-server/src/main/java/org/apache/storm/daemon/supervisor/Container.java b/storm-server/src/main/java/org/apache/storm/daemon/supervisor/Container.java
index 21ff8ec..c09b6f2 100644
--- a/storm-server/src/main/java/org/apache/storm/daemon/supervisor/Container.java
+++ b/storm-server/src/main/java/org/apache/storm/daemon/supervisor/Container.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.Set;
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.storm.Config;
 import org.apache.storm.DaemonConfig;
 import org.apache.storm.container.ResourceIsolationInterface;
@@ -90,6 +91,7 @@
     protected ContainerMemoryTracker containerMemoryTracker;
     private long lastMetricProcessTime = 0L;
     private Timer.Context shutdownTimer = null;
+    private String cachedUser;
 
     /**
      * Create a new Container.
@@ -528,20 +530,36 @@
      * @throws IOException on any error
      */
     protected String getWorkerUser() throws IOException {
+        if (cachedUser != null) {
+            return cachedUser;
+        }
+
         LOG.info("GET worker-user for {}", workerId);
         File file = new File(ConfigUtils.workerUserFile(conf, workerId));
-
         if (ops.fileExists(file)) {
-            return ops.slurpString(file).trim();
-        } else if (assignment != null && assignment.is_set_owner()) {
-            return assignment.get_owner();
+            cachedUser = ops.slurpString(file).trim();
+            if (!StringUtils.isBlank(cachedUser)) {
+                return cachedUser;
+            }
         }
+
+        if (assignment != null && assignment.is_set_owner()) {
+            cachedUser = assignment.get_owner();
+            if (!StringUtils.isBlank(cachedUser)) {
+                return cachedUser;
+            }
+        }
+
         if (ConfigUtils.isLocalMode(conf)) {
-            return System.getProperty("user.name");
+            cachedUser = System.getProperty("user.name");
+            return cachedUser;
         } else {
             File f = new File(ConfigUtils.workerArtifactsRoot(conf));
             if (f.exists()) {
-                return Files.getOwner(f.toPath()).getName();
+                cachedUser = Files.getOwner(f.toPath()).getName();
+                if (!StringUtils.isBlank(cachedUser)) {
+                    return cachedUser;
+                }
             }
             throw new IllegalStateException("Could not recover the user for " + workerId);
         }